We stopped in Mississippi (Florence) for an overnight stay.  Went through part of Louisiana to get there.  There wasn’t too much around us but we went out exploring.  Took a few cute pictures of kids but most of them, they were busy itching as the bugs were a little much. Kids got very excited when Craig asked if they wanted to go to the beach the next day!

Made it to FLORIDA!!!!

We went through Alabama to get there, kids came and sat with me up front to go through tunnel and look for the Florida sign.  We stopped at the Florida Welcome Center and kids had free orange juice to welcome us back.

Pensacola, FL

Are we at the beach yet??  YEAH!!  We are!!  Then, of course, dinner would not be complete without ice cream for these two.  The waitress was so nice when Zoe made a sad face due to them only having vanilla that she made it special for them.  Next morning breakfast, Zoe has decided she only wants to eat animal pancakes from now on and has asked if we can continue this at home, when they are allowed to occasionally have pancakes.

Tallahassee, FL

We debated staying in Pensacola a second day and then driving straight home from there.  However, travel days can be a little rough on the kids, so we decided best to head to Tallahassee.  Stuck in completely stopped traffic on 1-10 E for a few hours.  Supposedly, we have in-motion satellite and can watch while driving, but it turned out to just look for signals and not really work (even though we were dead stopped!!!)  But, we did discover the really cool feature of the GPS system showing up on the TV above windshield. Didn’t know that before!  Turned out a dump truck hit the overpass with its bed in the vertical position at almost 4 a.m.  Luckily, we weren’t in a hurry this day and had decided to go to breakfast before leaving or we would have been stuck even longer as they had I-10 shut down 2 miles after we got on (but no one stopping us from getting on haha).  We couldn’t cut through the median so just had to wait on them to determine it was safe to drive under overpass.

Uber and taxi that makes me want to walk 10-12 miles!

Craig decided we should do dinner at the University Club.  We did Uber on way there.  There were no XL in area so we just took whatever we could get.  I had just finished explaining to him I did not like uber because some of the drivers he has sent me photos of were a little sketchy and you cannot rule out ones that smoke.  Sure enough, ended up in a car with a very backwoods country woman (not the cleanest either), whose car reeked of smoke, and had black spots all over her side of the ceiling.  Car was dirty, kids kept touching everything.  We couldn’t wear seatbelts as we all sat in back.  She was in a merge lane and despite the large truck having the right of way on her left, she kept going to get in front of him (though her car doesn’t go that fast)…  He luckily backed off but, poor Craig’s arm from me squeezing.  All I could picture is kids getting hurt because no car seats (or seat belts).  We made it U Club!!!!  Had a yummy dinner, played out looking over field, looked around at all the neat things they are doing.  Leaving … no uber available at all.  Several tries, walked away from stadium to keep trying.  He finally called a taxi and I was so happy.  While waiting at the corner of a street, for taxi, Kenzie found a wallet by a light.  Sadly, only a student id and expired credit card were left.  I explained he either lost it or someone stole it – which made her very sad.  We called non emergency police to report it and taxi was there.  It was a van – BONUS!  Got in, and then… This one smelled like wet dog, had no a/c, barely ran, ceiling was falling down, and a driver that sped up at red lights to hit the brakes hard.  I thought it was just me but, when we got back, Craig mentioned only driver to speed up at red lights.  Kenzie said (loudly), I like the other car better.  So, we tried to get her not to say much else (she also kept saying it was hot and this car ride made her feel sick).  He would ride people when the lane next to him was empty.  I kept watching his GPS, praying we would hurry up and get there.  .5 left and I was so excited until for some reason, .5 made him speed up.  UGH!!!  Made it out safe and alive!!!  Craig asked me if I liked the taxi better than the uber (since I complained so much about the uber).  I told him we were only renting cars from there on.

No photos from driving experiences.  Here are ones of the park and Tally.  Kenzie was excited to see a squirrel on tree instead of chipmunk.  My seat that I have never sat in…, cool kids plate they offer at the Club, of course, more dessert…. (after theirs, they came and stole mine), looking at Unconquered Statue and the lost or stolen wallet. Now to explain to kids that there is a set bed time and that desserts are rare, special occasions.

Almost HOME

We are headed home now, should be there in about two hours!!!!  When the girls put the last state on the map, they started clapping.  It was really sweet.  We did pass through IL, LA, and AL but did not stay in any of them so did not mark them off.  Today was the first day that both girls were sleeping in (also first day back in Eastern Time Zone so not sure if that was part of it).

FINAL COUNT

RV (with only one little hole/crack in front from a rock hitting us)

4.5 people (and I do look like 1.5 people)

4,301 miles

48 days

12 States (GA, TN, KY, IN, MI, WI, MN, IA, MO, AR, MS, FLORIDA!!!)

Can’t wait to reconnect with you all you.  We have missed seeing our friends and family.  Special thanks to Shelly and her mom for watching our house while we were gone.