Don't get eaten alive by sharks!

Keep both feet on deck and keep your fingers away from the line, folks, this post's a biggie!

Yesterday began with a nice early(ish) start because we needed to check out of the hostel by 11. We packed up all our bags, stripped the double bunk beds, and loaded up the car. We then drove once more into the French Quarter for our long-awaited beignets (!!!) and cafe au lait. Diana and I took a long wander through the french market, while the boys lingered behind, stopped somewhere several stalls in, and I don't actually know what they did. Hope yall had fun, though!

As our departure came closer and closer, the rain poured down harder and harder. Like big wusses, the boys sent Diana and myself to get the car and pick them up. We took a moment after reaching the car to pull towels from the back, but we were still soaking wet as we drove along.

Seeing that we had about 80 miles till empty, we decided to stop for gas shortly outside of New Orleans. We pulled up to a Shell station, but the pump didn't like any of us and wouldn't acknowlege our card and was just overall being stubborn and stupid. So we said "f-- you, Shell!" and figured we'd fill up at the next stop.

Little did we realize that we would hit major traffic, stopped up by not one, not two, but THREE major accidents over about 10 miles. There were two different points where we actually put the car in park and turned off the engine for several minutes. After 20 miles and an eight of a tank of gas, we's passed into Mississippi and saw an exit, which we took in attempts to find gas. We set Claudia to take us to the nearest gas station, 7 miles away, and we were off.

We got off the highway, followed her directions, and immediately found ourselves on the exact same highway in the opposite direction.

Surprise! Welcome BACK to Louisiana!

Despite all this frustration, we managed to fill up the tank with gas and start back off again. However, by the time we'd passed the traffic a second time, it was nearly 5:30. Our overnight plans had been to stay at the Conecuh National Forest, where they didn't accept reservations and gave us very little information online. We decided that it would be foolish to still try to camp there, when we would probably not arrive until nearly 9 at night. Thus began the great debate of "What do we do?"

After debating lots of options, we finally settle for plugging in the next night's campsite into Claudia and setting off, probably driving through the night, and sleeping the entire next day. Of course, all along we agreed that if both Jake and I were too tired to drive, we'd pull into the next motel and stay there.

We made a stop in Mobile, Alabama for dinner. We wanted to go to a restaurant called "Hurricane Brewing" because we'd read about it in our Road Trip book. When we got there, however, we discovered that they had long ago run out of business... it was all boarded/papered up. Much like the majority of the town. Luckily, we found a sports bar (which had really really good food, to my great relief!) and were still able to dine.

We switched drivers and got set for the first of what was expected to be many, many two hour driving stretches. Jake and Ricky up front (Richard's job was simply to keep saying odd things to keep Jake awake and focused), and Diana and I in back (my job was to try as hard as I could to sleep, so that I would be ready to drive next). With Illinois playing softly through the car, the night rushed past and the hours ticked on.

At 10:30, we decided to pull off the highway to a gas station, to fill up and reevaluate our night plan. It was a rather interesting looking place, but this sign made me feel quite safe:

About an hour after we left the gas station, we pulled into the Comfort Suites Inn, got a room for the night, watched some James Bond, and fell asleep.

This morning, we got up at 8 so we could go down and grab some FREE BREAKFAST, which made everyone very happy. Then we went back upstairs to watch parts of a horror movie and a SyFy show (both very strange), and to get some more zzzzz's. Then we checked out promptly at 11, got in the car, and drove onwards.

Looking at all the signs for Atlanta, we made the impromtu decision to return to the city, specifically to Little 5 Points to go to the T-shirt store that was closed last time we went. This made Jake very happy, as he'd been disappointed by our missing it last time. He and Diana got shirts, Ricky got some music from the record store next door, and we all ordered take-out Mexican food before once again filling up the car and driving off into the sunset. And by "sunset," I mean torrential downpour. It was almost frightening driving through it, but by staying well under 65 (and still over "minimum speed: 40") we made it safely past. Now we are at the campsite, tent pitched, cintronella candle ineffectively burning away, and waiting to head out to town (half an hour away) to catch a 9pm movie. Hopefully campfire tonight when we return!

Thank you to anyone who's actually read all the way through this post. Remember, I love you!

~MB