Day 1- Traveling and Near Death Experience

KOur entire morning was spent finishing up packing. You think you're completely packed until the day that it's time to leave! It always seems like there's one more thing to add to the load! We also finished up cleaning so that when we came back… The house was spotless!

David was in training and was scheduled to finish up around 3:00. We were going to meet him in training and some of his officer friends were going to take our car back home.… Hoping we could get out of traffic in metro Atlanta before rush-hour.  Rush-hour in Atlanta is never fun… Rush-hour in Atlanta with a 35 foot pull behind camper – less fun!

We were not able to miss rush-hour traffic!

As you can see, Logan was not off to a great start!

This was the most enthusiastic we've seen Jimmy about this trip since the moment he knew we were taking it two years ago!

We were finally able to see what Logan was so disturbed about… This should help!

Welcome to Alabama!  We do wish we were close enough to home to see friends and family.

At the rest stop, I gave the kids a fairly lengthy place to run to to burn off some energy. We did have to remind Jimmy to let Logan do the running himself… So she could burn the energy! Picking him up wasn't helping anybody :-)

The kids are getting ready to open their first bag! They love that idea.

While we were in Alabama… We had a near death experience! There was a large SUV that wasn't paying attention and nearly came into our lane. David, as the professional driver that he is, honked and then had to swerve a little bit out-of-the-way. Swerving, while attached to a 35 foot trailer… Not a good idea! As David fought to gain control of the fishtailing rear end, the other guy needed to pull onto the shoulder. It was a very scary, brief moment… The quickly ended with a prayer of thanks for God's protection.  

Welcome to Mississippi!

We spent the night in a rest area in Mississippi, about 30 miles east of Jackson. In Mississippi, the rest areas are all protected with armed security guards. When David was talking to the security guard this morning, he said that highway 20 is a major drug running corridor  between Mexico and Atlanta.  Here is the binder that I put together for the trip! It is 2 inches thick and contains information about our hikes, truckstops that are easy to get into for gas, rest stops,… Anything you can imagine it would be beneficial for our trip!

Prepping for the trip

Some people have said we are crazy, embarking on a seven week journey with a good bit of time in the car with three kids and camping in an RV!  We may be… But we are also in for the adventure of a lifetime! In order to make the car ride a little bit smoother, I made bags that have a small treat and a new activity to give the kids for every three hours were in the car…

They are going to have to pay attention to the street signs and my goal is to have Hunter reading a map by the end of the trip :-) it's hard to believe that the trip we have planned for for the last year and a half is only for short days away.

Wrapping up the school year!

On the last day of school, several coworkers and myself enjoyed a great evening on the lake!

First, we met for dinner at Fish Tales, right on the lake!   There are a few people on earth who can make me smile so big or laugh as hard as these girls do!

One of the great things about this restaurant was that they had a giant sandpit for the kids to play in while we were waiting for their food! That made pre-dinner conversation much more enjoyable :-)

After dinner, Randi's husband was generous enough to be our chauffeur for a boat ride on the lake! The kids would scream go faster and he would… The kids would scream go over the bumps (waves) and he would… They all had the best time!  

When the school year started, I was extremely anxious about how the Year would go. There were a lot of new people and a lot of new changes. For those of you that know me well, changes are not something I am a fan of! God definitely knew what he was doing in my life this year! I feel so blessed and so honored to work with such amazing women!