May 20 – “Day seventeen – Headin’ west”

This will be one easy day to post about.  Chris did all the heavy lifting.  She drove and drove and drove … and drove.  All the way from Central Florida back into Alabama.  We left early so we could make some good time.  Actually, the race was on between us and Luke to see who could get to the condo first.  Yep.  The race was rigged from the start.  We aren’t staying in a condo.  We are in a hotel about 20 minutes from the condo where they are staying.  So it was impossible for us to win from the outset.  But that’s OK.  Grandkids always win, right? 

 

We managed to catch the time zone change from Easter to Central, so that meant we made up an hour.  That’s probably why we got to the hotel before they got to the condo.  It’s a Twilight Zone kind of thing.  We did stop at a Firehouse Subs in Marianna, Florida for lunch.  They are the ones that give a portion of all receipts to fire fighters causes and equipment. 

 

The most exciting event of this leg of the trip was the route good ol’ Apple Siri chose to guide us into.  True Coondog Cemetery territory.  Backwoods Alabama.  Except I guess this place was a step up.  We passed a sign for airport.  Sure enough, off in a field was a small plane and a windsock.  That counts, right?  I loved passing fine dining restaurants around here, too.  One crowd favorite was The Wacked Out Weiner.  Served hot dogs.  But my absolute all time favorite was in beautiful downtown Elberta.  Roadkill Café.  No, really.  And one whole wall on the outside was painted with a mural of a guy in a chef apron out in the road gathering the day’s special.  I don’t think Chris will go there with me. 

 

Oh, and we passed a sign that said Kleinschmidt Road.  Wasn’t that the name of the team that won the last episode of Rock the Block?  Come on, any of you HGTV followers out there.  And wasn’t it in Alabama somewhere?  Oh, well.  Guess I’ll rack that one up with the not one, but two Vaughn Roads we passed as well.  Cousins somewhere back there, I’m sure. 

 

Speaking of Vaughan’s, we finally met up with the other Vaughans we know who are in Alabama.  Josh and his family made it in just in time for supper.  We met them at … Cracker Barrel.  Where else?  I suspect we’ll be seeing a bit more of them over the next few days.  By “them” I mean the family, not so much Cracker Barrel. 

 

Psalms 9:1 says, “I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.”

 

Father, thank you for our long and safe trip back here to Alabama.  Help us have some grandkid fun.  Amen.