It's been trials and tribulations and crappola weather but we're still here waiting for a break and smiling (ok it's more of a grimmace than a smile).... If we have no rain, it's bitter cold or we have wind that beats the breath out of us....What's a real treat is when we have a couple of those together! Never thought I would start to doubt our plan for adventure but I must admit, there's been a couple of times I just wanted to throw in the towel....that lasted about two minutes.  

A couple of things I forgot in the last update which shows just how much we can't catch a break, mostly from our own doing. We've lost four ratchet straps and one tire and have no idea where any of them went. We took the flat tire we had just outside of Niceville FL and ratcheted it on the top of the trailer and when we stopped for the day, no tire and no ratchet....want to laugh but I'm hoping it didn't cause a traffic hazard for the person behind us. The saving grace on this one is we were traveling a small back road and not too much traffic. Since no one stopped us and gave us s***, I'm guessing it was all good. It was a special painted rim for the trailer so now the rims don't match but a can a white paint and we'll be back to looking good. The other three ratchets just kept falling off the duffel bag on top...took losing three of them before we figured out we hadn't put them on the duffel bag correctly....yea, we're not very sharp these days. The burns on my hand are healing nicely from grabbing the BBQ grill and ribs to stop them from hitting the ground at Terri's house. You'd think the legs on a $10 dollar grill wouldn't collapse but you'd be wrong. When it came to ribs or my hand, ribs won, hands down!

It was so miserably cold and wet on our way to Myrtle Beach we could only make it a hundred miles a day and even that was horrible. Got to Myrtle Beach and froze our butts off for the four days we were there. Had an awesome time visiting my pride and joy, Jared and his beautiful wife Lovae (and Guinness the spoiled rotten bulldog who I fell in love with). Guinness is ten months old and I swear going through the terrible twos. It was hysterical watching her throw a fit and getting twenty treats a day! Broke down in Myrtle Beach and bought cold gear to help us make it more miles on the crappy days and they worked well when it was cold. Left Myrtle Beach and it was bitter cold and we loved having them on....then we hit Georgia and the temps had risen from the low 40's to the high 70's...yea, sweating our butts off..... Still glad we bought them but man, I don't think we can wear it for a week without washing it if we're gonna sweat buckets in it!

We've tried to find things to stop and see but unlike the midwest and west, historical markers here have no early warning signs. I'm use to that sign that says "Historical Marker 1/2 mile ahead". Give you time to slow down and actually pull over. We passed so many I would have loved to stop at but in this weather, it's just not worth going a mile or two down the road to turn around and come back and since we've been through this part of the country before, we've seen just about everything there is on roadsideamerica.com. Starting on some new roads tomorrow so maybe there'll be something new to see and post about on the next update.  

Some things we've learned recently: 1. Dave and I don't fit in a double bed comfortably since he cheats and hogs 9/10's of the bed. I was wondering why my son hadn't put a more comfortable bed in his spare room for visitors (it is Myrtle Beach) and he told me that keeps people from staying too long....lmao. Smart kid I raised. 2. Sometimes it's better to sit two days somewhere to avoid ice and snow, saving multiple body parts from frostbite, no matter how badly you want to get to your next destination. 3. Micro brew beers are the bomb since you can catch a buzz on your second one...Thanks again Jared for the lesson. 4. Dave learned no matter how good the fish and chips are, eating more than you should comes back to bite you at midnight screaming for tums. 5. Always choose hotels who have a bar adjacent (if not on) the property....save's a lot falling down in strange places and driving when you shouldn't. 6. Don't buy new tennis shoes at the outlet malls in Myrtle Beach. I don't consider $60 a sale price no matter what the damn name on the shoe is. 7. Buying four slabs of fudge at the Fudge Factory can't have any good effects, especially on my ass. 8. Last but certainly not least, there's a Walmart everywhere for purchasing new ratchet straps when you're too stupid to put them on correctly.  

Sitting for the next 24 hours waiting out the storm and then down the road we go again......looking, hoping, praying, screaming, bargaining for better days ahead!