Hello, October....

Autumn came exactly on time and we fled south, through the mountains and over a pass and then down into a long, rolling stretch of Georgia, with nothing but red dirt peeking out from the edges of peanut fields. And then we pushed further and further south, stopping at wide, sandy beaches along the way. The very edges of the country are special places and we feel compelled to tag them before heading home. So onward into the Keys. Can driving thousands of miles satisfy our wanderlust before hunkering down for the winter and another baby? I sure hope so. Everything in the car is covered in sand and Laurel is perpetually messy, with wind blown hair and something sticky on her cheeks. (Most recently Key Lime Pie on a stick. OMG.)

Traveling as a family is far different than our last road trip in 2006. Or is it? Perhaps we stop more, but only because there is another voice in the back chiming in with "I need to pee!" Which sometimes means I need to pee and sometimes means I am just tired of riding in this car seat, please let me out so I can run around and scream outdoors.

I didn't pack well for this trip. We had no agenda or reservation, other than a family wedding this past weekend. However, I should have....I don't know.....checked the Weather Channel for Florida before we left. Or maybe just thought a bit about what Florida might be like. We had no sunglasses, 1 small mostly-empty bottle of sunblock and exactly one change of warm weather clothes for Laurel and me. Fleece pants and cold weather sleeping bags? Check.

Going south at the equinox when you are from someplace with distinct seasons is like gaining a special power that makes all time stop. Regular life absolutely ceases to exist when you were one day putting on a wool sweater to cook breakfast outside at your campsite, and the next day find yourself enveloped in 80 degree temperatures at dawn. I was not expecting the vastness of Florida, the rich and scary history of pirates and stormy seas and a parade of European nations that could not settle the land because it was too wild. I can imagine trying to push my way through the forest here, under a hardwood canopy, but pushing past saw palmetto and cabbage palms in the clearings.

All I know is that we won't stop until we run out of highway.