Day 4 - Miles 2242 - 3054

On day 4 we started in Beaumont, TX at The Best Western Jefferson Inn. It was the best hotel yet!!! That may just be because it was a Best Western. When we woke up we headed to Sonic, a drive-in, that's where we had lunch. We had ice cream shakes that were amazing.



















 We also had a foot-long chili-dog. After Sonic we headed to Texarkana, in both Texas and Arkansas, to the state line. After posing for many pictures there we left for Target. There, my mom got me a pair of shorts. I'm so sad I can't wear them to school. Then we drove foor a while and ate at Chick-a-filet. I had chicken noodle soup and a salad.




















Then we drove for a long time, until like midnight. When we finally stopped again we stopped at Graceland, home of Elvis Presley. Obviously it was closed. We got to see his airplanes though. One was the Lisa Marie. There were some magnificent lit up trees. We also went by the wall by his house.




 Next, we tried to go to go to the bathroom at KFC but they were closed. When we were heading back to the car a guy came up to us and asked for gas but we weren't at a gas station. So, my dad said, "Sorry Bro." We then headed to a gas station to go to the bathroom and fill up on some gas. When the girls were going to the bathroom apparently the guy came back and his car was parked by the gas station. My dad gave him a gallon of gas. When we, the girls, came out he was talking to someone else, a female, who was with the guy. Then we drove to our 2nd Best Western and went to bed to be ready for our next day of traveling!!!

Day 3 Mile 1500-ish - 2242

Day 3 begins with us in Evergreen AL. We stayed at a hotel called America's Best value inn, we have decided it should be called America's worst value inn. The staff was unfriendly/unhelpful and the rooms were just scary.




So then we head south and first we have to recoup the miles we failed to make yesterday. We soon make it to florida


It's always sunny in Florida :-)


Once we reach our yesterday's destination(Pensacola FL) we head to the beach:

	Other than the first wave freakng him out a little Eli loved playing in the waves.

We are now done with heading south and now we head west to the Mississippi river. On the way we went thru this tunnel


We also stop at another beach in Mississippi where it was really windy so we flew a kite for a while






We also had to make a parts stop




After some confusion about exactly where we woud find the Mississippi river we get to it







and with some advice from a local find a great spot to go and look at it.




Otto and Lexie have fun rolling down the berm.


Eli thought that looked like lots of fun so he tried too



There was a cemetary right next to the spot to see the Mississippi. They look to be entombed above ground we imagine it is because of the possibility of flooding



So now it is time to eat. We accidentally head back accross the river but decide it is ok we will just grab some food there(Mistake #1). We were trying to go to Chick-Fil-A, but the one the gps directed us to was way off the interstate and within a mall. Since we didn't want to leave the dogs in the car there we decide to go to a Jack in the Box We had passed on our way to the mall(Mistake#2). We get to Jack in the Box and dining area is closed(@8:00pm?!?) the guyinside directs us to use the drive-thru(Mistake#3). After spending about 20min examining their menu we pull up to order and get informed by the same guy who told us to go thru the drive thru that the grill is closed so all the food we wanted to order isn't availible. At this point we are sick of the whole process and want to get back on the road so we decide to grab some snacks out of the dungeon and we will eat when we get to our final destination Beaumont TX. Somehow we manage to miss several turns and wind up spending a bunch of time driving around trying to get back onto the interstate eventually we make it and see this sign.



On our way to texas up ahead we see a huge bunch of lights we think is a city








Turns out it was an oil refinery

We make it to Texas and go to Hooters to finally get something to eat

Day Two, Miles 889 - 1500-ish

Day Two started out in Roanoke, Virginia. Our plan for the day was to go to the Cumberland Gap National Park and finish the day in Pensacola, Florida. We didn't make it all the way to the Cumberland Gap, and instead stopped at the Natural Tunnel State Park in Virginia. The kids enjoyed it and it was only $3 for the whole family.

