Arklahoma

Sitting in XNA airport waiting to take off to Newark and everything is going about as expected. We’ve already been delayed, and they are asking for seat vouchers. As long as we get to our next connection by 10 tonight, we’ll be doing the overnight to Reykjavik, Iceland.

Quick recap of the past month, Jaime and I almost made it out of Florence, South Carolina without any issues at the start of July. Having made it to Bishopville to get gas, the van fully packed and a trailer in tow, we heard a screeching from the back tires of the van as we pulled away from the dispenser.

“I’ve destroyed the van. Loaded it up past the max, and now we’re stuck in Bishopeville, SC without a place to go back.” Jaime and I have a tendency to sense the others distress, and she went in to diffusion mode. After driving it, squealing all the way, to the nearest unnamed mechanic shop, the mechanic was ‘pretty sure we could drive it, probably wanna pump the brakes a few times.” Disaster avoided, we were back on our way. Just another 15.5 hours till we hit Muskogee.

Fortunately, we’ve got a Fite in another Florence, and this one was in Alabama smack dab in the middle of our drive. It also just so happens to be where I was born. We made a few stops at some places I vaguely remember and seemed much larger to my only just barely cognitive 4 year old self. Thanks again to Amber Fite for letting us crash at her place!

A funny moment and a first, we stopped by Starbucks in Conway, AR (which is a mandatory stop for any multi state trips), and Jaime went in to get drinks while I watched Darwin struggle in his cat leash- yes we do have one, and he hates it… go figure. We get back on the road, and I hesitantly go for a quick slurp of what I was expecting to be hot coffee, and the singe never came. In fact the coffee tastes extremely milky. In fact what I thought was coffee is really just a big thermos of 2% milk. Jaime swears this wasn’t what she ordered so we are going to assume the barista literally thought “just milk” when she responded after he asked if she wanted cream with the coffee.

After making it to Muskogee, we began the family and friend catch up game. The first weekend was a whirlwind, we were able to see Thomas and Alyssa before their trip to Hawaii on Friday in Tulsa, celebrate Pam Cherry’s birthday with Kaitlyn and Chris on Saturday in Oklahoma City, and pool partied it up with Sarah, Erik and his kids back in Muskogee on Sunday.

The next week was a restful week in Muskogee (Thanks Martha and Derek for letting us volunteer ourselves to house sit for you!) We were able to get some much needed planning done for our trip starting in August.

Then came the day, we were finally invited to partake in the drift racing! We drove down to Stroud, where we were able to watch and ride with Ben and James in their drift racing event. Who knew Jaime would knowingly get in a vehicle that intentionally travels sideways at high speeds- she did it twice!

Traveling across the border that is Arkansas and Oklahoma, we were celebrating July birthdays. We took a spin through downtown Fayetteville for Melissa’s birthday and grabbed Bordinos for dinner. Melissa and Addison also threw a get together at their place a couple days later, but for some reason I haz no pictures??

The next weekend, dad was in town, and we cooked him up tofu stirfry while Melissa baked him an espresso German chocolate cake, which I learned later may explain why I stayed up reading till 4 am. Happy 65th or 59th as the Facebook says, dad!

Quick insert, we managed to find a buyer for Jaime’s CRV, Cecilia. She continues her car life in Tulsa now….

As we entered in to the last part of the month, we had to drive Darwin to OKC to live at Camp Pam while we are away traveling. Thanks again Pam Cherry for watching the stinker! Also, we went to Loaded Bowl, a vegan lunch spot near downtown OKC, which was awesome.

Last minute immunizations, Amazon prime shipments, and a few packing trials, we only had a few days left in Fayetteville before stepping on to the next leg. Thanks to mom and dad for also letting us vagabonds crash at their place! Thanks to Melissa and Addison for looking after the van.

We managed to get most of everything packed, plus about 5 days worth of food for the start of our trip in Iceland. Mom attempted to give us half the food in her house, but we settled on brunch before then flight.

First leg of our journey will be traveling the ring road in Iceland via tiny car camper for 10 days. We’ll have a few days in the capital and then set off for the next destination off the east coast of Iceland on the 15th.