Bonnie & Clyde take on 1800 miles

     Don't worry, I'm still catching up. (And it's a looong one. This is the fly by the seat of your pants, spontaneous, crazy people that we are, and I LOVE it!) I'm way back in July-ish, June I guess. Tuesday, June 28th to be exact. Besides the fact that moving out of town is hectic anyway, long story short, we bought a car Tuesday morning before we left and that's where the fun began. Mike finished working, I picked up the car then packed up what few belongings weren't in storage and cleaned our apartment. Sad day!  Mike & I bought the Mission President's car. Best purchase ever. We love it. Monday I had called the Idaho DMV to check on the license plate policy (because the Florida DMV was already closed and I needed some info) In Idaho when purchasing out of state you have three days to transport the vehicle to the state. I kinda assumed Florida policy wouldn't be much different so what the heck. Tuesday after I picked up the car I went to get a 30-day tag and who would have guessed it's the middle of the afternoon and they were closed! Apparently it's normal to close shop at 3:30.  Whatever, I didn't want to wait around another day just for them to have strange hours and not open up until 10 the next morning. I made an executive decision and told Mike we're hittin' the road. (I called  northern Florida DMV and she recommended that I get a 30-day tag but never said it was illegal not to so don't think I'm the worst person in the world. A close second but can you blame me, we would've lost an entire travel day!).... We were in separate cars, I was leading and Mike was following, just as a precaution to cover for our untagged car. Oh and how could I forget? Another curve ball, we got new phone's on our way out of town. I didn't know how to work it, I didn't know my number or Mike's number. When you're driving those aren't good things to try and figure out! Forget it, I just drive where I want anyway. A short time later I may have 'flown' past our exit but decided we'd just drive up the east coast and make it to Jacksonville for the night. It seemed like the same distance anyway. Mike finally decided it was best to head the other direction while we still could. At the turnoff we stopped for gas. I can't remember all the details but about this point we, or Mike discovered I had a flat tire. Yikes! I had no idea how long I had been driving on a flat. A light in the dash did come on a long time before we stopped but I assumed it was the traction control because it was rainy and maybe a bit slick. I am awesome right!? Wow, it was such an enjoyable ride I was just smooth sailing. In the Burger King parking lot we unpacked the trunk to reach the spare tire. The kids were happy to be running around. Kade even pulled out the sidewalk chalk and was drawing some sweet pictures. After getting the tire changed and the car packed again we headed for Orlando. Yes, in about 5 hours time I had taken a wrong turn, got a flat and we spent the night in Orlando. Usually only about 3 hours away. What a start. I thought we'd make it out of the state or at least be close, I was way wrong. Oops (:

So happy about his creations (:

