July 21st - Worst Day of the Year!

This is always the worst day - having to pack up and go home!  We were up at 6 am and got everything packed.  Bill had to run the crib over to Hazel and John's as they offered to return it to the rental place later in the day.  Then he had to start loading the van.  If it were only our things, it would have taken all of 10 minutes.  However, we had to take back a lot of stuff for David and Lisa (particularly the jogging stroller), plus we had to drop Vanett and Sydnie off at the airport, so there had to be room for them and their 3 suitcases.  I would like to report that everything fit, with a tiny bit of room to spare!

We took off shortly before 9 am.  We dropped Vanett and Sydnie off at the airport and then started north on I-95.  Bill hadn't filled the tank before leaving the beach, so the first order of business was to find a gas station.  We got that done and had only gone a little ways when Bill announced he was really hungry and wanted to stop for an early lunch.  That was fine with me, so we started looking.  We pulled off at an interchange that looked promising, but it turned out there was nothing except fast food and a Denny's.  We decided to try that, but after waiting to be seated for 10 minutes or so and seeing that people already seated were not getting waited on very fast, we just left.  That was fortunate, because the next exit up had a Cracker Barrell which is what we preferred in the first place!  By then, it was 12:15 - so much for an early lunch - and we hit the peak of the crowd.  They are good about moving people through quickly, though, plus there is all that shopping while you wait, so we made it in and had a great lunch.  The whole thing took forever, though.  We had to make another gas stop south of Atlanta.  So we made 5 stops (airport, gas, unsuccessful lunch try, lunch, and gas) on the trip home!  We only made two on the way down with the kids. 

We finally got home at 6:10.  It took us nine hours to make a seven hour trip.  I think we are getting old!!

Our classic statement as we left St. Augustine:  "Only 50 more weeks until we go to the beach!"