Number of Miles Driven: 604

Drive Time: 8:45 a.m. - 6:15 pm

States Driven through: NC, SC, GA, AL (4)

Willy Wonka jokingly says - "so much time and so little to do. Wait a minute. Strike that. Reverse it." We planned to leave by 7 a.m. on Friday, but after being up until 1:30 a.m. finalizing packing, we decided to get a bit more sleep and leave a little later (8:30). The night before the kids asked if they needed to set an alarm for 5:30 a.m. so we could leave first thing, and, sure enough, they were awake and fully dressed/teeth brushed by 6:30. Their excitement translated into helpful attitudes, and with their help we pulled out of our driveway at 8:45. We were all smiles and ready for the journey to Tuscaloosa. 



Matthew immediately made us question our decision to go on a 34-day road trip when, after only 35 minutes, he says - in all seriousness - "Are we in Alabama now?" And then, only a few minutes later, Dani exclaims, "I'm hungry! Can I have a snack?" 




After these initial concerns about the potential high level of whining that awaited us on the 9-hr trip, the kids settled in and did really well the rest of the trip. We tried to engage them at an intellectual level with their own road trip journals that contained fun facts and scavenger hunts for each state, but who are we kidding, the tablets were the key to our sanity for a few hours!



 

Typically we breeze through South Carolina, but after stopping for lunch at a Chick-fil-A in Gaffney that was feeding a Greyhound bus-full of middle school girls and being slowed down by interstate construction, we got a little delayed. Luckily we got through Atlanta relatively unscathed (thank you NC Quick Pass and HOV lanes!) and enjoyed the rest of our trip into Tuscaloosa. Michael might have experienced an elevated amount of stress the entire trip due to thinking we were going to bottom out the trailer on the back - every time we hit a bump, you could hear his blood pressure rise! About an hour before we arrived in Tuscaloosa, he started worrying about a big dip in our hosts' neighborhood. Turns out he navigated the dip seamlessly, but he bottomed out on a drip in their driveway! 

We were flooded with memories driving into Tuscaloosa - it's almost like we never left in so many ways. It holds a special place in our hearts, and we were glad to have a quick stop-over to see great friends - the Lollars. Rebekah was my pot-luck roommate freshman year at Bama and we've been great friends ever since - even though we've spent the last 11 years living in different states. Whenever we visit it's like no time has passed, and it's so much fun to catch up and share stories. 



Rebekah and Zac have four girls - Adeline, Audrey, Alice, and Anne - who are each about a year older than each of our kids. The kids have always gotten along well, but this year, Dani found her spirit sisters in Anne and Alice. They immediately took her upstairs and got her dressed up in a princess dress and had a dance party to strobe lights - she was in heaven! At one point, we had walked around the entire house trying to figure out where everyone would sleep and noted that we hadn't seen the three girls. Turns out they had snuck into Zac and Rebekah's room, turned on Frozen, and were snuggled up watching the movie together. Dani called them "my girls." Carolyn also had fun watching gymnastic shows with Audrey and having a sleep-over with the two older girls. No one wanted the night to end since we knew we had to head out early the next day, so we got to bed late and paid for it a bit the next morning. 







Luckily we had a breakfast to look forward to with great friends from grad school - Jason and Jennifer Wilson. We met them at Another Broken Egg along Black Warrior River - it was delicious food and even better company. We even ran into some friends from our old small group unexpectedly as we were leaving breakfast. It was a fun surprise to see Britt and Jenni Payne and meet their two daughters! 

After breakfast we took a few pics at the new elephant statue in front of the football stadium. I took wedding pictures in front of this elephant when it lived in NorthRiver, but it was recently transplanted to in front of the stadium, so it was fun to get a family pic!



It was a great first day of travel and we had a great time seeing old friends. Thanks T-Town. Now on to Mobile!