Tour de South Part 7: 2,155 Mile Cross-Country Road Trip

Day 1: Sunday, April 20

Panama City Beach, Florida to Baton Rouge, Louisiana

360 miles, ~5-5.5 hours; 4 States

Brian drove across the panhandle of Florida, through Mobile, and across the border into Mississippi. We stopped for gas, changed kids into jammies, and then I drove to Baton Rouge, or as Michael calls it "Batman" Rouge. We learned that I should drive first, not last, and definitely not when I'm super tired. I may or may not have come close to swearing by the time we reached our hotel just after 11. This was probably our favorite hotel. It had two rooms--one with the beds and one with a big couch, table and chairs, and an extra sink and refrigerator area. Since we booked all our hotels through Priceline (since we picked out where we were going to stay the day before we went there, we got some pretty sweet deals), we never knew what we were going to get when we walked through the door. This one delightedly surprised us. It was just kind of a bummer that we spent the least amount of time there. They had an amazing hot breakfast. *Sigh*. 

When we got to the hotel, I sent Brian up to set up the Pack n Play so that we could just take Rachel up and put her right in bed. She and Michael were both asleep when we pulled in, but by the time Brian made it back, they were both awake. Thankfully, she went right back to sleep when we put her in her bed. Michael, Brian and I soon joined her in Dreamland. 

Day 2: Monday, April 21 

Baton Rouge, Louisiana to Houston, Texas to Austin, Texas

433 miles, ~6.5 hours, 2 states

After that yummy hot breakfast at the hotel, we loaded back up and headed West again, this time I started us out. I drove us across the mighty Mississippi River and just into Texas, where we filled up with gas, gaped at the wonder that is Texas (not really; we didn't get what the hype was all about), and then Brian drove us to Houston. (P.S. crazy, confusing roads). We met T.J. and Lacey for lunch at Fuddruckers. They were good about figuring out how to meet us last minute. We may or may not have told them we'd be passing through only the night before. They were a little stressed because they were getting ready to move to Georgia. 

 Thanks for taking time to meet us! We loved seeing you guys. Sorry it was so short, and sorry we were so tired!

Our kids were a mess through lunch. Rachel almost instantly fell asleep once we got into the car.

 Poor things were just ready to be home by that point. They weren't the only ones. We drove to Austin and stayed the night with Adam and Sarah. They treated us to Texas Barbeque (from a gas station!) and Blue Bell Ice Cream. And good conversation and a washer/dryer and a place to rest and a place for Michael and Rachel to roam.

Day 3: Tuesday, April 22
Austin, Texas to Clovis, New Mexico
471 Miles, ~7.5 hours, 2 States

We had a fairly lazy morning before we hit the road. They made us a fabulous breakfast of waffles Then, Michael enjoyed Sarah and Adam's backyard, Brian (who was getting sick by that point) enjoyed sitting on the couch and talking with Adam. Rachel played with Eliza, and I packed up all of our stuff. And talked with Sarah. I felt bad, but I was pretty motivated to leave, which had nothing to do with our wonderful hosts and everything to do with the fact that we had officially been away from home for two weeks.

We got Michael to take our picture (since he didn't want to be in it anyway)

 Said our sad goodbyes and headed out again. I started the drive out again. We stopped for lunch at a FABULOUS Mexican restaurant in some town that we can't remember, switched drivers, crossed the state line, entering New Mexico and MOUNTAIN STANDARD TIME!!! We gained an hour, and were FINALLY back in our home time zone! We stayed in one of Clovis's finest hotels (which isn't saying much). We got there early enough that we were hoping to swim in the pool. Yeah, it was empty. So,  Brian and Michael headed to a grocery store to buy food while Rachel and I hung out in the hotel. By this point, Michael had the honor of opening the hotel doors with the key card. Rachel figured she could do it too:

We ate frozen dinners (because we and our wallet were sick of eating out), put the kids in bed, and pulled the chairs into the bathroom area to watch TV before we too went to bed. 

Day Four: April 23

Clovis, New Mexico to Montezuma Creek, UTAH!

487 Miles, ~7.5 hours, 3 states

I drove us to just outside of Albuquerque where we filled up on gas, ate lunch, and bought some anti-itch cream for the bug bites I acquired in Florida. Then, Brian drove us out of New Mexico, into Colorado, and back into UTAH! I've never been so happy to see Utah before. Not too long after crossing into Utah, we pulled into my Taryn's place! Yay! 

(Yes, we totally planned the pink shirt thing. Not really)

Taryn and David fed us tacos (yum!). We rearranged their extra room, put our kids in bed (Rachel was super easy, Michael was completely and utterly exhausted and put up a fight.) We talked with Taryn and David and then went to bed. 

Day 5: April 24

Montezuma Creek, Utah to HOME!

