Athens, GA to Jackson, MS

An eventful day on our first leg back towards Oregon... Once we got our Dunkin Donuts and got on the road the weather was beautiful and we were ready to go! Traffic through Atlanta was minimal - travelling in a giant city is really not bad on a Sunday. We did happen to see 5.. count them 5 DeKalb county sheriffs pulling over a mass of people all within a quarter mile of each other. One of them pulled back into the lane next to me only to pull over the guy next to me for not getting over for the OTHER ones pulled over at that spot.. it was insane but we got through ok.

We stopped in Birmingham for lunch at Jason's deli and wandered around the mall there near Samford for a bit to get some energy back as we had gone through the worst rain I have ever seen in a lightning storm that kind of came out of nowhere once we hit the Alabama state line.

After that it was a race to Jackson where we got into the same Mariott that we had stayed at on the way down to Florida. Same irritating staffer was on duty and I am not even sure what they are charging us for this room since I think I interrupted her 8:15 break. She should catch up at her 8:30 break though so it is ok!

Tomorrow's plan is to shoot for Wichita, KS but to stop in Oklahoma City if we are tired or push on to Hays, KS if we have lots of energy. There are Fairfields at each place so we know we have some place to stay that wont be like the Columbia mess last week.

We have 10 lbs of Dry ice in the cooler keeping our BBQ and Left over wedding cake frozen, including everything around the cooler since it is that cold. MMM BBQ...

-Nathan

Jackson, MS to Navarre, FL

We're at the beach! Jackson was wonderful. Dinner last night was so nice and the hotel felt like a palace after the night before. I still can't believe there was a dehumidifier in the room! We are in the South!

We slept in a bit and got Chick-Fil-A biscuits on the way out of town. Hwy 49 is nice, not interstate like we've gotten used to, but easy to handle. Saw lots of roadside stands selling everything from tshirts to watermelons to peaches to boiled peanuts....

Took about 5 hours and only two fishy steps in the directions but we've made it to Bryan and Katie's. We'll go out to the beach itself tonight and feel the sand between our toes and a warm ocean (gulf) current.

Tomorrow we leave to go to Cullman, AL where we'll be working on the Carpenters for Christ mission project of Stoney Creek Outreach. Should get there roundabouts lunch time if traffic cooperates.

Columbia, MO to Jackson, MS (Replaces St. Joseph to Memphis)

So let me recap the fun that was last night..

We decided to push through past Kansas City to avoid the traffic that would surely be a nightmare this morning on our way to meet Jeff in St. Louis... Had we stopped in St. Joseph like planned we would have had to get up at 4AM to make it in time. The decision landed us in Columbia as basically the farthest I could get without falling asleep (I was thinking, hey college town like Corvallis or Athens right?). We used a coupon book and found a Days Inn.. not great but not bad right? heh, wrong. It looked good at first but the room was horrible and the area was terrifying. We decided to just post the blog then go to bed since I had driven 15 or so hours and had another full day today..

I basically ended up staying awake all night because I didnt trust the place if i fell asleep, I had joked earlier today about staying awake to make sure we still had our kidneys in the morning but I am not sure how far off the truth it was! This being said, once I finally did fall asleep a massive lightning storm rolled in (though my snoring is too loud she slept like a baby with artillery shells exploding outside).. We got up at 6 and got ready and left as fast as we possibly could - 2 hours earlier than planned. This got us into St. Louis at like 9:00 at which point we found the mall where we were meeting Jeff and getting Chick-fil-A.

Thanks to Jeff's directions we made it in and out of St. Louis with absolutely no effort, I like to know where i need to be and at least there is some order to the freeways there. Because we had made it way further last night we decided to power on through to Jackson where we had found yet another Fairfield Mariott.. a great relief after last night. I was sure I was going to crash on the way, going 15 hours then 1/2hr sleep then another 15ish hours but I am here typing this blog with plenty of energy and not much caffeine in me... go figure.

The trip from St. Louis to Jackson was boring and when we got there we found our hotel... hallelujah and then got our first real BBQ food in forever.. it was a great little place called the Hickory Pit - complete with a metal pitcher of sweet tea, college baseball on TV (The super-regional that OSU got knocked out of) and good food.

We got into town with lots of time to relax and can sleep in tomorrow because we are so far ahead of schedule. Overall we are having a great time despite my lack of sleep. Katie is in love with the weather here in Mississippi - 85 degrees and humidity that makes me break a sweat by just clipping my finger nails. I partially appreciate the humidity since the -50% humidity at 7,200 feet in Laramie was even worse.

It is amazing to think that in four days we have gone over 2,500 miles and are in the deep south... Today was a good day of Sweet tea and sunny weather.