Days 13, 14 & 15 Jackson MS to Midland to Iowa Park

Here are a couple pictures from the Thursday that I didn't get to post.  This is the Pedro's where we crossed from North Carolina into South Carolina.

This is the Talladega speedway and crossing into Mississippi

Day 13 - Friday June 14th
We left Jackson around 7:45 knowing it was going to be a long hard day.  We had about 750 miles to travel.  We came to the conclusion that Mississippi roads could use some work.

We crossed into Louisiana around 8:30 and decided to make a stop in Monroe and visit the Duck Dynasty head quarters.  It was really busy and we didn't stay long.

We stopped for a quick burger in Shreveport and paid the highest price of the trip for gas, $3.95 per gallon (we have to use premium in the 37).  We were back on the road by about 12:15.  The thing that struck me most about driving through Louisiana was all of the different smells; none of them were very good.

 

As we crossed into Texas it struck me that in every state we had crossed over many rivers and lakes.  Once we entered Texas that all stopped and I missed it but it was good to be back in Texas. 

 

We managed to make it to Dallas around 2:30, so the traffic wasn't terrible.  We were able to make it all the way across Dallas and Fort Worth in about an hour, not to bad.  About 60 miles before we got to Midland we ran into rain which slowed us down a little.  There was also a wreck on I 20 which made all of the traffic have to get off and use the service road for about a mile.  We finally made it to Derrick's house around 8 PM.

Day 14 Midland

The reason that we went to Derrick's instead of coming home was to be there for Anna's birthday party.  I can't belive she is 2 already.

She loved the chair and the car we got her.

Day 15 Midland to Iowa Park

This morning she had to fix her Poppy breakfast with her new kitchen and play food.

It is always so hard to leave Midland, we finally got on the road about 2:30, of course it was later than we planned to leave, and got home around 7:30.

As we were driving the last leg of this 2 week adventure I noticed that the farther west we have traveled the shorter and scrawnier the trees have gotten.  We drove through a couple Natinal Forests on this trip and then come home to this.

We had a great trip and are very thankful that we had this opportunity.  I am also VERY happy to be home and able to sleep in my bed tonight.

That is the conclusion of a wonderful trip. 
 

THE END

Day 12 Carolina Beach NC to Jackson MS

Well, it was very sad to leave the beach and even sadder to leave my Aunt Barb & Wayne.  We had such a good time with them! 

We got on the road at 9 AM just as planned.  Once again David was frustrated by the 55 mile per hour speed limit in the majority of NC.  He was so happy when we crossed the border into South Carolina and the speed limit went up to 70.  As soon as we crossed the state line there was a place called "Pedro's South of the Border" (I left the camera in the car so I can't download the pictures ... sorry).  It was huge, had at least 2 gas stations, convenience stores, a couple souvenir stores, an RV park, a play ground, a hotel and the list goes on and on.  Check it out if you are ever in that area.

We stopped for lunch at a place called Fatz in Lexington SC (just outside of Columbia).  I had the best chicken dish I think I have ever eaten.  It was a marinated and grilled chicken breast served on top of a slice of grilled watermelon, yes, I said watermelon.  I know it sounds strange but it was fantastic.  Our server was named Kyla and she was one of the best servers we have ever had.  The manager came over and talked to us for a few minutes when she found out that we had never eaten at a Fatz before.  We were impressed with this place from start to finish.

We hit some light rain near Talledaga Alabama, nothing bad.  We were a little worried when we were getting into Atlanta at 4:45 and we had to drive all the way thru Atlanta.  It went surprisingly well until we were almost all the way through the city.  We ran into a couple of traffic slow downs but nothing major.

For dinner we stopped in Tuscaloosa Alabama, O'Charley's.  This is a chain restaurant that we have seen several places on this trip and the parking lots were usually busy so we wanted to give it a try.  We were not disappointed.  We had another excellent meal and great service from, Brittney.  If you are ever in an area where there is an O'Charley's I recommend it. 

We crossed over into Mississippi before 9:30, making pretty decent time.  Then the scariest moment of the trip happened.  We were somewhere on I 20 in Mississippi with no other cars around and it was pitch dark.  We were entering a construction area and the right lane was ending.  All of the sudden the headlights, dash lights, everything went out. OMG was it dark.  David was stomping on the brakes and we were both in a bit of a panic.  He reached down and jiggled the switch for the headlights and they came back on.  Apparently one the bumps (there were many) was just right to cause the lights to go out.  I know they had to have been out for only a few seconds but it seemed like forever when we were going 70 MPH in the pitch dark!  Thank you God for keeping us safe!!!

After that incident we decided we were done for the night so we pulled off in Jackson MS.  We tried 2 hotels and they were both full.  The third time was the charm and we were finally checked into a room around 11:15.

We will hit the road again in the morning and head to Midland for Anna's 2nd birthday party.

Day 10 & 11 Carolina Beach NC

Well, it has been a great couple of days here at Carolina Beach.  I could sure get used to this life, relaxing on the deck or on the beach, it's a tough decision.

Chef David made omelets for everyone ... he makes a good omelet.

The scenery here is not too bad ...

Last night we had a really good dinner at a place called "Freddies", the food was really good and there was so much we had the rest for dinner tonight.  Before going to dinner we drove down to the end of the island and took some pictures of the car near the ocean.

