John didn't sleep at all that night, and I got four hours at the most.  We both spent a good portion of the night worrying that our 4Runner was going to be stolen right out of the parking lot of the Lexington Inn & Suites in Dallas, Texas.  It was a scary place to be and we couldn't wait to get out of there.

At 3:00 a.m. local time, John couldn't stand it anymore.  He woke us all up and said, "Let's get out of here."  I whole-heartedly agreed with him.

While Mary and I continued to sleep in the 4Runner, John drove us the rest of the way across Texas on I-20, in the dark.  He stopped once to refuel, about two hours east of Dallas; by that time, I was awake and in need of coffee.  I stayed awake with him for a little bit longer, until we reached Shreveport, Louisiana, at 6:00 a.m., at which time, he began to fall asleep at the wheel.

"My turn!" I insisted.  I was wide awake and jacked full of coffee by then, so I was good to drive for a while.  John was too tired to argue with me, so he pulled off of the highway at a gas station and crawled into the back of the 4Runner to sleep next to Mary (who was also still asleep).

The two of them slept through the entire state of Louisiana, which was only about a two hour drive.  They both finally awoke just before we crossed over the Mississippi state line - which was perfect timing, because we were going to make our first driving break of the day, at Vicksburg National Military Park.

Vicksburg National Military Park was the site of a major Civil War battle that was one of the major turning point in the war.  The Union managed to gain control of Mississippi after the Confederates surrendered at Vicksburg on July 4, 1863.  Preserved by the National Park Service, the military park serves to commemorate that battle and those who died there.  It is also home to the USS Cairo Museum, where the remains of the Union gunboat that was sunk in the Yazoo River is now on display.

As we entered the park, we embarked on the sixteen-mile driving tour of the park, where we could see all of the various monuments and war memorials that are situated around the park.  Periodically, we pulled off of the road to get out and walk around, to check out some of the cannons and monoliths and to give us a chance to stretch our legs.  Being cooped up in the 4Runner for fourteen hours a day, we certainly needed the break!

Halfway through the park, we came to the USS Cairo Museum, where we parked the car and got out to walk around to check out the exhibits.  The highlight of the museum, of course, was the skeleton of the USS Cairo, which was on display outside of the building.  Though the ship had been sunk in the Yazoo River during the Civil War, archeologists were able to salvage much of the wooden frame and reassemble it on dry land, along with some modern add-ons for effect.  All around the ship, there were plaques explaining what each part of the ship was and what was done to restore that piece.

Next to the USS Cairo, there was a museum containing artifacts taken from the ship.  We spent a few minutes browsing inside as well - mainly, because it was air-conditioned and it was hot and humid outside!  Then, once we had seen everything, we got back into the 4Runner and finished the driving tour.

At the very end of the driving tour, we arrived at the Visitor's Center, where we stopped inside briefly to get a stamp for our National Parks passport book.  Upon leaving the Visitor's Center, though, we were startled by a loud BOOM!  At precisely 9:00 a.m., local time, the curators of the park fired off one of the cannons, nearly scaring us half to death; we had a good laugh when we figured out what it was!

As we left Vicksburg, Mississippi, that morning, John took over the wheel again.  At that point, we began to take turns driving; every few hours, we stopped and switched drivers so that the other one could rest.  John drove us through the entire state of Mississippi; I drove through the entire state of Alabama, which included a midday traffic jam in Birmingham.  He then took over again when we crossed into Georgia, towards the end of the day.

By the time we reached Georgia, we were starting to feel tired, much like we had felt when we were driving through Texas at the end of the first day.  What made matters worse was that we got stuck in rush-hour traffic in Atlanta and that killed our progress.  We probably could have made it all the way to South Carolina that night, but we were so exhausted after being stuck in Atlanta that we decided that we needed to stop short and spend the night somewhere...

...as long as it wasn't in a bad part of town again!

After getting out of Atlanta, we continued on I-20, hoping to find a suitable place to spend the night within the next hour or two.  Unfortunately, there wasn't much to be found outside of Atlanta; it wasn't until we reached Thomson, Georgia - just shy of Augusta - that we found a place to rest for the night, as well as a number of fast food restaurants where we could eat dinner.

We checked into a very nice Best Western, just off of I-20, and settled in for the night, along with some fast food from Wendy's.  While we ate in our room, John studied the map and determined that we only had about two hours of driving left to get to Chapin, South Carolina.  That said, he made an announcement that made us all very happy: we were sleeping in!  We would get up at 6:00 or 7:00 a.m., eat breakfast, then casually complete our last two hours of driving.

After dinner, we all turned in for the night and fell asleep right away, completely exhausted from the day's travels but grateful to be so close to our destination...

Return to South Carolina or Bust.

Return to Naked in the Woods.