After a great night's sleep, Sam and I were up and giggling before Russ and Brooklyn (who woke up hacking and coughing, ugh.). Russ went off for a jog while I started getting the fixings for morning breafkast together. After breakfast, Russ took the kids to play at the campground park while I packed up, washed dishes, and showered.
Everyone got back to the site at the same time and Russ helped me finish putting the camper back together. As we were getting ready to get into the car and attach the trailer to the van, we realized that the van key (we only have one, which has gotten me into trouble more times than I'd care to admit...) was packed up inside the camper. D'oh.
10 frustrating minutes later, we were on the road and at the Alabama state line in no time.
Around 11am we hit up Fort Toulouse, just outside of Montgomery, AL. We love checking out old forts and stuff so we thought it would be pretty fun. Well, we took the arboretum trail and it led us on a good mile of trails, which is fine, except that it was naptime and it was over 100 degrees out. And the map we were following sucked. We got lost in the woods and then in the end, we didn't even get to see the fort!! Sigh.
Crazy mushrooms.
Check out all of that "tree hair"!! It's actually Spanish Moss for those of you who don't speak toddler-ese.
Well, one thing can be said for running your kids in 100 degree heat for over a mile, it will definitely tucker them out. And it was a good thing because we still had a good 3.5 hours to drive.
After about an hour of the kids being asleep, we heard a "THWAP!..thwapthwapthwapthwap." Uh oh. So we pulled over and lookie what Russ got to do underneath the boiling hot Alabama sun. It was actually that same hot sun that caused the blow out--the tire was so hot that the rubber burst. Yikes.
He's squinting his eyes shut against the sweat pouring down his face. I was extremely grateful for a few things:
1. The kids were SO exhausted that they slept through it all--the stopping, the slamming of the doors, the quiet mumbled curses...
2. That I didn't have to get out and do it--it would have taken me MUCH longer than the 15 minutes it took Russ.
3. That I had a spare change of clothes for everyone packed in the back of the car. Russ was drenched, and no one wants to ride with a sweat-drenched man for 3+ hours, I guarantee it.
While Russ was out changing the tire, Izzy decided she needed to have a turn in the drivers seat. Actually, any time one of us gets out of our seats she jumps up into them for a new perspective. I don't blame her, I'm sure it's not much fun on the floor, but she does incredibly well in the car.
Crazy mushrooms.
Check out all of that "tree hair"!! It's actually Spanish Moss for those of you who don't speak toddler-ese.
Well, one thing can be said for running your kids in 100 degree heat for over a mile, it will definitely tucker them out. And it was a good thing because we still had a good 3.5 hours to drive.
After about an hour of the kids being asleep, we heard a "THWAP!..thwapthwapthwapthwap." Uh oh. So we pulled over and lookie what Russ got to do underneath the boiling hot Alabama sun. It was actually that same hot sun that caused the blow out--the tire was so hot that the rubber burst. Yikes.
He's squinting his eyes shut against the sweat pouring down his face. I was extremely grateful for a few things:
1. The kids were SO exhausted that they slept through it all--the stopping, the slamming of the doors, the quiet mumbled curses...
2. That I didn't have to get out and do it--it would have taken me MUCH longer than the 15 minutes it took Russ.
3. That I had a spare change of clothes for everyone packed in the back of the car. Russ was drenched, and no one wants to ride with a sweat-drenched man for 3+ hours, I guarantee it.
While Russ was out changing the tire, Izzy decided she needed to have a turn in the drivers seat. Actually, any time one of us gets out of our seats she jumps up into them for a new perspective. I don't blame her, I'm sure it's not much fun on the floor, but she does incredibly well in the car.
After making a quick stop at the next Wal-Mart to get another tire, and a quick stop at Sonic for some replenishment (where I was reminded why I don't do fast food...ugh), and then we were back on the road and into Mississippi before sunset.
I had been calling the campgrounds I wanted to stay at all day, as it was a Friday and campgrounds fill up quick on weekends, but their internet was down all day, so she couldn't tell me if they had any campsites available or not. Ugh. So it was either go and see ourselves and risk having to drive anonther 40 minutes back to the next closest campground (not knowing if THEY had any sites available) if there wasn't a spot open, or just going straight to the next closest campground.
We risked it and drove to the camp we wanted, crossing our fingers there was a site open (at this point we'd been traveling for over 9 hours). The gate on the campground said: HOURS: 8am-8pm and we squeaked in at 7:55pm. PHEW. And luckily, we found a great spot here at LeFleurs Bluff State Park.
We risked it and drove to the camp we wanted, crossing our fingers there was a site open (at this point we'd been traveling for over 9 hours). The gate on the campground said: HOURS: 8am-8pm and we squeaked in at 7:55pm. PHEW. And luckily, we found a great spot here at LeFleurs Bluff State Park.
What we love most about this camground is that it's surrounded by a creek which is teeming with fish and birds. We had to go out and buy a bird identification book since there weren't quite as many new bugs here as there were birds. It seems as though the Snowy Egrets, Great Egrets and Great Blue Herons live out there as they are there all day and night.
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