Traveling to Washington D.C.

First stop – Sulphur, Louisiana, just outside of Lake Charles, Louisiana.  It appears that Lake Charles is one of the gambling areas of the south.  I believe that many people from Houston make the 3 hour drive east to partake in the chance to become a millionaire!  We did not have time to gamble.  We just picked up salads at Wendy’s on our way to the hotel because we were tired!  Had a nice time at the hotel, just chilling and watching the Walton’s on television.  I know, I don’t lead an exciting life, but we did not want to leave Tiqui and Tess in a strange place in their first night of not being at home.  Unfortunately, they had to share a medium-sized carrier and they were not happy about it. 

 

The next morning, we were off about 9:00 am on our way to Tuscaloosa, Alabama. This was going to be our day with the most driving, needed to get an early start, as we were planning to make it to Tuscaloosa to meet my brother for dinner. On the way out of town we decided to find a Geocache or two. First stop, unsuccessful. Second stop, unsuccessful. Third stop, success and a flat tire!

Yes, we managed to hit a damaged curb as we were driving in the parking lot of the hotel where the Geocache was located. As we signed the log, the air was going out of the hole in the sidewall. What did I say yesterday about having to empty the trunk to fix a flat tire!No, I was not very gracious to my dear husband about the situation! I did apologize as he was taking the tire off. The cats, the trunk luggage and I sat in the Econolodge parking lot for about an hour and fifteen minutes while David went to buy a new tire. Did I mention that the heat index was about 100 degrees at 9:00 in the morning! The car returned with a brand new, $185 tire. We loaded the trunk back up and were on our way. Since we were running late we decided not to take time to stop for lunch, just picked up some chicken fingers along the way. About the time we stopped for gas and the chicken fingers, it decided to rain.



Fortunately, we made it to Tuscaloosa without any further problems or delays.  We met up with my brother for a nice dinner at a local hangout in Tuscaloosa.  Driving through Tuscaloosa to the restaurant my brother pointed out the areas that the tornado hit back in April.  Tornadoes are pretty amazing with the destruction they leave behind.  What is also amazing is how on one side of the street it looks like there was not a tornado and the other side is complete destruction.

Saturday – it must be on our way to Bristol, Virginia!

Our drive to Bristol was quite nice and uneventful.  Stopped at Subway, thought we would get a sandwich and eat at the next rest stop.  No such luck.  Yes, we did get the sandwich, but finding a rest stop that we could eat at was not possible.   We drove for about another hour before we found an almost abandoned mall and found a tree to eat under.  Not as romantic as I dreamed, but so far what I could expect driving through the south.  At the hotel, there were many antique cars; they must have been part of a run up to Bristol Raceway for something special.  Otherwise, nothing much exciting was happening in Bristol.

Sunday, the last day of driving – thank goodness!  We drove from Bristol to Alexandria Virginia.  What a beautiful part of the country.  The Shenandoah Mountains are absolutely gorgeous!  Hopefully, I can go back and visit and explore them sometime.  Today’s drive was basically uneventful, just a rain downpour about 4 miles from our daughter’s house.  When we arrived it was perfectly dry at their house.    Yes, I think we overwhelmed Allison and Shane when we arrived with the car looking the way it did.  They have a new house that they are trying to fit into – Allison has been on Shane to dispose of things he no longer uses so they can utilize the space in their house better.  You can read about Allison and Shane’s experiences here at her blog post: HomebyHanley.wordpress.com.  Anyhow, us showing up with all of these bags, boxes and cats kind of put a cramp in the house.