Last Day's With The Nana Kid's Part 2 & On The Road Again

Wednesday March 30, 2016

This is a rare picture of our grand kids being quiet and angels.

Thank goodness for the "Cat In The Hat Movie".

After spending the morning packing while the kids watched the movie, we went to the beach for Spring Break. This is the most people i have ever seen on the beach here in Gulf Shores. It is usually very quiet while we are here for the winter. It was a bit windy this day,

so we went to the indoor pool that my daughter's sister in law had rented for a few days. Alisha is in the yellow top swimsuit. Maddie in front of her and the boys in the middle of the pool.

The boys kept wanting to swim out to the outside pool, but it was too deep for Maddie, so they were stuck inside.

The hot tub was a great place to warm up in, from the cool and cloudy day. Even though kids are not suppose to be in it.

The next day, Joe and I spent the entire day packing the car. We were so glad we had spent the prior morning packing, as it took us the full day and a half to be ready to hit the road the following day.

Once again the Beast was packed to the max, in fact, worse than when we came south.

Friday April 1, 2016

Our first day consisted of driving in the rain,

and constant rolling slow downs. We decided to never leave on the 1st again. Every snowbird was on the road, just like us, heading home.

On our drive through Alabama, I saw lots of wisteria trees in full bloom.

On one of our stops for Mallery, I got up close and personal. Their flowers are not the best smelling, but they are beautiful in bloom.

Our first stop for the night was at the Baymont Inn, in Decatur, AL. Decatur is located at the northern border of Alabama. We made horrible time with the 11:00 AM leave time, the rain, and the numerous rolling slow downs. We only got 351 miles in, for the 9 hours on the road. Mallery did really well sleeping on the floor next to our bed in her dog bed, even though it wasn't in her kennel.

The next morning we crossed Wheeler Lake, which is part of the Tennessee River, before entering into Tennessee.

At a Tennessee rest stop, I found these wild flowers. I think they are Grape Hyacinths. At first I thought they were Texas Blue Bonnets blooming in Tennessee.

In Nashville we had construction that slowed us down again. Note the semi in front of us is not going the wrong way. It is being towed by another semi!

In Tennessee and Kentucky, I started to see Red Bud Trees. I love Spring and all the beauty it brings. One of the many reasons I could never stay south all year round.

Somewhere around Louisville, KY, all trees were still bare.

We crossed the Ohio River on a new bridge from Louisville, Kentucky to Indiana.

After 347 miles and 8.5 hours on the road, we stopped at a Days Inn in Seymour, IN, south of Indianapolis. Another slow day with extremely high winds, causing us to stop constantly so Joe could check the car top carrier. The high winds were moving it and Joe was nervous of it sifting and flying off. Note the sign saying free breakfast above. Note to self: DO NOT stay at the Days Inns again in Seymour, IN, as the room was nasty and there was not one warm item on their free breakfast. We will probably never stay at any Days Inn again from this stop.

Here is the car top carrier that Joe bought in Alabama to give us more room going back. Unfortunately for some reason the car was just as full if not more. I did do some shopping, but not that much!

On our 3rd day we entered Michigan, and found the first sign of snow. Because of snow in Northern Michigan, we decided to make it a very short day and stopped at a Red Roof Inn in Muskegon Heights along Lake Michigan. Our mileage was 327 that day.