We got a soggy start to our road trip with a serious rain system moving trough DFW as we loaded up Monday morning. I didn't intend to rush the kids out the door, but as I was waking everyone I heard thunder and saw rain approaching on the RADAR.
We fought through DFW Monday morning traffic and finally arrived at Buccees which should be the official start of any Texan's road trip. We made a quick pit stop in the world's cleanest bathrooms and filled up the truck.
We arrived at Chuck and Lisa's farm outside of Shreveport a few hours later. We ate lunch and the kids started playing with their cousins. I set up the trailer and plugged it into Chuck's shop so we could run the AC. My in-laws drove up to visit with us.
The next morning I hooked up the trailer before more rain storms blew in. We wound up driving through several more rainstorms which made towing the trailer quite a challenge. After we fueled up and ate lunch in Lafayette I found myself racing the same set of storms I had just gotten ahead of.
We finally arrived in Biloxi Mississippi and met up with my parents. Once we got set up and dinner under our belts, the Patrick asked to go to be beach. After a while all my folks brought the rest of the kids over too.
The next day was another driving day. Patrick rode with my folks in their rig, and the rest of the kids stuck with me. The kids needed a pit stop so we pulled over at a rest area in Florida. As the kids were going to the restroom, I did my typical walk around of the trailer and I noticed that one of the tires was going flat. I had picked up a screw in that tire and it had lost most of the air pressure. I drove on to the next exit where I got the tire fixed.
We arrived later at the Jellystone campground in Madison FL. We stayed there for an extra day so the kids could relax and have some fun. The all the kids loved playing in the pool area and going down the slide.
The next day we traveled to Coco Beach, but first we stopped in Daytona to tour the race track there. We managed to arrive at the same time as a serious downpour. The tour trolly had to cut things short and we got totally soaked and cold. The kids were great about this and didn't complain at all.
On Saturday, we drove up to Kennedy Space Center to tour the launch facilities. We got to see the Space Shuttle Atlantis and several displays about the upcoming missions to explore Mars. After lunch we boarded the buses that drove us out to the VAB and Launch pads. The bus dropped us at the exhibit that houses one of the remaining Saturn V rockets.
Today, Sunday, is Father's Day and we drove down to Vero Beach where I went to flight school in 2002, and where Sarah and I lived just after we got married. I saw our first apartment and showed the kids several of the places we hung out when we lived here. I hadn't been back since we moved away 16 years ago, but not a lot changed.
We also enjoyed swimming on the beach and watching the cruise ships arrive and depart. Tomorrow we depart for our drive down to the Keys.
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