Day 1 - Drive to Knoxville
Today we drove most of the way to Alabama and stayed in a hotel in Knoxville. (Remember, we're doing this to save money - Best Westerns are free.)
I woke up at 6am to a nightmare, then felt sick to my stomach as I tried to go back to sleep. I don't know if I woke with a start or what, but when I popped my eyes open to see what time it was, Michael popped his open and got up. I fell back to sleep until around 7, and felt much better. By the time I showered, cut fruit and veggies for the trip, prepped my coffee, got Kara ready, etc, it was 9am, so we hit the road. (Michael always gets up at his normal time and sits around waiting for us to be ready. He always makes sure he does something fun so I know he isn't anxious to leave, he's simply ready to go whenever I am. I LOVE traveling with him.)
Since we were leaving at 9 and hitting DC around 9:30 or 9:45, Michael said the traffic shouldn't be bad so we can do that way. (He worked in DC many different times and is super familiar with the traffic patterns.) He always leaves it up to me (besides really not caring, he knows it's easier to let me and my crazy brain be in charge of things like that so I don't second guess myself the whole day). Anyway, we got stuck in traffic due to an accident on the other side of the road on 295. Then another one on our side. Then traffic all through 495 just because it is 495. Then 66 was a mess - they closed a whole lane (which turned out to be for no reason), and didn't let us use the right lane - only because it wasn't rush hour. I've never seen a highway that has an extra lane just for rush hour. Otherwise it has to be used as a shoulder. Okay. Basically we spent and hour and thirty minutes sitting in traffic when we should have been through there in about 45 minutes. Grrr. Is it time to move yet?
At least the weather was pretty. It was unseasonably cool, but very sunny.
Kara is ALWAYS an angel in the car. We drove 9 hours today and barely even knew she was there! She reads, plays on her computer, gets her own food, her own drinks (which I pack), and only needed a bathroom break once - when we were stopping for me anyway.
Kara and Michael were hungry for McDonalds early around 11:20. It took forever, then I found a chick fil a around 12:45 when I was hungry. (My coffee has milk and creamer, so it usually keeps me pretty full for several hours.)
Michael drives whenever I'd like him to because he is so sweet to me. So, he drove all the yucky DC stuff, then I drove from around 11:30 to 4:30. I was pretty tired, so he finished for me.
We got here to the hotel at 5:45. We checked in, got Kara in the pool, and ordered O'Charley's for dinner. There is one so close to the hotel, I could have walked. That is, of course, if I had ordered from that one! Here in Knoxville there are zillions of them, so I placed my order at a restaurant 15 minutes away. lol! I came home to ask Michael if he was mad and he said, "of course not! I don't care at all!" And THAT is why God gave me Michael. Now I can just chuckle about the goof up.
When I called in the dinner order here in Tennessee, she asked for my phone number, and I prefaced my answer with a warning that it's an out of state number. She said, "Well, gee, I couldn't tell that at all by your accent!" I said, "Hey! YOU are the one with the accent!" lol. She talked to me all about where I was from, where we were going, she said her "mama and daddy" were born and raised in northern Alabama and she was happy for us. lol. I'm telling you, in Maryland, people like this just don't exist!! Not to mention, in the south, when people ask us why we are moving and I say God led us to, they get it and share how God did the same for them. Up north people get uncomfortable and quiet, or worse yet, fight with you about being wrong about God existing.
We BELONG down here!!!
I woke up at 6am to a nightmare, then felt sick to my stomach as I tried to go back to sleep. I don't know if I woke with a start or what, but when I popped my eyes open to see what time it was, Michael popped his open and got up. I fell back to sleep until around 7, and felt much better. By the time I showered, cut fruit and veggies for the trip, prepped my coffee, got Kara ready, etc, it was 9am, so we hit the road. (Michael always gets up at his normal time and sits around waiting for us to be ready. He always makes sure he does something fun so I know he isn't anxious to leave, he's simply ready to go whenever I am. I LOVE traveling with him.)
Since we were leaving at 9 and hitting DC around 9:30 or 9:45, Michael said the traffic shouldn't be bad so we can do that way. (He worked in DC many different times and is super familiar with the traffic patterns.) He always leaves it up to me (besides really not caring, he knows it's easier to let me and my crazy brain be in charge of things like that so I don't second guess myself the whole day). Anyway, we got stuck in traffic due to an accident on the other side of the road on 295. Then another one on our side. Then traffic all through 495 just because it is 495. Then 66 was a mess - they closed a whole lane (which turned out to be for no reason), and didn't let us use the right lane - only because it wasn't rush hour. I've never seen a highway that has an extra lane just for rush hour. Otherwise it has to be used as a shoulder. Okay. Basically we spent and hour and thirty minutes sitting in traffic when we should have been through there in about 45 minutes. Grrr. Is it time to move yet?
 |
| 30 miles an hour felt like we were flying! |
 |
| Doh. |
At least the weather was pretty. It was unseasonably cool, but very sunny.
Kara is ALWAYS an angel in the car. We drove 9 hours today and barely even knew she was there! She reads, plays on her computer, gets her own food, her own drinks (which I pack), and only needed a bathroom break once - when we were stopping for me anyway.
 |
| She read a whole book today. |
Kara and Michael were hungry for McDonalds early around 11:20. It took forever, then I found a chick fil a around 12:45 when I was hungry. (My coffee has milk and creamer, so it usually keeps me pretty full for several hours.)
Michael drives whenever I'd like him to because he is so sweet to me. So, he drove all the yucky DC stuff, then I drove from around 11:30 to 4:30. I was pretty tired, so he finished for me.
We got here to the hotel at 5:45. We checked in, got Kara in the pool, and ordered O'Charley's for dinner. There is one so close to the hotel, I could have walked. That is, of course, if I had ordered from that one! Here in Knoxville there are zillions of them, so I placed my order at a restaurant 15 minutes away. lol! I came home to ask Michael if he was mad and he said, "of course not! I don't care at all!" And THAT is why God gave me Michael. Now I can just chuckle about the goof up.
When I called in the dinner order here in Tennessee, she asked for my phone number, and I prefaced my answer with a warning that it's an out of state number. She said, "Well, gee, I couldn't tell that at all by your accent!" I said, "Hey! YOU are the one with the accent!" lol. She talked to me all about where I was from, where we were going, she said her "mama and daddy" were born and raised in northern Alabama and she was happy for us. lol. I'm telling you, in Maryland, people like this just don't exist!! Not to mention, in the south, when people ask us why we are moving and I say God led us to, they get it and share how God did the same for them. Up north people get uncomfortable and quiet, or worse yet, fight with you about being wrong about God existing.
We BELONG down here!!!
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