   
     On the road Wednesday morning and you know me, I was just trying to make good time. We each had one of the kids and we drove and drove. We listened to a book on tape that was 18 hours long so that kept us pretty entertained. The drive was so beautiful! I couldn't believe how green and amazing it was. Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, all of it. I called Mike what seemed like every 10 minutes to ask if he saw how beautiful something was, or tell him I found my dream house or a place I could live and be so happy. Pretty much whatever I'd tell him if I were sitting next to him. (: We finished our drive for the day somewhere in Mississippi. We drove through a few towns that had been hit by the recent tornadoes. It's so sad to see sections of town absolutely destroyed.
      Thursday's drive was the most eventful. We continued on with what felt like more fleeing from cops, I'd have random people follow me in and out of lanes everywhere I went. I watched them get on cell phones and it sure seemed like they were calling me in, maybe it was coincidence that they followed me even when I was trying to throw them off, I was probably just being paranoid. All of it really makes me laugh though because I brought it on myself!
     One of my favorite parts of the trip was in Little Rock Arkansas and I know I'm judging the entire town but seriously it seemed like hillbilly heaven. The area we stopped for gas was pretty shady and there were bums hanging out everywhere. We had both cars parked next to each other and an old man pulls up in a white Impala so it looked similar to our car, sorta. Old man goes into the store and we are sitting on the sidewalk eating lunch. As he comes back out (and we must have been too busy because we never saw him pass us) he gets into our car. I didn't notice anything but Mike shouts "Hey, what are you doing in my car?" I look and sure enough there is some guy in our car, he's on the passenger side and looks like he's looking for something. The poor old man pops up as fast as he could, (which was really slow) and looks SO confused. Mike immediately realizes what's going on and feels so bad for scaring the pee outta him and I couldn't contain my laughter. Mike runs over to help him because he is so scared and confused now. I have a giggling problem and couldn't control it. I felt so bad for both Mike and the old man but it was still the most hilarious thing I had seen all day so I hid behind the car trying not to let them see me die of laughter. The old man tells us he thought our car was his, and then Mike apologizes and helps him into his car. I guess we were a little on edge seeing the crazy people hanging out in the parking lot. Haha!
    If you know Mike you know about his sweet sleeping skills. He can fall asleep ANYWHERE at nearly anytime. When he told me he was getting tired and we should stop it ended up being only three hours from my parent's home. I of course push it because it seems crazy to get a hotel when we're so close, plus after long drives the hardest part always seems to be the last few hours because I'm so antsy to get there. I talk Mike into driving on. (Another point for me, I'm really scoring this trip!) My Dad and brothers said they'd meet us about an hour and a half from home to take over for Mike and help us finish up the drive. My brother tells me to take a back road because you can get cruising and it saves a lot of time. Right as soon as we get on the back road I see flashing lights! I realize my wallet is in Mike's car and his is in mine! We'd been switching cars all day and totally spaced it. After my heart about beats out of my chest and I discover he's pulling Mike over and not me, Mike calls and tells me not to stop. (Another just in case... we'll try and keep it to one ticket instead of two.) I continue on barely moving and Mike never catches up to me. I can't get ahold of him, we're in the middle of nowhere and have no phone service. AWESOME. I wait in the next town for about 30 minutes and then decide I must have missed him. The locals tell me the only place to get service is about 10 miles away and just around a bend. Still no service, and no sign of Mike. I forgot to tell Mike where we were meeting my family. By the time I finally get to a place with terrible in and out service I link up with my Dad and tell him about Mike. I stayed in that particular spot for a long time afraid to move and lose service. Some people stopped and asked if I needed help. Haha, well isn't that a funny question? I'm kinda lost, need phone reception and am missing the other half of my caravan but no, I don't really need help. (Maybe just psychological help for being such a dork but nothing I really think they can help me with.) I finally kinda sorta figured out what in the world I was doing. I was waiting in the wrong place all along. I met up with my Dad and brother's in the next town, Mike was able to get ahold of Mom and she told us he was heading to Dodge City. Not the direction we were heading! My family came solely to help out Mike and his sleeping problem, he's long gone and now it's one in the morning. He says he'll be okay and that he'll meet us home. Okay, awesome, lets get out of here! Just as soon as we pull out of the two block town I see flashing lights again! My Dad is driving and his license is in his car that my brothers are now driving! At this point I'm like sweet, this can't be happening! We made it this far! The officer asks if we were just lost. Well yes, sorta. He said someone called and said I might be lost and need a little help. Nope, we're fine now! The officer walks away. Whoooosh, I think we're safe! Just then he turns back around and says, by the way, why don't you have any tags? Uh...so we tell him why He's like, oh, no big deal but don't be surprised if someone stops you in the next county, have a good night. Seriously, that's it? I'm so exhausted! I leaned down and picked up a water bottle for a drink and as the liquid touches my lips I immediately spit it out. So. SICK. Surprise surprise, it was NOT water....Needless to say after a LONG day we pull in the driveway at two in the morning and Mike had beat us home. What a trip! It was supposed to be around 1800 miles and 30 hours but after all the excitement and hold-ups I lost track. I still love my road trips!

Goodbye Apt. 2008, Best view of Miami and the beach I'll ever have!