This trip began like any other trip. As always, I was throwing things into a bag at the last minute, hoping I had packed everything I would need. The house was bright and busy and everyone was either packing bags, finishing laundry, sweeping or doing the dishes. Trip preparation is never fun.
We were more or less awake the next morning at 6:30, bright and early. The morning was crisp and cool but slightly damp which was unfortunate because I knew out of us three kids, I would be the one forced to climb on top of the car and load stuff into the big black bag of doom. Nevertheless, we got everything done and managed to fit all of our junk into the back of the car. In case I forgot to mention previously, we were headed to SC for Teach Them Diligently, a large Homeschool Convention, to teach workshops and also set up a Freedom Girls booth! Do you know what this means? No, you don't. The beloved, roomy back seats of our car were put down to make room for 40 doll boxes and on top of those space-stealing boxes were two, quite large, freedom girls signs that not only took up the back of the car, but also intruded into my small limited space as well. And of course, mom wanted to bring half of our pantry and Sydney thought it would be a good idea to pack a bunch of games into a separate suitcase. Squished? Yeah, a little.
We crossed the Louisiana borderline at about 4:00, welcomed by a sign that said, "Welcome to Louisiana" and referenced "the wetlands". The Wetlands huh? After a few hours of driving in Louisiana I knew exactly what they meant. The scenery changed from wide open, green and grassy Texas plains to tall leafless trees, property fences drowned in mire and swamps. We drove a little further before stopping in Lafayette for the evening. The next morning we continued on, despite minor storm warnings. Miles and miles of swamps stretched out before us. A little later on in the day we passed through Baton Rouge and then came to New Orleans. Honestly, I couldn't figure out why anyone would want to live there, but maybe that's just me. An interesting fact about New Orleans is that the cemeteries have tombs that are huge and above ground. Instead of burying the dead bodies under ground they lay them in these stone tombs that sit above the ground. Why do they do this? Because that part of the state is below sea level. When water floods the city, it has no way of running out. If the bodies had been laid underground then eventually the water, that frequently inhabits the city, would erode the dirt in the cemeteries and surprise! Lots of dead bodies. . .what a nightmare. The city itself was not really the most appealing place ever, but it was a cool experience nonetheless!
After a few more hours of driving, we found ourselves in Mississippi. There was an almost dramatic scene change here. We went from swamps to miles and miles of tall trees and green grass. Fascinated with all this beauty, I succumbed to just staring out the window. Mississippi was, by far, the quickest state to drive through. In about 2 short hours, we were in Alabama. Alabama and Mississippi were very similar. We rarely strayed from the interstate except for a few bathroom breaks and only then did we see a change in scene. Tall, dense, green trees lined the interstate and guided us on our journey through the state. Although it rained a few times, most of the time we could see the rays of the southern sun brightly shining through the trees.
Well, we got through both Mississippi and Alabama in a day and ended up staying in Hogansville, Georgia that evening. At that point, we only had a few more hours to go. I had been to Georgia before but it was good to be back. I'd always loved Georgia and nothing had seemed to change about it. It was still as vast and beautiful as ever! The next day we arrived in South Carolina! I would say, if you haven't been to SC then you definitely need to head up there for a visit. The girls were beyond excited when we arrived at our destination, the hotel we were staying at was more like a small apartment complex. With an upstairs and 3 separate TV's (We don't have cable at home) we all thought this was paradise, UNTIL, we found out the pool wasn't open. All our dreams, shattered in an instant. (Okay, so that statement is slightly untrue). We made up for the lack of swimming with basketball and cold showers.
After 21 hours in a tightly packed car, it was good to be here,
