Post Deployment Trip to Louisiana

Happy Friday! We're just over here catching up on yet another trip- this one was to Louisiana to be with Shane's family after his Dad's passing, when Shane was able to come home from deployment two months early. 

Shane flew home for over 24 hours straight, he got to spend an evening at our house in North Carolina, and then we headed out that next morning to make the 17 hour drive to Louisiana. 

Sometimes we go straight through on these long drives, but other times we stop halfway. This time, we ended up stopping in Alabama for the night. 

C&C loved exploring this nicer hotel. Haha it's too much for us to watch them take the elevator and walk down these hallways.

We stayed with Shane's mom, who now lives a few houses down from Papa and Mimi, but we were able to go to Papa and Mimi's house for dinner and dessert each evening. 

Cash Cash and Cay Cay were so glad to have Shane back from deployment!

Just like our dogs know intuitively how to act gentle and calm around babies, they do the same thing around older people. We're so glad!

They loved exploring Shane's mom's house-especially with her HUGE fenced in backyard!

We went through old boxes of memories of Papa and Mimi's. With our upcoming wedding, Mimi loved showing their wedding pictures!

Papa also shared a TON of their infamous recipes with me! I will never be able to cook as well as them (especially with their gumbo and Cajun classics), but this was super special for them to share their recipes with me.

Lots of quality time! I love the relaxing, slow-paced, family-oriented life when visiting Louisiana. It sometimes feels like going back in time to a simpler time!

Papa is always talking to Caylor and telling her how pretty she is.

He's always asking "Mr. Cash" how his day is going.

These two were wiped out from all the people and activity! Our life goal...success.

With COVID and everything else going on, Shane's dad's "funeral" ceremony was some family and friends coming over to Shane's mom's house to informally honor him.

They did a great job of setting up Shane's dad's favorite items to represent him. Shane worked so hard on compiling lots of pictures into a special slideshow with emotional music.

I'm keeping this light on here today, and I will just leave you with my father-in-law's obituary here...

Dana's sisters came down from Wisconsin.

Ignore my super bright "funeral" outfit. The only other black dress I brought was too fancy, so this is the best I could do. My father-in-law would have appreciated it!

Just some of the big group that came to honor David

Shane and I picked out some of his dad's ties to take with us. Once we have kids (and hopefully a girl!) I plan on using them to make hair bows out of- to honor their Grandpa.

Shane and I went over to Papa and Mimi's for breakfast which was super special to have that 1:1 time!

We headed out and all was well until we hit the middle of Alabama...

And my car completely broke down, on the side of a highway, in the middle of Alabama, in the middle of August. That means there was no AC or anything.

A tow truck stopped and pulled over, but we stupidly sent him along after we realized he didn't take our insurance. That turned out to be a big mistake.

Shane was taking care of the situation while I was crying because Cash overheats easily and it. was. so. hot. out. there. Thankfully we were prepared with some water but it was rough!

We were so proud of Cash and Caylor. You can see they were just exhausted and so hot, but they laid on the side of the road with us perfectly. 

After taking on everything solo for 6 months, I was especially glad to have Shane there for this! I just threw my hair up, hat on, and was over any attempts at looking cute.

So, we ended up there on the side of the road for over two hours. Shane was calling every tow truck and auto shop in the area, but we were having difficulty finding anyone that was still open to help. We also were having a hard time finding a tow truck that would take us AND the dogs.

Meanwhile, Shane found a hotel for us, and we packed our backpacks from our suitcases (once again, on the side of the highway) to take what we needed just for the night, while we had to leave everything else behind in the car.

We ended up finding a tow truck that would take Shane to the hotel he found, while he found an Uber that would take me and the dogs. The Uber came first, so Shane put us in the car (and then said he had a breakdown thinking about what he just did- put us in a random car in a random state while he was helpless on the side of a highway), while he waited for the tow truck to come and take him to the hotel.

They knew something was up and sat perfectly on my lap in the Uber until we got to the hotel and I got everyone in, thankfully!! Meanwhile, the tow truck driver gave Shane a huge discount when he heard he was military and he when he heard our whole ordeal- especially because we were traveling for his dad's funeral and post-deployment. This tow truck driver was a hidden blessing!

We ended up staying in Auburn, Alabama which was SO cute! I would love to live or visit there. We didn't get to see much, but we got to see enough from our driving around (getting to the hotel) and when we went for a walk that evening.

That night and the next day, we had to kill some time in the hotel room. Shane relaxed, I worked, and the pups got some of their wrestling playtime in.

And we were off again...

We had another slight car issue where Shane stopped to pull over at a gas station for a minute, and we were all so over it. Can you tell from their faces?

So 24 hours later than originally planned, we FINALLY made it home to a sweet welcome home surprise from our next door neighbor, Pam! 

These two were also so grateful to finally be home.

And then it was back to reality and Shane was back to catching up on all his "putzing" around the house he missed out on for 6 months! 

And that was that! I apologize for all the dog pics. I urge you to move to a new state, across the country, without your husband there for 6 months, during COVID, with few to no other acquantices, and tell me your dogs don't become your entire life!