Day 8. On the road again. But first a haircut. As I made my way to the hotel parking lot shirtless, Jules exited the building on her way back from her morning workout. What was I doing she asked. Giving myself a haircut of course. Well if I was going to do that, she would ‘help’ me so at least it would be decent. Jules mentioned something about a little redneck and I agreed that I never said I wasn’t a little redneck. She suggested that perhaps I’m a lot redneck. The Babbs met us at our hotel and from there we would be leaving for one of their favorite…

Day 6. Sunday. Not a day of rest. We knew it was going to be a long slog across Texas. We were leaving the Dallas Fort Worth area and headed for El Paso, the border town with not only Juarez Mexico but also with New Mexico. We were going to cross a large portion of Texas and there would be a whole lot of nothing to see on the way. Compounding the impending boredom of the trip was leaving the relaxation and joy the entire family was experiencing with Jill and Jud and family. I wont go so far as to call them sirens but let’s just say I was…

Day 5, life on the farm. No expectations for the day other than spending time on the farm with friends and relaxing. And that’s exactly what we got. Acadia’s favorite things were swimming and fishing in the pond though if pressed I imagine she would also agree that driving a golf cart on a closed highway that was soon to be opened to the public was also on her list. The day itself was beautiful by Texas summer standards. Overcast and gray with a breeze and low 80s. The delight on our hosts’ faces as they enjoyed the day was noticeable. Things like that always stand out to me as…

Day 4 we awoke in the Washington, Arkansas jailhouse with no midnight tales of ghostly visits. However when our ‘warden’ Star arrived later with breakfast she regaled us with haunting stories she had personally experienced while working in the Inn. While awaiting for the children to wake we heard a knock on the front door of the Jailhouse BnB. Seeing two men in uniform I assumed they were from the HVAC company that had recently upgraded the air conditioning and had returned to tweak their work. Upon opening the door, Josh asked, ‘do you know where we can get some food or do you have anything?’. I opened the door…

After one day of rest Jules and I looked at each other and mutually agreed, let’s kick this trip into overtime and get our mileage over 1,000 by day 3! And so we did. We knew we had a long way to go on Day 3 and boy did we pack it in–both planned and unplanned. First stop was Beale Street in Memphis. I was very excited to share Beale Street in Memphis, home of the Blues, with Jules and the kid but unfortunately much has changed since my last visit to the city. Homelessness, garbage, general griminess has overtaken much of Beale Street. Of course the last time I…

Day 2. An opportunity NOT to drive (long distances). Unfortunately NOT an opportunity to sleep in as our thoughtful host and family member Dannah had bought tickets to the US Spaces and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. If we weren’t able to sleep in, this would be a good reason. The Rocket Center has multiple buildings, historical artifacts, amusement rides such as experiencing 3Gs of force, and numerous interactive displays. The building housing an actual Saturn V was enormous and after an hour I realized I was no more than 5% into the displays and my family was nowhere to be seen. At that point all hope was lost and…

Day 1. On Day 1 I awoke as I frequently have over these past two years as a spouse to a company commander–too early. I rolled over in bed at HiComm, children in another hotel room, only to see Jules in bed next to me, wide eyed and staring at me. Sheesh. I ask, “What time is it?”. She responds, “ten of six”. It’s so early it takes me a second to recognize that time. It’s 5:50am!! There is a huge difference between 5 and 6 and I noticed how Jules subtlety inserted the six in there. Dreaming of this day for so long both Jules and I had planned…

How Many Miles Will We Log? Day 0 because Jules said the trip shouldn’t start without us all together so rather than Day 1, we began on Day 0. Technically, all five members of the family made the same journey on Day 0. We just made it in two separate groups separated by 12 hours with Jules departing from our new home at 0700 for one final night stay at Fort Gregg-Adams with the kids and I departing at 1900. It’s funny to start a cross country trip and be preoccupied with the first two hours but there I was, preoccupied with the first two hours. A severe storm cell…