1,100 Miles, One-Way

On Tuesday the 13th, Ryan and I began our road trip to the Sunshine State.  Packed up in my Civic Hybrid were all the necessities… beach towels, swimsuits, beach umbrella, snacks, a cooler, and our bikes (the only thing we forgot was shampoo/conditioner.  My fault!)  We kind of got a late start for such a long trip (10 AM ish), but we just went with the flow anyway.  We would get there one way or another.

Did I mention we drove (ahem, correction, RYAN drove) 24 hours straight to Florida?!?  I mean, of course we had to make the regular stops for food, gas, restroom, etc… but no stopping to sleep!  We also had to make a few extra stops.

Our first stop was the Apple Store in St. Louis.  For some reason, I all of a sudden supported Ryan’s idea of getting an iPad.  ;-)  Maybe because he hasn’t had an iPhone in a month, as he’s been waiting on the iPhone 4, and this would help hold him over a little longer.  Perhaps also because he was going to get one anyway, and what better time than when we could use it on our trip to FL?

We had to take the official, unwrapping new Apple product pictures.

Ooo, it’s so shiny!

We also had to stop at a Honda dealer for an oil change, which turned out to be just perfect timing.  We saw the dealer from the road in Illinois, and as soon as we took the exit, my first oil light came on for 15% oil life.  They took walk-ins and waiting included, it only took about an hour.  While they were doing that, we rode our bikes just down the road to a Starbucks.

That day we drove through a total of 6 states: Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida.  It was a bit insane, but I was all for it if Ryan could do it.  I was absolutely no help, as I was tired by 9 pm and slept on and off through the early morning.  I only drove a total of about 2-3 hours on the way there.  Ryan was sipping on energy drinks and listening to comedians to stay awake.  Most of the other time, we listened to the new John Mark McMillan album, The Medicine.

It is very strange when the days run together, especially when you’re stuck in the car watching it happen.

I was getting a bit anxious for the beach!  Can you tell?

Like I said in this post, we saw this amazing full (and almost double) rainbow as we drove through a few raindrops in Tennessee.  I didn’t react quite like this guy did (see this YouTube video).

We drove right under it and could basically see where it started (or ended, however you want to look at it).  I think the gold at the end of the rainbow was Florida itself.  :)

We were only through Nashville, TN by sunset.  That’s not even half way!  We stopped for dinner at this questionable iHop and kept driving, driving, driving until we saw the signs for Titusville, Florida.  Once we finally got to my cousin’s house around 11 AM eastern time on Wednesday, we crashed for the afternoon.

When Christy and her kids got home from work/daycare, we went out to dinner for pizza and then hung out with the kiddos (and cat) before they went to bed.

Their cat, Nicky, is the biggest cat I’ve ever seen weighing in at 25 lbs.  We actually gave him to my cousin 10 years ago.

After some somersaults…

hugs…

and block building…

the kids had already warmed up to us.