PBnJ5 Adventures

We have covered 3 states in the last 6 days and have had several memorable moments. Let me give you the highlights…

Our drive from Houston to Brossard, LA took much longer than it should have and started verging on painful. Our new truck has a breaking in period where you shouldn’t go over 55 while towing for the first 1000 miles essentially. 55 mph is really slow when everyone else around you is doing 75+. Talk about a lesson in slowing down enough to actually see what is around you. We have never driven through the south before. It was fun to see things in real life that I have only read about or seen on TV. Which thankfully is one of the reasons for taking this journey in the first place. It was amazing to see the amount of refineries on the coast in Texas, the highways built on the swamps in Louisiana, the John Deere sugar cane harvesters that we have learned about on our John Deere videos, the changing geography and vegetation and the different small towns along the way.

We didn’t have a stop planned for our overnight in Louisiana because we wanted to be flexible and were prepared to stay at Walmart if we needed to. But as it started to get dark and everyone was done riding in the truck I found a place for only $25 for the night. I knew it was going to be a little interesting when the gentleman who runs the place only answered the phone with a “hello” instead of the usual business name. Well I can tell you that $25 gets you a very small park with no street lights, a sweet southern gentleman who loves to talk about his RV that just burned down (poor guy) and a wonderful man in the next campsite over. It was Luke’s first time backing the 5th wheel into a spot and it was DARK! and I mean DARK. The sweet man parked next to us came over with a flashlight and helped Luke back it in in one shot. (Helping back trailers in is not a spiritual gift of mine.) The man proceeded to entertain the boys and let them play with some balls that he had and listened to them talk so Luke could get set up in peace. He said he had three boys too, but had lost two of them. As he said that he got choked up and had to turn away. I will never know what happened to his sons or even what his name was, but I will not forget him. In the 30 minutes that I interacted with him he reminded me of two very important lessons. Kindness is never overrated and enjoy your kids – you are not guaranteed tomorrow with them.

Leaving Broussard we headed to New Orleans. I have always wanted to go and explore New Orleans and eat at the famous restaurants and see the French Quarter, but unfortunately this is not the trip for that. My traveling companions only tolerate so much of that kind of exploring. We decided that we would stop for lunch just to see a little more of the city than just the highway. Well, that did not go as smoothly as I had hoped. After missing a turn onto a highway that would have taken us a shorter route around the city, we ended up taking probably the longest way around. In my map search for a place to stop and eat lunch I found one of my favorite restaurants that I didn’t get to stop at while we were in Texas, La Madeline. I figured French food in New Orleans is about as authentic as we are going to get at this point so it was a win. Now the tricky part of picking a place to eat is that you have to be able to get in and out of the parking lot easily and have at least 7 parking spaces to park in. We are 57 feet long – you don’t just whip that through the drive thru. I will be honest that this is one of the most stressful tasks that I have while we drive. Luke is not an angry person and very rarely raises his voice but he is very good at giving crusty looks and sighs of frustration. I do not love being on the receiving end of those especially over picking bad places to stop. So I was proud of myself that I had found a La Madeline in a mall parking lot that was surrounded by tons of parking and right off the highway. Well, never underestimate what a series of raised crosswalks and small but mighty speed bumps will do to a seemingly perfect stop. I have NEVER seen a raised cross walk as big as the 3 blessed ones that we had to go over. Think about how that all might work in your head with the truck and hitch in the bed of the truck, the angle, the bending… just think about it, and then follow it up with head jarring speed bumps tossed in-between. I guess they have a problem with speeding in this parking lot. I assure you they did not with the giant line of cars that got stacked up behind us. I cannot even tell you how sweaty my hands were by the time we had to drive over a curb and make it to our final parking spot. Let’s just say it tainted how delicious my soup could have been. After driving over one more curb and messing up a little more traffic we made it back to the main road and onto the highway. You would think that with all the technology I have at my finger tips I would be more successful at finding the perfect place. Dang speed bumps!!!

We made it to Biloxi in the middle of a huge rain storm. The best thing about big rain storms you ask. The giant puddles they leave behind and of course we took full advantage of those! We had a great resort right on the coast with a two minute walk to the beach. We finally made it to the beach!! We took all of our trucks and tractors and spent as much time as we could before another big storm rolled through and forced us back inside. The weather has not been our friend. We made it to the beach a second day and saw the sun for 45 minutes but soaked it up as much as we could. We even got to see some dolphins swimming right off the pier!

Next we headed off to Gulf Shores, Alabama. Once again the weather was not on our side. We were under a dense fog advisory for two days. We are talking 99% humidity where you can see moisture hanging in the air and it looks like rain but you don’t really get wet. But that didn’t stop us from going for a bike ride and seeing our first Gator just hanging out on the side of the creek next to the road. We also got in a swim at the pool. The next day we headed to the beach in the thickest fog I have ever been in. The cool weather and cold water did not stop Tucker from playing in the waves. I am pretty sure he is part fish, that kid is fearless and LOVES the water. The other two were a bit more hesitant and I would say Zac was even resistant. But it was fun and we made it and we played.

Life continues to be wonderful in our new 5th wheel. We are loving the space and driving in the truck instead of in the Class A. There is so much less stress we are actually starting to have fun! I was hopeful it was coming and if things continue the way they are going I think things could be wonderful. Now if we could just stop waking up at 5:30 things would be peachy.

It was a bit of a whirlwind of a way to go through 3 states, but it was a nice sampler platter, if you will, of them. I have loved seeing and experiencing and taking in as much as I can and try to help the boys understand the new things that they are seeing. Just today I told Luke that I was so excited for how much bigger the world is getting for the boys on a daily basis. Compared to what they would see everyday back home on a daily basis, I think we might finally be doing it right. We are all getting over our colds and fevers and ready for some more fun. We are off next to Florida. Praying for good weather, sunshine, beaches, pools, and time to love on my boys. They are growing before my eyes and I already feel a sense of urgency to soak them up us as much as I can. Thank you Jesus for my amazing little family. I am blessed.

Live your Adventure,

Julie