Day 2!

I know, I'm behind, story of my life.

I forgot to mention in day 1 that we all showered, despite the late hour, because, nitwits that we are, we had the gas shut off a day early.  Yes, we apparently cannot read a calendar. After the day we'd had, it was a glorious shower, at least from my perspective. Day 2 was far easier than day 1. First, we left at a respectable 10am, and the time prior was relaxed, spent invading the breakfast area, replenishing road supplies, and checking Brett's temperature. At this point, we were thinking just a nasty cold still. We also made a reservation for Jackson, MS, because we knew with sick kid, we couldn't make it all the way to Louisiana in one day. I was actually outvoted in this respect, as my reasoning was "he's asleep anyway, MUSH!" The rest of the family--possibly including the dog too--threatened to leave me on the side of the road if I continued in this vein of thought.

It's a straight (and kinda boring) shot from Blytheville, Arkansas to Jackson, Mississippi. I like when there are directions to follow, but this was all one road. Blah. I will say, there was an interesting stop in the middle of nowhere. Some of us needed bathroom breaks, so in we trooped. It was a weird little spot. Half of it was a makeshift diner, and even though it was only 1ish, nothing was cooked, no smells of previous cooked items, no people in the few seats. Okaaaay. The other half was devoted to a register, two freestanding racks, and three cooler cases. The racks held your basic minor health remedies and snacks. They did not, however, have MY road food--Twizzlers. Don't judge, they're the perfect road food, no crumbs, nothing melting, gives you a sugar rush, and they're fun to play with. Oh, MUST be the long ones, no nips or bites or whatever the little ones are. Fine. Except they had a massive knife display. I mean big ones, skinny ones, jagged edged ones, pink ones, blue ones (would a knife be an appropriate baby shower gift in Arkansas?). Brett was, of course, begging for one. Um, no. On to get my caffeine rush. I'm not picky, but my faves for the road are non-carbonated. I like either iced tea that isn't Brisk or the Starbucks stuff in bottles. NEITHER! They had neither! One and one half of the cold area was taken over by BEER. They only had water, pop, and energy drinks (foul stuff). I'm not going to say there's a lesson learned there, but think of things what you will.

Once we got into Mississippi, things perked up. I think I counted eight colleges/universities according to signs on the road in Mississippi. I'm calling that the state of education from now on! We stayed at a lovely Holiday Inn Express right off the highway. Very new, very quiet, even with a dog, nice pool, friendly people, and immediately adjacent to Waffle House and Whataburger. That night for dinner, we decided to partake of local BBQ, however, and found The Hickory Pit. It was GREAT! Megan and I shared ribs (wet), and Scott had a pulled pork sammie. I was relieved they had unsweetened tea. However, we found out later there is apparently some Hershey pie thing they are known for, and we missed out! Guess we'll have to go back sometime. Brett was still feeling crappy, so we brought him home a chocolate chip waffle from "the House" that he didn't want to throw away, even when he could eat no more.

The next morning, Brett's fever had broken, and I encouraged him to come down for breakfast. It was there he showed us his hands, which suddenly had blisters. Dr. Google diagnosed hand, foot, mouth disease, saying it was generally no longer contagious after the fever broke. This hereby is my public apology of "I'M SORRY TO ALL THOSE IN BATHROOMS, REST STOPS, HOTELS, CONVENIENCE STORES I'M SURE MY SON CONTAMINATED. I WISH I COULD FIND 'PATIENT ZERO' AND SHAKE HIM." That felt good. In true Megan fashion that morning, she had charmed the front desk and breakfast people. There were individuals actively waiting for hot food while my daughter conned the breakfast area help into a bag for the excess of banana muffins she planned to take with her. Ugh.

Stay tuned for Day 3!