Friday {Leaving the Island}

Friday (Sept 17) it was time for us to load up and leave the island.  It was raining again and I told Mike that must have been our sign that it was time to exit after Thursday had been gentler.  I checked the flags one last time, just on the off chance that we'd get a green and Xavier and Mike could slip to the beach with the boogie boards but no such luck.  Alas.  

Packing is always work but we really didn't do too bad.  I felt really blessed to have had a washer and dryer all week to help me keep up with laundry and had done quite a bit of the organizing the day before.  I loaded all the bags and totes inside the condo and Mike and Xavier used the rolling carts to load up the bus.  The hardest thing when packing out is helping little people understand that they just need to be patient and wait.  Waiting is hard!  God bless TV and that it was only raining lightly and the satellite was working!  Finally we had our last load!  

Little Evalynn, arm full of lighted bracelets, rolling us out.

After a stop across the street to fill the coolers with ice, we left the island and drove hard all day long.  We crossed the island bridge at around 9:30 a.m., and had planned to stop in Cape Girardeau, MO for the night.  I did not have any luck finding a hotel that had a suite that was sized to accommodate us in Cape G or any of the surrounding towns.  I don't know if they were all booked, or if there were not any hotels that had larger suites.  We could have rented two rooms, I know, but I just really hate doing that - not because of the money but just having us split up like that.

Once we crossed into Missouri, we found a rest stop.  Mike and I had noticed this rest stop that was on the northbound side when we were traveling to Alabama so it was on our radar and we were so glad to let the kids out to run and stretch and potty.  Thanks, MoDOT!

We decided to drive on into STL and I booked us a suite at the Holiday Inn right off I-55.  This hotel was so nice.  The staff was kind, the room was clean and big enough for us, and we were so glad to be there.  We got in about 9:30 that night, grabbed the hotel bag, showered the children that wanted a shower, and snuggled down into our beds.