Our trip to Fort Jackson was filled with sweet memories.  And bitter-sweet as well.  We left on Monday the week of Thanksgiving and spent the entire day on the road.  Our Google map calculated a total of 10 hours and 49 minutes for the trip.  We didn’t consider the hour we would be losing as we changed time zones.  We left my house around 7:00 a.m.  Multiple stops for eating, pottying and refueling… road construction, heavy traffic and rain in the outer Atlanta area… getting lost  a few “minor” direction challenges… entering a new time zone… and a sweet forever later… WE ARRIVED!  After 10:00 p.m.

Consider that I totally forgot to print the close-up maps for our destinations, that Poppy is a 70 year old diabetic and Sophie is only 2.  We were actually amazed how good Sophie was on the trip.  She managed a weak whine a few times after waking up from her naps.  “I want my bed!  We almost home?”  God’s grace was truly upon us.  She was such an angel—especially for such a long time in a carseat.  Since she’s been home… well, that’s another post. 

Poor Poppy drove most of the way there.  AND the way back.  When I finally took over, we were entering the outskirts of Atlanta.  That’s where the road work, heavy traffic AND rain challenged us.  It wasn’t long before I realized our next stop would include a driver swap.  Poppy said it took him two weeks to drive through Atlanta one day. 😉  You catch that?

Here’s a few shots of our travel time…

 
The "eyes" have it!

The "eyes" have it!

 
 
Sophie Sitter

Sophie Sitter

 
 
Mangadoodle--must have!

Mangadoodle--must have!

 
Poppy's Driving Skills

Poppy's Driving Skills

Sweet Zzzzzzs

Sweet Zzzzzzs

 

I’ll skip the WFMW post on travelling tips and just tell you the secret… a Magnadoodle!  For Sophie, anyway.  She can now recognize her name, draw a circle and somewhat of a smiley face.

If I could figure out how to send video clips from my cell, I would share Courtney’s new favorite past time while eating out.  “SOME” Poppy taught her how to shoot straw paper at a certain toddler.  EVERYWHERE we ate, we had stacks of straws and wads of straw paper decorating our tables.  The clip on my phone almost looks like a slow motion clip of Sophie being hit by heavy artillery.  What’s even funnier (YEA, it was funny!) is that Sophie kept apologizing after getting hit by the spitwads.  Got that on my cell clip as well.  If anybody can tell me how to send it to Alltel My Pics, I’d love to know.  I also have a sweet clip of the Poppy skipping as he leaves a rest area.  Guess he was feeling pretty rested.

A few other highlights include the discovery of Flippen, Georgia.  I don’t know about you, but that cracked us slap up.  It was on the way home, so we were probably a bit punch drunk.  I did my best Napoleon Dynamite-like impressions.  “Where are we now?  FLIPPEN Georgia! Just take the next Flippen exit.”  I know…lame.

We also discovered the importance of an atlas or at the very least, detailed in-city maps from Google.  Never, EVER Mapquest.  We came to the realization that one wrong turn is all it takes.  And you’re lost!  Completely, totally, without a doubt going-in-the-wrong-direction lost.  Those detailed maps helped Joe and me out a lot when we travelled to North Carolina December 2005 for my tubal-reversal.  Somehow I forgot.  And I even made a list and checked it twice before I left.  Guess more important things than maps made the top of the list.  SOMEbody sorta’ overpacked.  But that’s another post as well.  Let’s just say that if Joe would’ve been able to get off of work, we’d have strapped him to the top.  Or, uh, the luggage.  Yea, strapped the luggage to the top.  Kidding, honey! 😉

Well, that’s a bit of the start of journey…I’ll let you breathe a moment before I overwhelm you with more photos and details, details, details. 

Stay tuned…

signature