To sum it up....

After leaving Alabama we then headed to Nashville TN. St.Louis was a little out of our way so we decided it would be best on our sanity to start heading toward Ohio instead. I have never been through Nashville before and was excited to see the city. It was around 11:00pm when we stopped just outside of Nashville and walked into a Days Inn.... . I had commented how nice the room looked compared to some of the rooms we had stayed in so far(little did I know). It was around midnight and the kids had finally fallen asleep and I was watching a movie on my laptop while Owen was playing cards on his computer. When all of a sudden I felt something crawl across my leg. Owen was in the other bed with one of the kids so he didn't know what I was screaming about. I jumped up and turned on the light and looked down at the bed .. To my absolute HORROR there were hundreds of little bugs crawling all over the bed!!! Brown bed bugs and little white ones that bite and suck blood(we later googled it)... I was furious and sooooo grossed out. I had to go in the car to the office since were were a building down. The desk clerk of course apologized and gave me another key to a room a couple doors down from ours. Owen and I both went in and checked it out while the kids were still asleep .... We pulled back the covers and there were blood drops and dirt smeared all over the sheets... It had looked like someone had there shoes on and jumped all over the beds. So now my blood pressure is rising a bit more...I just could not believe these rooms. I get back in my car drive to the office of course the lady at the desk was as surprised as we were and apologized once again. Being the nice person I am ..I began explain how crazy it is that we have to get a third room and that I have three toddlers sleeping and I am going to have to wake them all up and start the whole process of getting them back to sleep again...Trying to get it through to her how frustrating this is..I am not sure what I thought she could do for me, she was only the night desk clerk... If only she could feel the pain and disgust I was going through!.. I mean I had hundreds of little bugs all over me!!! It took 2 hours for the kids to fall asleep and I am tired! Didn't she get it!! So she nicely gave me another key to a room a couple doors down again. We went into the room looked at the beds ... seemed ok ... slowly and quietly moved the kids over... dragged our luggage over... Pulled down our bed covers and would you believe it!! BUGS EVERYWHERE!!! That was the last straw we woke the kids up ...buckled them in the car and headed across the street to a nicer hotel .. Everything was so clean and no bugs anywhere... I do have to say I did leave my mark at that Days Inn...... I think I was so flustered and grossed out that I was not paying attention to where I was backing out after leaving the office the second time and I hit the huge cement pillar holding the awning up over the front door .... cracked that dang pillar all the way up...oops .... it just scuffed our bumper up a little but left a 6 foot crack and dent in their pillar.....I must say even after a very looong shower and scrubbing it took me a very long time to go to sleep ...


The next morning we made it into Nashville and to Owens dismay(only because he wanted to get on the road again) we made a stop at the Grand Ole Opry House and walked around for a bit. We were not able to go inside to see the grand stage where some amazing singers have graced there presence but we did go in the gift shop and walk around.









After Nashville we were on our way to Hendersonville, North Carolina. This was the first time I have driven through the Smokey Mountains. It was beautiful. It was a little overcast but around 70 degrees. Owen had met a pastor, Curt Crist who has some great Bible teachings online and who has a church in North Carolina. Owen has had a few phone calls with him but this would be the first time meeting him and his wife in person. We both had a great time talking and hanging out together. They are so full of passion and excitement for God. They have around 400 people a month that receive the Sunday message on CD through the mail and around 50 -75 church members. They also travel and speak at several Grace Bible conferences. We were actually going to just spend the day with them and get back on the road but they insisted we stay till Sunday in a house that they owned but no longer lived in ,which was right up in the Smokey Mountains. It was so beautiful up there!. So we decided to stay but only for the one night since they did not have Internet and Owen needed to get online to do some work soon.


Heading into the Smokey Mountains.

Packing up and heading to OHIO!

Another pastor from California had given Pastor Curt this RV to use for the ministry. They use it to house guest that come through and to travel in when the speak at different conferences. If you look closely on the right side of the picture you can see Owen little head sticking out as he is reveling in his dream house one last time before we take off. To say the least Owen was in heaven when Curt said he could go in and look around....hummm .. maybe someday Owen:)



So 11 days on the road and our next stop will be Warren, Ohio!.. Brrrrrr. Just thinking about it gives me hypothermia...... but it will be great to see family and friends again!