Whirlwind Road-Trip DriveTime Challenge Extravaganza 2006

A few weeks ago, April, Jacob, and I embarked on our first long road trip together. Over eleven days, we drove from Austin to Atlanta and back, visiting family and relaxing on the way. Here's how our trip went down:

(Day 1) We stayed at Paw-Paw and Mimi's house in Dallas. That evening, we ate with Uncle Buddy, Vicky, Courtney, Christopher, and Paw-Paw and Mimi (of course). Jacob played with the very same toys I had played with when I was his age! Mimi saved them over all these years.

Since the Balcoms live in Allen, to continue our journey we needed to take some state highways in order to get back to the interstate. At one point, the road shrunk to a 2-lane road, and our progress was hindered by those in front of us. We were about 5 miles from reaching IH-30 when the traffic came to a sudden halt. There was a line of cars, trucks, and tractors as far ahead as we could see. No one was getting through. The driver of the truck directly in front of us started talking on his walkie-talkie. I joked, "Maybe that man in front of us can tell us what's going on." Many of the cars ahead were turning around. The situation looked hopeless. We waited. And waited. I turned to April and said, "Well, what do you want to do?" Just at that moment, the truck in front of us turned around and screeched away. "I want you to do whatever the man with the walkie-talkie does!" April replied. And we were off! The truck quickly turned onto an unmarked dusty gravel road with us in pursuit! Just before we were completely sealed in our very own dust cloud, I spotted two (2) vehicles following us! With sweaty hands, I maneuvered Jonesy through this path, heads bobbing due to the craters and bumps in the rough road. My only guide was two very faint red brake lights ahead of me from Mr. Walkie-Talkie.

Jacob slept in his car seat with his new toy guitar cradled in his arm.

April and I were grinning ear-to-ear, as we were able to use Jonesy in an SUV-like manner. We remarked that we probably looked like a pretty decent commercial for Saturn. After 10 minutes of driving, our caravan finally hit pavement. We saw a sign: "IH-30, 2 miles". We made it!

The moral of this story: If you see a man with a walkie-talkie speeding away from a long line of traffic - Follow That Man.

During the remaining drive from Dallas to Memphis, we stopped in Texarkana and ate some surprisingly delicious mexican food. We also checked out a really cool playground ("Kidtopia") located in a creepy part of town. We played at Kidtopia until April said this: "Yeah, I'm pretty sweaty, and I've only been laying in a tire."

(Day 2) We stayed at the Heddens house in Memphis, to break-up our drive to Nashville.

(Day 3-4) We stayed at Grand-Mommer and Grand-Tony's house in Nashville. We did some shopping, saw Emily's restaurant in Eagleville, and got to visit with Uncle Jason a bit. While at a gas station, I neglected to put the hose back before I drove away. No, gas didn't spill all over the place, catch fire, and burn the place down. Nothing happened. (I was quite disappointed.) I went inside to report the incident to the girl at the cash register between the display of pop rocks and the packets of Energy Pills. I said, "I ripped that hose off right there... with my sheer strength." She said, "... really?"

(Day 5) We met up with the Heddens at the Chattanooga Choo-Choo. We saw one of the largest H.O. train sets, then drove to to Blue Ridge, Georgia. We took a long route, passing by the one of the locations of the 1996 Olympic games along the Ocoee River. It was during this leg of the trip that Jacob introduced us to his "burrito guitar" - his toy guitar wrapped in a soft, flour tortilla. Yum! That evening, April and I stayed at a nearby Bed and Breakfast, the Overlook Inn.

(Day 6-9) The first part of the sixth day, we checked out the World of Coca-Cola Museum in Atlanta. At the end of the self-guided tour, there is a huge room full of soda fountains of the Coca-Cola products from around the world. It was here that Jacob learned he likes both regular Coke and a Taiwanese Mango-Pineapple Coke. (Or something like that.) For dinner, we went to The Varsity, a famous burger joint near Georgia Tech that we have seen featured on more than one Food Network special. They have been serving hamburgers, hot dogs, chili dogs, etc, for 78 years! "What'll Ya Have?!"

That evening, we drove on to the Hedden's cabin on Lake Sinclair, two hours south of Atlanta. The next day, we visited with Uncle George and Aunt Carla and took a small ride on the pontoon boat (a.k.a. "The Party Barge"). Definitely the highlight of the entire trip was the second full day at the cabin - we spent about 9 hours on the lake on the party barge, the fishing boat, and the jet-ski. At the time, Jacob said that his favorite boat of the three was the "small, fast boat". Now, he claims that the big boat was his favorite.

(Day 9) Our last day in Georgia was spent going to cousin Laurie's wedding in Atlanta, staying at Granny and "Captain"'s house in Atlanta, and attending church and lunch with the family.

(Day 10-11) The last two days were spent trekking 19-hours back to Austin. Driving through Vicksburg, MS, we saw a sign for a place called Cowboy Maloney's Electric City. We were intrigued by the store's name since... <-insert your own joke here->. Unfortunately, they were closed for the day.

We stopped in Monroe, LA, to spend the night at a stinky hotel. We had a room with a king size bed, and, as an experiment, the three of us attempted to sleep together in that bed. There was more than enough room, but Jacob repeatedly kicked me in the ribs while I slept. A few times, I would wake up and see Jacob gently patting my shoulder or my arm. It was a sweet and painful evening.

The last day, we drove through the Talladega National Forest Scenic Drive and later tried to find the place where Bonnie and Clyde met their maker. With only 3 hours left of our drive, we stopped at Sonic; Jacob wanted a "strawberry milkshaker".

We made it home in one piece. YAY!

I would be remiss not to give a shout-out to Uncle Ryan, the "Unclessence of Cool". He gave me a small, color tv for Christmas this past year that we used a lot during the slow parts of our trip. At one point, Jacob was watching The Tigger Movie (also a gift from Ryan) in his car seat while April and I shared earplugs to listen/watch "Showtime at the Apollo". Ha-ha, that Mo-nique! She crazy.

Here are the picture sets from our trip:
Dallas / Nashville
Chattanooga
North Georgia
Coca-Cola / Varsity
Cabin
Atlanta
Drive Home

Enjoy!