This was originally posted on May 26th, 2012. I actually changed the title (adding an “A” at the beginning), but nothing else. I repost it only to place it back onto the Internet…there’s no lesson to learn, soapbox to get on, or hidden meaning. Just a touch of humor.
Well, I am a fan of the saying that “you need a vacation from your vacation”. My family and I had a great week at the beach in Florida, but the drive home was enough to tip my sanity scale towards “totally insane”.
Checkout time was 1PM, and we actually left the campsite, everything packed and camper in tow around 12:45PM. As we were approaching the gate of the state park where we had camped, our son reminded us that we had not purchased any souvenirs of our trip, so we turned around to go back to the gift shop at the other end of the park. Driving from the gate of the park to the gift shop takes about fifteen minutes, slowly winding down a road canopied by overhanging trees just dripping with Spanish moss. Beautiful, but seemingly endless.
After we purchased souvenirs we realized had been at the beach for a week and not eaten at a seafood restaurant, so we decided to try and find one of the many we had seen. We apparently imagined one of them, because we drove several miles in “the wrong direction” to find it, but could not. As we were attempting to possibly try another one that did exist, we got stuck in the sand and it took the combined efforts of several kind and VERY helpful people to get us out.
Once out, we decided that we were done with sand for a while and found a fast food restaurant that was completely surrounded with pavement at which to enjoy lunch. We had left the campground at 12:45; it was now sometime between 3PM and 4PM. So we headed north this time to try to make it home. Around 6PM, we had to stop to replace a tire on the camper that had completely failed on only its second trip. The other tire was within minutes of failing also so we stopped at a Wal-Mart to buy a replacement. Once we had done that it was after 7PM, and we had over five hours of driving left.
We finally pulled into our driveway just before 1AM and I was tempted to kiss the nasty blacktop of the driveway, but instead I simply thanked my Lord that he had gotten us and our stuff home safely. We grabbed essential items from the van, went in to take a shower and then fell into bed. I had driven for twelve hours, minus the hour or more getting unstuck from the sand, and the hour and a half spent replacing and buying new tires for the camper.
There were many memorable and exciting times during our trip, but right now the fog of insanity caused by the drive home obscures them. Once I remember them I will write them up here – complete with pictures.
For now, I need a vacation (from my vacation)!!!