So, today is my birthday and we all just really want to get home. We pictured staying in Destin, enjoying the town, having a dinner, hanging out at the hotel (which is normally a favorite thing for me) but instead, we just want to head for home. We figured we would drive til we got tired and then grab dinner and a hotel. Driving was slow again today, we got to see lots of Florida, then under the Mobile Bay into Alabama. I actually enjoyed seeing the port. You can see the industrial area, huge ships, etc. The people were super friendly and the bathrooms at the gas station were really clean! Yes, I base alot on these small things..lol! I really like this old town!
Then a long trek through the Des Soto Nation Forest on some pretty rinky dink roads. We crossed over into Mississippi. Each time we felt like we were getting tired we would look around and only see tiny towns, mobile homes, cars on blocks...we would keep on driving. (just keep swimming, just keep swimming..lol) Turns out that lack of safety can be pretty motivating when trying to keep trucking down the road! I would use google maps to research towns along the way, most of them we had to skip on by because there was that "safety thing" and lack of a real hotel, walmart, fast food joint. Eventually, a little college town called Hattiesburg came into view on my map. I researched it, saw that they had several larger chain hotels, so I got on the horn to get us a reservation. I spoke to a couple that had call centers in other countries or states, who knew nothing about the area, and finally to a young southern gentleman at a LaQuinta Inn that was right off the highway. He assured us that it was a nice, quiet, safe town where nothing big happens....BINGO! I got a room reserved at a brand new hotel that had a pool for the kids, continental breakfast for the morning and even a restaurant next door. I was so excited to have a nice new hotel room AND to get dinner and walk back to the room...YAY!
Turns out, it took us a bit to figure out how to get to the hotel from the highway, the parking lot was blocked off by police and CAUTION tape...hmmm, wonder what happened in the last hour since I spoke with the front desk??? We finally maneuver around the back of the hotel, down a side street and make it to the front door. We walk in and there's that nice southern gentleman, with a look of "I'm sorry" on his face...of course, my first question was, "So, what happened?" He starts immediately apologizing, promising that we are safe, claiming that stuff like this NEVER HAPPENS around here...we are looking around at each other and find out that there has been a murder in the parking lot of the restaurant, just prior to our arrival!!! I am so exhausted and hungry that I let practical Billy convince me that we are actually safer because of all the extra police presence...lol. Then, the clerk assures us the same thing, "Ma'am, you guys are very safe here because the police just swept this entire hotel and assured me that the killer is NOT in the building" WHAAAA???? So he's still on the loose??? I look over at practical Billy as he gives a "go ahead" nod, "Ok, we will take the room." We watched out the window, from out beautiful, clean, brand new hotel room, as the investigation took place in the parking lot. Who needs the television to get live news anyways?! We made a drink, ordered Chinese delivery for my birthday dinner, and skipped the pool. This 38th birthday was definitely not what I expected, but it sure was memorable!
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