400 miles, ~6.5 hours, 4 states

The next morning, we said goodbye to Taryn on her way to work. David made us breakfast. We all got ready. I did Rachel's hair in pigtails for the first time. Her hair on top was long enough, but to get the other hair to stay up, I used a ton of hairspray.   

 Took some pictures

 Chased the dog:

 Said goodbye to David and Aaron and drove back to Colorado, back to New Mexico, and to the Four Corners Monument. We had asked Taryn and David the night before it we needed cash and they said no, so imagine our frustration and anger when we pulled into Four Corners and the booth said "Cash Only". We only had enough cash for one of us to go in (thank goodness the kids were free.)The lady at the booth wouldn't take a check; she wouldn't take a card, and she wouldn't budge. Four corners is in the middle of nowhere. She said, "There's an ATM five minutes away." I said, "If we leave, we aren't coming back." She didn't care. Finally, Brian sent us in, found a spot on a rock near the entrance, and said, "Take lots of pictures." I was pretty mad. I was already exhausted, so it wasn't hard to be mad. I went to the vendors inside to see if anyone would do cash back on a purchase. They apologized, but couldn't. So I did what any self-respecting cranky desperate person would do: I found a sweet elderly lady and begged for cash. She didn't have any, but her sweet husband did. They gave us the five dollars for Brian's admission. I offered to buy them something in return from one of the vendors. They declined. They just said, "Just return the favor to someone else."  I gave them a hug, grabbed the kids, and rushed back to get my husband. We didn't drive all this way to miss being in four places at once! He paid his admission, and we took pictures at Four Corners:

 And then, we checked out the vendors. They had a lot of cool stuff. Four Corners is on an Indian Reservation (Ute and Navajo Indians), and so there were a lot of jewelry options. We spent most of our time--too much time--looking at all their goods. Thankfully, Rachel and Michael were happy wandering around.

 We got a necklace for me, a bracelet for Rachel, a pottery turtle for Brian, and a stone-carved turtle for Michael. Then, we hit the road again, driving out of New Mexico (good riddance!), back through Colorado, and finally back into Utah, not to leave it again EVER (well, at least until we go to Idaho again).

 We were all really tired, but everyone did great going home. Once again, I drove first. We stopped by Wilson's Arch, and took a picture of Brian and Elsa (our new Car)

 And then drove to Hole N' The Rock--this crazy cave turned into a house.

 We toured the old home, got some ice cream at the general store, saw Bigfoot:

And got back in the car. Brian drove us to Moab, where we got lunch (going through the drive through because we were NOT delaying any longer!), and drove us home. I got a little choked up when Brian pointed out the "Utah County" line. We were almost home!! I-15 was a welcome sight. Rachel, naturally, lost it the last ten minutes of the drive, but the rest of us were filled with excitement. We were happy to see that our trees were in full bloom to welcome us home! 

I gave Rachel a bath (she was covered in sucker juice) while Brian and Ethan unloaded the car, and then we put the kiddos in bed. We caught up with Ethan, who right off the bat informed us that we were out of food in the house, and specifically out of LIFE. Expected. We figured as much. (Ethan works a TON, so he rarely goes shopping). I had plans to head out the next morning to get our much needed supplies.

Welcome Home
But then I woke up the next morning sick. With a horrible stomach bug. I stayed in bed all day, eating nothing, and spending too much time in a small room. Brian's cold that had been building on our drive home hit him full force. He worked from home since I was completely out of commission, and our good neighbors offered to go to the store to pick up what we needed to tie us over. They were a HEAVEN send. They even brought us dinner that night. By evening, I was doing better. I even ate the soup our neighbor brought. On Saturday, I was doing 100% better. I went shopping, unpacked, cleaned our bathrooms, made dinner, and tried to figure out what we were doing before we left. Brian, however, decided that he needed to go to Instacare. Good thing he did. Turned out he had a sinus infection and pink eye!

Rachel was a mess too, but we think it was just teething. Brian and Rachel stayed home from church the next day. I subbed for Brian teaching Gospel Doctrine. Before church, we finally met with a member of the Bishopric, who had been trying to meet with us since we were in Tennessee (that's a LONG time to wonder what your new calling is going to be). Brian met with us over the phone. They released both of us from our callings and called us to be nursery leaders (teaching the 18 month-olds through the 3-year-olds). Thankfully, I was prepared. I laughed about it, and we're actually really looking forward to feeling needed in our ward again (I've been the Relief Society pianist for the past year).

It's been a few weeks since we got home, and we're finally back into a groove, and we're mostly all feeling better. Rachel cried and screamed like we'd insulted her and all of her ancestors the first day (in over three weeks) that Brian went back into work, but since then, she's adjusted. (She turned into quite the daddy's girl on our trip). We had a fabulous trip, but Dorothy said it best, "There's no place like home."