Atlanta to Memphis. 9 Hours.

Just because we are laughing our heads off I must put this in first. Had I NOT read reviews of “don’t judge this place by the entrance” I’m not sure the girls would have let us pull in. They were screaming that it was haunted until we parked. Though the unusual amount of mosquitos swarmed us, especially with the doors open to the car, we stood outside, the sunlight almost completely gone in front of the Mississippi river, with a breeze and cooler air. Ah, we finally made it.

I’m not sure how much I threatened the children but the start and finish were exhausting. I’m pretty sure I said “I’d rather go home and chop my head off, than sit here with you two and your obnoxious complaining.” Yes, I did. I hate it when I freak out, and leaving I had to remind them this could be my last trip, it could be ANY of our last trip. That was 10 minutes in before we even left our street.

Skip had to raise his voice some. I think we choose different battles and have different limits of what tick us off.  The rest of the day went fairly well, as I worked REALLY hard to find new, cheap ways of entertaining WITHOUT tech. I also separated them, giving up my bench bed in the back and I think that helped a lot. You know, that is until your shoe is touching my pillow, yet it lies on the car Trash basket . Please.

And now that I’ve vented, the real trip! We left at noon and it took us 9 hours to get to Memphis. We both googled it and 6.5 at most. I guess, pulling the trailer around 60 the entire way had Waze all kinds of confused because it would say 20 minutes, and 20 minutes later STILL say 18 minutes. Skip was a rock star. He never complained, we made it to Starbucks, I peed on the side of the road in the camper, so convenient, we watched RV, played with moon sand (mistake), legos (less of, but still a mistake only because clean up was miserable and sand will likely be embedded in my car for life), stopped at a chick-fil-a, had many “wow I cannot believe you made that” with Skip driving, rode over the Mississippi River for the first time and now I am laying here typing while we chill.

There wasn’t anything really impressive along the way. Pretty views and just a long ride, but for me unusually okay. I needed the rest SO badly. I have not slept in 3 days, BUT my eyes were not poofy for the very first time when I woke up! What was different, too many things to count, so lets just hope its done and when it comes back I’ll be able to rule out the culprit.

We did have some super fun moments! I bought a giant US map and we are going to track where we are going with a sharpie, eventually some 1x5 pictures, and a LIFE car. I’m so excited about this project as is Alana who must have asked 50 times if we could get it out. I can’t wait either, tomorrow. Then the kids have to learn something every day, and today, I also learned that Georgia originally spanned through to Mississippi! Alana gave me something else, but on the way into the Park, the girls were asking who Tom Sawyer was! So, tomorrow, we will hear the story and explore this tree house they have somewhere in the Park. I CANNOT wait to see the sunrise on the water and see what wildlife lies outside these doors.

For now, we smash mosquitos and stretch our legs in the nice bed and air conditioning. Hopefully tomorrow is a short day. We are thinking we may stop earlier to give Skip a day of short driving. We saw a big accident, made through some TIGHT construction and God rerouted and pushed us just between 3 storms. We would be ready and then it ould just happen that it just passed, or split. I just kept thanking him for keeping us safe. Never expected a 6 hour drive to turn into 9, but for me, it was relaxing. I needed it, just hope my honey can catch a break tomorrow.

Thank you to all who have wished us well! Day one, complete!

Oh, I did solidify all appointments at Emory, and flights and dates to Cali!

I cannot thank you enough for all the texts and messages wishing us safe travels. It’s so awesome to see how surrounded by pure love we are, and your prayers, truly protected us in our travels today.

Enjoy the pictures, I’m posting to my personal page and here.

XOXO

Nadine

(Memphis, TN)