Last Wednesday, June 15th, we got up early at the Hobb's home and headed off on our way. Thanks again to Abby and Paul Hobbs for hosting us for our last night in Champaign! It was great to spend our last night at their house in a bed rather than on our empty floor.
After running our final errands in Champaign (which included picking up the dry-cleaning that we had forgotten for the last two weeks), we set off on the 9 hour drive to Birmingham, Alabama. Of course, our tape deck was broken, so we did not have any way to plug in an Ipod to the sound system yet. Instead, we spent the time talking, planning more of the trip, calling people and pressing the seek button on the radio. Oh, and nervously watching the skies during some ferocious thunderstorms. Some of the winds must have been in excess of 60mph. You can see the tail end of the storms in the picture of the Alabama sign. After we crossed into Alabama, it was clear sailing, with gorgeous weather and highs in the upper 90's.
After running our final errands in Champaign (which included picking up the dry-cleaning that we had forgotten for the last two weeks), we set off on the 9 hour drive to Birmingham, Alabama. Of course, our tape deck was broken, so we did not have any way to plug in an Ipod to the sound system yet. Instead, we spent the time talking, planning more of the trip, calling people and pressing the seek button on the radio. Oh, and nervously watching the skies during some ferocious thunderstorms. Some of the winds must have been in excess of 60mph. You can see the tail end of the storms in the picture of the Alabama sign. After we crossed into Alabama, it was clear sailing, with gorgeous weather and highs in the upper 90's.
We had a blast catching up with JohnMark and Rachel and playing with their adorable little girl AnnaBelle. They have a super cute house in Birmingham, and were kind enough to host us for two nights.
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| AnnaBelle in the morning - What a happy girl! |
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| Too Cute |
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| Thanks Edwards Family! |
Friday morning we woke up nice and early to get on the road to Austin. Our first stop was a Target, where we picked up an audio input cord, which is a necessity for a 13 hour drive. Thanks to Rachel and JohnMark, we now have an iPod loaded with audio books, which speeds up the drive considerably. We were able to make the trip from Alabama, through Mississippi and Louisiana, and 5 hours into Texas stopping only 4 times, which was only due to the size of the gas tank. 'Angels and Demons' kept us engaged and entertained the whole way. Thanks again Edwards! That iPod will last us the whole way, and is already becoming one of our most important pieces of road trip gear.
More to come from our Austin adventures soon!
Andrea Grandpa and I are thrilled to be able to follow you and Nate on your adventure. We are able to see places we've never been to and meet your friends along the way. We are loving it!!
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