| Our "boys trip" officially got underway this morning, bright and
early (although not as early as planned - we hoped for 6:30am but
wound up leaving a little after 7:30am), as we packed the last of our belongings into the Enclave and
headed off to get gas at the local Sam's Club. We left there just
before 8:00am to wait in the line of traffic to get on I-75 North,
where we would continue our drive for a few hours before making the
turn west onto I-10 just north of Lake City. The rest of our trip
would be spent heading west, but first we had to make a quick stop
for gas and food. We hit up a Murphy USA station in Live Oak,
Florida to fill up for the second time on our trip. We made it just
over 200 miles since last topping off the tank, so not terrible.
Since we were stopped for gas and none of us really ate
breakfast before leaving, we decided to stop at nearby McDonald's to
grab a bite to eat. Stopping for food at 11:30am was a little
earlier than I would have preferred, but since it was our first meal
of the day we were all ready to eat!
We made it about 45 minutes before the pop and food did it's
magic, causing us to stop at a rest area along I-10. Thankfully this
was a quick in and out stop and didn't slow us down too much. Our
next stop would be for gas around 2:00pm. We found a Murphy station
in Defuniak Springs, Florida to top off the Enclave. We got another
200 miles or so on this tank, so at least we are consistent so far!
Shortly after topping off in Defuniak Springs, we crossed the
border into Alabama. That allowed us to complete our next stop, one
that Drew and I have been waiting for since Tyler's basic training
graduation in May, 2018 - Buc-ee's! We arrived at the Robertsdale,
Alabama Buc-ee's around 3:50pm, and although we didn't get gas here,
we did spend about 30 minutes wandering around the store figuring
out what goodies we wanted to buy. Aside from beverages, we walked
away with a little over a pound of beef jerky and some candy to
snack on during our trip. Let me just say - to Drew and I, it was
worth the wait!
Drew took the wheel at Buc-ee's, and ended up driving through the
heart of Mobile, Alabama, as the GPS took us off the main highway,
and we wound our way through Mobile on city streets and side roads
until we got to the next highway (poor kid!). We eventually crossed
into Mississippi, and we finally had to make another stop for gas,
our third fill-up since leaving Riverview. This time we settled for
an Exxon station in New Augusta, Mississippi, and like our previous
stops, this one came at almost exactly the 200 mile mark.
We made it all the way to Hattiesburg, Mississippi before we
stopped for dinner tonight,
around 6:45pm. Drew ended up picking up a meal from Raising Cane's
Chicken Fingers (which he first got a taste of during our trip to
Arizona), while Tyler and I opted for a pizza from Little Caesars.
We didn't get a chance to see much of Hattiesburg, but it is home to
The University of Southern Mississippi.
We attempted to stop for the night in Vicksburg, Mississippi,
with the hope of spending the night on the east side of the
Mississippi River, so that we would be able to see it in the
daylight when we crossed in the morning. Unfortunately, when I
entered the lobby to the La Quinta Inn that we tried to stay at I
was told that the hotel was full. The guy didn't check the computer
or anything. In fact, he was just sitting on the couch in the lobby
- I'm not even 100% sure he even worked there. Frankly, I got the
impression that I just wasn't welcomed there. No matter, time to
keep looking. We made a few phone calls to other hotels in the area,
but couldn't find any at a price point that I liked, so we continued
on. So westward we went, across the might Mississippi in the dark.
After stopping at the Louisiana Welcome Center to use the
restrooms, we finally managed to find a place to rest our heads for
the night - a Days Inn in Rayville, Louisiana. We stopped here
around 10:45pm, just over an hour after our previous attempt to stop
for the night. At least we had a chance to rest our heads and get
off of our sore butts for a while! |
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