 
This morning we went souvenir shopping and then spend the afternoon laying on the beach for a couple of hours before coming back up and relaxing on the deck and then a walk on the pier.

There was a guy on the pier that had caught a baby shark, he was letting everyone touch it and then threw it back.

I can't believe that our time here has come to an end, we will be heading back to Texas in the morning.

Day 8 & 9 Charlotte to Raeford to Carolina Beach

Day 8 Charlotte to Raeford NC

The last part of the Power Tour is the "Long Hauler" awards on Saturday morning.  The awards are supposed to start at 9 AM but we wanted to leave the hotel around 7:30 so we wouldn't have to park out in last parking lot.  We actually left around 7:50 and had no problem getting into the venue.

This is the sign that was outside of our hotel room door in Charlotte.  How appropriate?

Jenna and Cason had to put in a little work to earn their trip home.  LOL

It sprinkled on us a little while we were waiting for the awards to start.  They started on time and we were done around 9:40.  We knew there would be a wait with everyone tyring to get out of the parking lot so we found a place and did a little photo shoot to wrap up Power Tour events.  We finished up and were on the road headed to Raeford by around 10:30.

So that is the end of the Power Tour portion of our trip.  We are ready to head out our separate ways.

Since we were only about 2 hours away, we wanted to go see David's mother, sister and brother in law that live in Raeford NC.  The trip to Raeford was pretty uneventful.  Outside of Rockingham we noticed that the traffic was going from 55 to a standstill for no apparently reason.  As we inched forward we saw a small sign on the side of the road that said "Slow Death In Family Ahead".  I have never seen anything like that before.

To pass the time on this leg of our journey we decided to make a best and worst list.  We decided that NC has the worst, least considerate drivers in all of the states we have been through on this trip.  They drive slow in the passing lane, don't move over, run red lights and the streets signs are rare and they have stop lights in the middle of no where.  We didn't really decide who has the best drivers.  Arkansas and Tennessee had the lowest gas prices, North Carolina has the most expensive.  The best roads were in Texas, of course, and the worst were in Arkansas.  Our best hotel was in Texarkana, the worst was in Chattanooga.  The best food that we had was at Big River Grill in Chattanooga, the worst was at a Shooney's in Rockingham NC.  Our closest call with law enforcement was coming out of the Smokey Mountains on the way to Charlotte.  We got lucky but the red car a little way behind us wasn't so lucky. 

We had a really nice visit with our family and enjoyed the opportunity to catch up with them.



Day 9 Raeford to Carolina Beach NC
We left Raeford around 4:30 Sunday afternoon and made it to Carolina Beach around 7 PM

The best sign on this leg of the journey was a billboard for a florist called "Smellie Bloomers".  What a great name!

We had dinner and visited or a while and were pretty exhausted from all of our travels.

This is the view from the deck of the condo we are staying in.

We went to a great place for lunch today called Bluewater Grill.

 

As you can see this resturant is on the water and has a draw bridge very close that went up while we were there.



We had a great, relaxing day today and are glad we will get to enjoy the beach for another day or two before heading back to Texas.

The adventure continues.

Day 7 Chattanooga to Charlotte NC

We planned to leave at 6:30 this morning for the final leg of the Power Tour.  Today is the longest day of the trip and includes going through the Cherokee National Forest and Great Smokey Mountains.  Here are a couple pics from this mornings hotel parking lot car show.

We actually pulled out around 6:45 and it was pretty cool and foggy.  I even had to pull out my hoodie and wore it most of the morning.  It was a late night last night because of the event at Coker Tire and we are both really tired this morning.

Here are a couple shots of the Ocoee River, the Cherokee National Forest and the Great Smokey Mountains.

 

As you can see from this shot, we spent a while traveling behind this really nice 64 Impala.  We also traveled with this pretty vette this morning.

 

These are NOT my friends.  All of this out doors stuff is so hard on my allergies!

 



 

Since we travel the route today we went through several small towns.  We don't think much work got done in Murphy NC today.  It seemed like the whole town was out watching all of us go through their town.  We made a quick pit stop in Hickory NC before continuing on to Mooresville to Roush Yates.  They had an Open House and cookout for us today.  All of the people there were great.  They were friendly and actually acted like they enjoyed having us there.  We got there about 1:30 and left for ZMax Raceway around 2:45.

 

 

Apparently having the event at ZMax is a pretty big deal. I just don't know enough about drag racing to really appreciate it, I guess.  The guys at Roush told us about a back way to get to the Venue.  So, we again drove through some really pretty (and green) country side with very little traffic and go the ZMax around 3:50. 

 

 

vist some of the vendor11s.  David was even able to get a picture with Courtney Hansen (she used to be on the TV show Overhaulin, as well as some others).



 

We left the venue around 5:30 and found the hotel with no problems.  I redeemed myself with this hotel.  It is really nice and the staff was very friendly when we checked in.  We went to a TGI Friday that was close to the hotel for dinner.  Just after we got back to the hotel it started raining again. We have had really good timing about missing most of the heavy rain this week. 

 

We get to go back to the race track in the morning for the "long hauler" awards and a final wrap up of the events.  It has been a great week, we are tired but have had a lot of fun!