What Now

BLOGGED ALONG THE WAY: FAMILY REUNION 2010

SUNDAY/MONDAY - AUGUST 1 & 2

CONROE, TX - HUNTSVILLE, AL

I decided to consolidate these entries because mostly we just drove.

When we were getting ready to leave Grandma's house yesterday, after another giant breakfast, she kept telling us she didn't want us to go. Actually, she said she would keep Mr. Lee and Steve, so I guess I was free to go. :P She cried, which made us all feel bad. :(

We got back on the road and I plugged back into my iPod and got out my yarn. Unfortunately, though, my wrists and hands were sore from all of the crocheting I had done earlier in the week, so I basically just sat and stared out of the window. We didn't make many stops this time, because I suppose we were just trying to get as far as possible before we had to stop for the night.

We did stop at the Louisiana welcome station, which is on another swamp, but the ramp through the area was closed.


I was walking around the side of the building to get some pictures of the lake, when something bumped my foot. I looked down and saw a locust that I'm sure would rival anything that flew during the plagues of Egypt.

And lo, God did smite the Louisiana Welcome Station
with a plague of big-assed bugs. Yea, verily.

Holy cow, ya'll, it was huge and it had come within an inch of jumping up my pants leg. I'm very grateful that it didn't, because I wasn't in the mood to freak out and strip down to my unmentionables in a public place. Ugh. I also kept running into a creepy janitor guy at the welcome station. I don't know if he was actually following me, or if I just kept getting in his way, but I was very glad Mr. Lee was nearby after Steve walked off without saying anything, because the guy kept talking to me. I now know three different uses for cattails, two of which could save my life during active combat, and that he was in Vietnam. I was glad to leave that place.

We probably could have made it all the way home, but we were very tired by the time we'd been on the road for a while and so we turned into a group of motels in Hattiesburg, MS to find a place to stay. Luckily, we found a decent place, but this is the same area we stayed in last year, and I get some bad juju vibes from this place. I don't know why, because I'm sure Hattiesburg is a lovely city, and I have no idea why I get so unsettled while I'm there, but that's the way it always is. It always makes me feel nervous when we stop there. At least we stayed in a motel that was decent and had indoor hallways. My biggest concern was that the room reeked of ammonia. It almost knocked me over when I stepped inside, although neither Steve nor his dad seemed to find it overpowering. Ugh.

We went out to dinner at a local Mexican place "Rio Grande" which was very good. I recommend it if you're ever in the area! We happened to see what was either a prostitute or a very badly dressed prom date while we were in the place, which caused quite a stir. I've seen a lot of things, but I've never seen that much ass on display in a family restaurant before...eeeesh. After that excitement, we came back to the hotel to get some rest. The ammonia smell was still thick, but there was nothing I could do about it. What was I going to do, call the front desk and complain that the room smelled too clean? I did happen to see some weird stains on the carpeting right outside the door that concerned me, but they stopped at our door. I fell asleep with the smell of ammonia in my nose and the sincere hope that no one had recently died in our room and the cleaner was just there to cover up the smell.

The next morning we got back on the road and made it home by about 3:00! I was glad to be home, but it had been a good trip!