Unfortunate Events...

Day 4 - Sunday July 8th 

We woke up fairly early for us, around 7.30am but no matter what time we wake up we never seem to get on the road before 10.30am.

 In fact we didn't cover many miles today, since we made so many stops for one thing or another. 

Spent the night at Fred Gannon Rocky Bayou State Park, in Niceville, FL. Just outside of Destin. The park was nice, very private and had spacious sites for only $16.

There was a lake for swimming, very pretty but it had a weird smell and blood red water, might have been the claythat made the wayer red, anyway, kids wanted to swin in it but we quickly changed thier monds and offered a play in the park instead. The bathrooms were nice, there were washer/dryers and sinks for washing dishes.

 We were going to eat cold stuff from the cooler for dinner but the kids wanted something hot. So I pulled out the trusty electric skillet and heated up some rice, beans, corn & veggies. Then a few flour tortilla wraps and guacamole with tortilla chips and voila, dinner!

For those wondering what kitchen gadgets I ended up taking, I only brought the electric skillet. We also have a 2 burner propane stove with pans for those times when we have no power at all.

After dinner we took a walk down by the lake and to the park.

Before bed we all decided to admire the clear sky and the stars for a while. It was a welcomed treat since we didn't have the rain fly up on the tent. But we should have taken the time to at least put the rain fly in the tent because around 3:30 am it began to sprinkle! We sprung out of bed in a frantic panic and scrambled for the car half asleep and with no flashlights, and wouldn't you know it as soon as we put on the fly, the rain stopped! Funny thing was it was only supposed to be a 20% chance of rain. Lesson learned, from now on the rain fly goes on or stays ready in the tent.

Day 5 - Monday July 9th

Got up early and packed up the truck. Had a quick breakfast and got on the road. We headed through Destin on  route 98. 

We prefer to avoid the highways and drive on smaller roads, to enjoy the sites and get more of a feel for an area. Jorge likes to talk to the people in the area too, he says it makes him get a better feel for what the places are really like. We also pull over often and usually unexpectedly. Surprise stops give us great photo ops and we get to discover new areas we never would have spotted on a map.

Like when we stopped off in the quaint town of Fairhope, Alabama where we went for a walk with the dog along the beach. Beautiful area. They call it the "Marthas's Vineyard" of the South.

We ended up in Historic Blakeley State Park, in Spanish Fort, Alabama for the night. The park was a preservation site of one of the last battles during the Civil War. 3000 Confederate soldiers held off 12,000 Union troops, and it is also said to be the last surrender of the Confederate Army during the Civil War. It was a beautiful park and offered lots of hiking trails. The park was pretty empty except for two groups of campers, one family and one group of 4 guys. We camped between them.

A short while after setting up camp we received a visit from a woman and her daughter. The Mother, Melinda, politely introduced herself as her child tried to play with our girls. Then her son came over. Their kids were pretty roudy and although our kids tried to play with them they seemed to have trouble socializing. But the family seemed friendly enough so Jorge invited them to walk one of the trails with us.

A short while later we met the father, Daniel and learned that they were travelling across the country. At first we thought it was similar to what we were doing, but quickly we learned that wasn't the case at all. It seemed they had come form Arizona and had little, possibly nothing to their name. Or so they said. That's them pictured above, along with a stray dog that joined us for the hike.

It was a gorgeous sunset, the kids were having fun, we were at ease...but something was not right with the new family we had met. Just before the walk ended they seemed to have argued about something and that sent Melinda in the opposite direction to the rest of the group. We parted ways then and headed back to our camp for the night.

All seemed well. We played a few games with the kids. Sophie, Jessica and Emily feel asleep pretty quickly. Abigail was almost out.  Then it started...

I was reading my book and jumped out of bed at the sound of screams and yells coming from the other family's camp. It was too far away to really make out any precise words, but they were definately arguing. We continued to watch the scene unfold, and quickly it escalated from shouting to one of them getting behind the wheel of their car and trying to run the other person over!!! Now we're freaking out. The car began to circle thier camp site and suddenly lunge forward toward someone in the shadows! On the first attempt we heard the car run over something and then heard Melinda scream at the top of her lungs.

At this point Abigail was awake and we are trying to keep her calm. We thought he had possibly run over her or the kids, so Jorge called the camp host and told him he should call the Sheriff for back up. By this point, it had escalated. Now Melinda was behind the wheel of the car and was circling the campground aimlessly at first, then rushing madly at Daniel & their tent and trying to run him over. Finally, Melinda floored it and really went after Daniel, that was when we heard this really loud CRUNCH! that echoed through the entire area. At first we thought that she killed him! We later learned, the only reason she stopped was because the firepit got stuck under the car.  Now, the whole time this is going on we are loading up the kids and stuff and preparing to get the hell out of Dodge. My fear was what if those headlights came in our direction!!

 By the time the cops showed up with the camp hosts we were ready to go. Not sure where their kids were during the chaos, but amazingly no one was hurt. The host assured us that they were going to be removed by the police, and that we would be safe. Even the 4 guys that were near us said we had nothing to fear and that they all had guns! Not an uncommon thing for these parts. Never the less, we left and found refuge in a nice La Quinta suite for the night. (FYI, All La Quinta hotels take pets!) A little shaken up by the nights events, we strolled into the hotel in our pyjamas and tucked the kids in. Relieved for a safe nights sleep.

Day 6 - Tuesday July 10th

The kids were very excited to wake up early for the hotel breakfast! We took advantage of all the amenities, & tried to forget about the events of the previous night. After breakfast I put in some laundry and took the kids to the pool. We were all excited about taking hot showers with no spiders. And then the kids got to watch TV while I went down to use the Internet. We had a late check out, so we left around 1pm and headed back to the campground to pack up the tent & rest of our stuff. Everyone had already left, and we had to pack up quickly to beat the rain storm heading our way.

We learned that they had arrested Melinda, she admitted to everything and that the Father had spent the night with the kids in the camp!!! But he had been asked to leave that morning.

There are some crazy people in the world, but we don't need that kind of drama!

I was dead against getting a gun before, but now I am considering it!

Having just took down the tent at 2pm, not looking forward to taking it out again in a few hours. Obviously we didn't make it very far today.

Found gas for $2.99/gallon in Mobile, Alabama.

We camped on Lake Perry near Beaumont, Mississippi in a state park for $13. It was overcast, but we set up the tent and then went for a short 1/2 mile hike. We played some card games in the tent before calling it a night. When we turned the lights out we saw fireflies, which was pretty neat.

Day 7 Wed July 11th

We packed up, had breakfast and got on the road around 10.30am. It was an overcast, rainy day perfect for making some ground today.  Temperatures were much cooler today, but we were still sweating like crazy after taking down the tent! We take turns driving, one day I drive, the next day Jorge drives. Otherwise we'd be fighting to drive. You might be wondering why? Imagine sitting in the passenger seat, passing out snacks constantly, controlling the movies, music, and dealing with squabbles, temperature control, map navigating( yes that's right we don't need a GPS) and making reservations! That's why we LIKE to be in the drivers seat.

We were making good ground today, then I got pulled over! Speeding ticket for the bargain price of $133!!!!

Due to the torrential rain, we decided not to camp and use our points for a free night at a hotel. We just learned that all La Quinta Hotels are pet friendly, & they don't charge extra pet fees. Gotta love that! I made pasta in the electric skillet for dinner, LOVE my skillet.

Tidbits for today: Cool town names:  Hot Coffee and Soso both in Mississippi. Cool sign: Prison ahead please don't pick up any hitchhikers.