We ate dinner at Waffle House in Gadsden, Alabama. I had smothered chicken and triple hash browns with sausage gravy...

We didn't reach our goal today, we stopped in Evergreen, Alabama, 96 miles short of Pensacola, Florida.

Tomorrow, we're heading to Florida, then along the Gulf to Beaumont, Texas!

Natural Tunnel State Park, Virginia

889 Miles Down

We started out this morning at about 7:15. I thought that Eli would stay sleeping so we just put him in the car in his pajamas. I was wrong, he stayed awake for about an hour and a half then went back to sleep for a little while. He was a really good boy though! Our first stop was in Conneticut for gas (at $4.20) we decided to only put in $20 worth because Sam's dad had said there were good prices for gas in New Jersey. While we were there we pulled into a parking lot and grabed some snacks from the sto-&-go (Sam has named them the dungeon). We also let the dogs out for a few minutes, changed Eli's diaper (which was beyond soaked at this point) and stretched our legs. The next stop we made was when we realized our $20 worth of gas wasn't going to get us to New Jersey. We got off the interstate...Ken and I decided we should get gas at the gas station we saw right off the interstate but Sam decided we would press on. We ended up stopping at a McDonald's to go to the bathroom and then the gas station next door. Sam started pumping gas at $4.31/gal. then noticed that you had to pay cash to get the $4.21 price, so he stopped the pump, paid cash and started pumping again. Our last gas stop was in Virginia($4.09/gal.) We are determined to get gas below $4 at some point on this trip! At 9:10 p.m. we made it to Roanoke, Va where we had dinner at Cici's Pizza! Otto requested a mac. & cheese pizza! Sam tried a pulled pork pizza and loved it! After dinner we headed to Howard Johnson's (I don't suggest staying here it is disgusting). My head is spinning and I am ready for bed! I must say the kids behaved pretty well for being in the car so long! I am especially proud of Eli who only had about a 15-20 minute melt down around 8:30 (he was starving). Lets hope tomorrow goes as well! Good night!

The Start of Our Journey...

Friday at 5pm, we picked up the rental car, a brand new (172 mile) Dodge Caravan. It was exactly what we had hoped for. I'd never own one because I question their long term reliability, but they are perfect to rent. We filled the "Stow-and-Go" compartments with snacks and beverages and loaded up for our trip.

Where the road takes us!

We've been planning to take a cross country trip for a few years now. A couple of years ago it was put on hold because I was pregnant with Eli which meant all extra money would be going towards baby gear (since it had been 6.5 years since Otto was born). Last year we thought Eli was just too small to travel that far. 9 months ago we decided that we couldn't keep putting this off forever...we plotted a route that lead us down to Florida and then west all the way to the coast of California. Sam was going to take 2 weeks off from work for us to accomplish such an incredible journey! We have now revised that trip to something slightly smaller. We will be heading down to Florida and then over to Texas (just past the boarder.) Sam is only going to take one week off from work so that we can use his other week of vacation in the summer, this means that we will have to cover a lot of miles each day! With all the time we will be spending in the car it shouldn't be a problem for someone to update this blog daily (hopefully with some great pictures!) I feel I should mention another factor in our choice to make the trip one week was the kids (Bella & Lexie) were fighting with us about not missing any school! Most kids would be excited to miss a week of school but Lexie NEEDS to have perfect attendance and Bella just has too many subjects she doesn't want to miss. Bella tried to find a couple of days she could miss of school but for some reason her favorite subjects (all of them) seem to happen daily!

I've had a lot of fun taking polls about different things about our trip. Maybe I'll post one of our polls each day until we leave (in April)...no promises though since it has been 3 years since I've updated our primary blog!

I'll start you off with one of my polls today!

-What geological site are you most excited to see?
-Me: Niagra
-Sam: The Gulf
-Ken: Niagra Falls
-Bella: The Cumberland Gap
-Lexie: A cactus
-Otto: Niagra Falls
-Eli: if I had to take a guess at what he'd most like to see it would be Niagra Falls