This year was finally the year for our next big adventure. Mat is healthy and feels like he can make a long car ride. Thus, we talked about where to go. We talked about North and to Mount Rushmore and come back through Colorado and see our favorite place. Manitou. Then something hit me like a ton of bricks. Warm sandy beaches and not just the dirty sand of Oklahoma, but the white sandy beaches that I have dreamed of seeing all my life. Florida is the answer.
Florida is actually just a few days drive for us. Yes, they are long days but technically not as long as going to our favorite place Manitou. Seven and a half hour days seem actually pretty easy. So Pensacola was decided. White sandy beaches, pretty blue water and a place that is full of history. Something we all love. I found an Air BNB that was the perfect fit for our small family and affordable. Only a little over six hundred for only four nights. It is a small cabin on a private lake, while it is not right on the beach, it is only 25 minuets away, a simple drive and when we want to do more than just see the beach, we can stay right around where we are staying!
Thus, we saved for about six months, put our vacations on our work calendars, and made our reservations. As I am writing this, we have completed the first leg of our journey. We packed our bags and instead of rushing about and leaving early Mat is teaching me this is vacation, and we have time. There are no reasons to get in a hurry. We have planned this trip well. Two days to travel to our destination four days there then two days home. All in our time. We stop when we want, and we relax and just take our time. This is a new concept to me. I am so use to hurry up and get there that I miss half the stuff that I could have seen. I am really enjoying this trip. I have just two kids with me this time as the older two are home with jobs and adult responsibilities. Then there is Mat, this is his first trip with us. In his own words this is his first vacation with his very own family. We are all smiles and full of excitement.
The drive has been simple so far and we have carefully mapped the next leg. Something with very few turns and hopefully one that has amazing views. This is all of our first time to visit these states. Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and finally Florida. Four states seven hours and bonding time with each other.
I have never been so nervous for a trip. Most big trips I’ve taken someone else has driven with the exception of when we went to Colorado the first time. The second time we went my daughter’s boyfriend drove there and home for us. I love to drive. I love the music Mat has been playing for us and we have had some great laughs as Mat has told us stories and inside jokes that him and his friends shared in their youth. I fall in love with him more and more as the miles pass.
I think back just a few years and if you knew me then, all of this would be a no go. I let fear rule my life. I let outside people tell me that trips like this would probably be way to much for someone like me. I am proving those people wrong, yes the drive through Dallas wasn’t without some uneasy moments but those moments passed quickly and once again Mat’s take our time attitude paid off in a big way. Thus following someone on an interstate that was doing 48 mph instead of the posted 70 only drove me a little crazy. Yet it wasn’t long and the small car took a different exit and was out of our way and on to being in someone else’s.
So far I have really enjoyed the drive even if we haven’t even left the state of Texas yet. Tomorrow is when we finally get to see the new states. All of us at the same time. What a bond we will create!
We are now tucked into bed and they are kindly waiting on me to turn the computer off so they can go to sleep. It makes me smile as there have been so many nights when we were at home that they have kept me up so this is just a little poetic justice. Wish us luck tomorrow as we face the unknown and go where this group of Rhea’s have never gone before, the white sandy beaches of Florida.
Dee
The Journey of a Lioness 