We said goodbye to Casa Delray shortly before 8. The alarm went off at 5:30. The target time to leave was 7. I called that a success being only an hour off. Scott said, “Not so much.”
We had a quick breakfast of French Toast while we loaded up the van and did some last minute cleaning, like emptying the garbage. Turns out someone was sneaking Minion fruit snacks and hiding the evidence in the bathroom garbage. Too funny. The sunrise was beautiful, even if it was only barely visible through the trees instead of off of the ocean. The shocks on the van went out at some point between Louisiana and Florida, so now we get to have a memories of an ocean adventure while still in the van.
2:45 – South Carolina! A new state for the kids!
We stopped at a rest stop and it was quite beautiful and brand new. After checking out a tourist magazine and the five minute rest stop Brooke declared, “I love this place!” We all had to laugh.
Dueling cameras
Too bad I didn’t take a video fast enough. Scott just sang his version of “Despacito.” It basically amounted to a high-pitched restaurant menu being recited while he danced quite the moves. This could be the avenue to his extra income in retirement. He might need some more time to perfect his moves though… Cody couldn’t help but dance along too. The dancing tired him out though and he was snuggle in his blanket less than an hour later.
5:30 – Close to Columbia, SC - We had been craving fried chicken for a while on this trip and we finally had some at Bojangles. The restaurant was a suggestion from someone at the local gas station. Lunch had been snacking on cookies and pistachios, so when we sat down to eat we were a little more hungry than we had realized. We were all one piece of fried chicken in when we looked down at the carnage we had created on our table. Turns out the chicken was incredible. Either that or we were incredibly hungry and anything would have tasted good. I suspect it was a little of both.
Back on the road again. We left at 8am and finally arrived at 8pm. It was only 691 miles, but we had at least a handful of gas station and restroom stops. Not far from Greenville we encountered a toll booth. We all knew this place felt like Chicago once we encountered the tolls!
So this is it! Our first Air BNB. We read the instructions, checked the place out, met our host and his chickens and goats, and set up a time to go boating down the Saluda River in the morning.
There are three bed options, but the kids decided they all wanted to sleep together. You can’t see him, but Cody is tucked to the left of our bed. Honestly, I wish we did this more often. Sometimes I wish we could slow down the world and spend more time together without distractions, but I am thankful for all that we have been given.
