1st Morning on the Road

August slept through the night like a rock in a new room, we didn't hear him until almost 7! This morning we raided the breakfast bar in the lobby. Gus found a new favorite food...French Toast Sticks!

Despite the 10 - 10 pool hours, we jumped in at 9 for a little dip. After 20 minutes of splashing around, he was getting a little cold and ready for his 2nd breakfast. We are on pace to leave at 10 as planned.

Actually left at 9:57! Today's drive took us through the heart of Dallas and out I-30 toward Texarkana. Gus slept until 12:20 so when he woke up we stopped for a not so pleasant lunch in a park in Mount Pleasant. We found a nice enough tree with a fair amount of grass, but the ants were ferocious. Plus there was some other tiger striped flat bug that was leaving welts on my arms three times the size of itself. After standing it as long as possible, we loaded back up to continue our eastward trek.

It was at this point that our first Wal-Mart item failed us. The Schumacher 12-volt car fan was packed a little too far in the back. Tara was attempting to pull it out to plug it into the cigarette lighter to cool off Gus when the wire leading to the plug broke clean off. We had used the fan a total of one time. 15 minutes later Tara noticed that our 1-3 cigarette lighter adapter, also purchased at Wal-Mart for this trip, was frayed. When she felt the wire near the fray it was hot to the point of melting. We are now afraid to use the iPhone car charger we bought with these other two items.

With things not going quite as well as they had yesterday we stopped at Target to pick up some forgotten items and Starbucks for a little caffeine pick-me up. Gus was ready for his second nap by now, so we were able to listen to the Harry Potter audio books that I can download through the Austin Public Library System for the rest of our trip to Camden, Arkansas. "Where is Camden, AR?" you may ask. Basically it is 50 miles due east of Hope.

But it had a Holiday Inn (& Suites) Express. We attempted to book suites for this trip so the boy could go to sleep at 8 and we could watch tv in the other room to unwind. When I booked the Hampton Inn suite in Ft. Worth, I asked for the definition of a suite and was told that it was a living room separated from the bedroom by a door. I falsely assumed then that this was the standard definition of a hotel suite. HIE's definition is a living room area in a hotel room.

After setting up the room, I headed out to forage for food while Tara fed Gus at the hotel. I found a place called Pizza Pro and took a chance. They had a decent salad bar (which is what Tara wanted) and I ordered a medium pizza. I was encouraged by my choice when a couple of State Patrol Officers came in as I was waiting. The pizza was actually surprisingly good. The crust was a little sweet, but cooked perfectly with just the right amount of grease.

After eating we changed into our swim trunks for another dip. August is getting much more comfortable in the water, kicking and splashing more, and even putting his chin and mouth into the water. We swam for 30 minutes and returned to the room to retire for the night. In an attempt to not disturb him, we've been laying in the bed with the lights and tv off on the other side of our "suite."

Ft. Worth

Thanks to very little traffic we made it to our comfy room at the Hampton Inn and Suites near Alliance Airport in the expected amount of time. They have a wonderful outdoor pool that we will have to explore tomorrow to wear Gus out before hitting the road again. First though we are going to the Hard Eight BBQ with Nidus, a friend of Tara's from UT, his wife Shelley and 3-year old daughter Arianna.

Update: Dinner was great! Nidus brought along another friend from UT that Tara hadn't seen in years, Jennifer Jones, and they had a wonderful time reminiscing about their college years. The food was also really good. You order barbecued meat by the pound (all sorts, even steaks) before you even find a table. Sides of all kinds. Very good spicy and regular beans and BBQ sauce. August as you can see really enjoyed the ribs!

On the way to Dallas

After looking at a map and seeing that avoiding I-35 (aka the highway of death) would only add 30 minutes to our trek for the day, we opted to take the back roads through central Texas. When Gus awoke from his 2 hour nap, we stopped at Hico (town motto "Where Everybody is Somebody") for some Chicken Express and a picnic under a tree beside a church.

Packed and ready to go!

I think I can see out the back window:)

Road Trip 2012 Edition

Here we go again...this time with a (nearly) 1-year old!

Starting on Sunday, June 10th we will be leaving the comforts of Austin to travel to North Carolina for the annual Wieners Hurricane Beach Week.  We will make this journey by car and continue to explore the east coast for a few weeks afterward to see friends and family.  I will do my best to update our travels as regularly as August will let me!  First stop is Dallas.

Far too long (May 22 - June 7)

Man I've got good hair!

I haven't had a chance to corral any other pictures of August this month, but I will show a few of the animals we have been finding in our neighborhood.  The fawn was as newborn as you could get.  Its mother was laying in the grass nearby as was its twin.  We think they may have been birthed just before we got there on our walk.

As with all pictures, please click to engargantuanate*.  Below is a Texas sized walking stick.

Here's a friendly tarantula on the side of the house.  This is one of four that we've found around the home in the past month.  Supposedly they help to keep the scorpions away, however we have had to crush 5 of the stinging nemeses that made their way in so far this spring. 

And with that, I'm relatively up to date!

* Blatantly stole this from Phil Plait over at Bad Astronomy Blog.

Far too long (April 22 - May 21)

I've been out longer than I was in!  Hard to believe!

August loves water of all types.  This is the seasonal creek just down the hill.  He only drank a few mouthfuls!

(w/ Tara's cousin Kalyn) 

Of Course playing in dirt is also a lot of fun!

Pulling himself up is the big trick learned this month!

Mother's Day Brunch at Nutty Brown Cafe.