Spring Break 2008 (Monday)

Well, I guess it wouldn't really be a "spring break" trip without something major happening. So, without further ado, let's do a recap of events since our Saturday departure from Fayetteville.

We got away around 9am or so, which wasn't too far off schedule. Jennifer had originally wanted to be on the road by 7:30a but with our home being deluged with the flu, we thought we'd take it a little slower Saturday morning. Our first scheduled stop was going to be in Little Rock for lunch. We were pleased to realize this goal w/out having to make any bathroom stops between NWA and the Rock. After a quick 45 minute lunch at Corky's BBQ, we were back on the road and headed toward the roughest part of the trip...

going through southern Arkansas.

For those of you unfamiliar with the roads out of Pine Bluff, from what I recalled, they were a bunch of 2-lane roads peppered with speed traps and less than a 55mph speed limit in some places. However, to my surprise, the roads had been widened and in most spots, the speed limit had been raised to 65mph. Our next bigtime stop was set for Jackson MS for a quick supper before stopping for the night in Hattiesburg.

We thought a home cooked meal from Cracker Barrel would be nice but it turned out we were a little wrong in our assumption. Let me just say this first...

We absolutely LOVE the fact that Arkansas does NOT allow any smoking in any of their public restaurants. Mississippi obviously does not value keeping strangers' lung bits out of the air and wafting into my meatloaf.

Gross...yes. However, it's true.

We requested a "non-smoking" section at CB but were placed at a table 2 feet from the smoking section, separated by a brown picket fence that went from floor to ceiling but had more holes in it than OJ's alibi. Needless to say, we got some of that "authentic" smoked flavor with our biscuits and gravy.

By the time we made it to Hattiesburg, it was about 9:30pm and we found out (to our dismay) that we were booked into a room with only one king bed. Let's see...4 of us...one bed...one sick wife...yeah, here was the first "issue" of the trip.

I ran out to Wal-Mart and got an inflatable mattress for the kids to sleep on while I slept on the farthest edge of the bed, away from Jennifer's hacking and coughing. Guilt began to hit me as I lay there in the dark, listening to my wife cough and weeze, knowing my kids were laying on the ground covered only by 2 thin sheets and a fleece Justice League blanket.

The hotel had been invaded by numerous soccer teams so they were not onlly out of rooms that could accomodate us comfortably, they also didn't have enough thicker blankets but we could have all the sheets we wanted. So, at around 1am, I scampered down to the front desk to get a few more sheets to cover the kids.

I was awoken at 3am to the sound of Jaco coughing, which led to gagging which then led to...you guessed it.

A revistiation of his cheese omelet from Cracker Barrel.

I immediately sprang into action, putting Jake into the tub to bathe him off while Jennifer stripped all the soiled sheets from the air mattress.

For those of you keeping score, this exact thing happened to us 2 years ago as we stopped in Hattiesburg MS on our way to Destin FL for our spring break.

Booked in a room too small for us...check.
Child getting sick and hurling up his supper...check.
4 family members cramming into a king sized bed for 3-4 hours of sleep...check.

Thankfully, the night ended with no further incident and we were able to leave Hattiesburg by noon on Sunday. Our end destination was Destin by around 4pm.

You can imagine the joy and elation as we crossed under the Mobile AL tunnel, driving under the Gulf of Mexico and emerging on the other side looking right at the battleship anchored there off-shore. We continued on the I-10 bridge for a few miles, driving over literal ocean, watching boats and sea gulls out on the water. As we continued southeast toward Destin, the trees started looking a bit more tropical. The sands became white and the sounds of excitement began to fill the Sequoia from Arkansas.

We began to make plans to do a quick, early evening walk along the beach, just as soon as we got checked into our condo. As we pulled into the parking lot where we were supposed to stay, Jennifer got all the paperwork out and I began to load up 2 large carts full of our luggage. We all boarded up the elevators to the thrid floor, looking for room 309.

As we got to the room, we were shocked to see the room code we were supposed to use didn't let us in. We tried the code again and again and again until suddenly, the door opened from the other side.

Uh oh. What was this guy doing in our room? We started to compare notes and realized our paperwork was exactly the same as this guy's.

We'd been double-booked for the same room.

Frantically, we started calling the condo owner and the people responsible for cleaning it to get some sort of resolution. For over 2 hours...2 HOURS...we waited for a return call from the condo owner. We were ready and actually driving down the road to another condo/resort to book a different room when she finally called us. After some "brief and terse" discussions on my part, she quickly realized the error that she'd made.

We were not supposed to be in 309. She'd booked us in 405 but had sent us the paperwork for 309. It'd have been nice if she'd had kept her cellphone with her yesterday afternoon and saved me and the family 2 hours of undue stress and anger but I guess that's expecting a bit too much for a landlord.

Still, after numerous apologies and regrets, we made it to the right room and the right complex.

It was extremely nice to wake up this morning with no kids getting sick and FINALLY realizing we were in Florida. Although it's still way too cold to properly enjoy the beach (I think we're coming back in June), it's going to be a great remainder of a trip with the family.

More updates to come.

Oh and for Tricia...we thought of you as we drove through McGeehee Arkansas and went past Lucky's Chevrolet. And yes...the Catfish Hut is still there. LOL