Merrily We Go Along...

So this morning at the crack of dawn (or 7:45, which FELT like the crack of dawn to me today) we piled into the truck along with approximately 1/4th of our worldly possessions and started driving.  Eleven and a half hours later, we plonked ourselves down in a hotel room in Shreveport, Louisiana. Tomorrow morning we are heading to Belle Rose, which is about 30-ish minutes further than Baton Rouge, to the race track. 
I love to travel - adore it, absolutely one of my very favorite things.  And in particular, I love to go to NEW places, to explore new things with my family.  So this is just about as good as life gets for me.  However, I have a fairly strong type-A streak, and I usually have a packing list and a food list and a plan of what we are going to do on what day, and what it costs, and what it's hours are, etc, etc. (And, yes, I drive my family a little nuts). But things have been super-crazy at work and in pretty much every other area of my life, so all of that organization stuff that makes me feel comfortable got tossed out the window.  I finished packing at 1:30 this morning.  You know how sometimes you do things that you suspect might be completely irrational, but you just feel compelled to do it?  (Or at least, I hope you can commiserate with that...)  I made Chex mix in the middle of my packing frenzy last night.  I just really felt like I couldn't go on this trip without homemade Chex mix.  This morning, I realized that my sleep-deprived brain was making irrational decisions...
So we've had a lovely-ish day in the truck - in a "I love to be with you and I love our enforced proximity to each other and our conversations, but I'm kind of wishing that it wasn't all taking place in a moving vehicle without many movement options in rush-hour traffic in downtown Dallas" sort of way. I'm so excited to continue traveling tomorrow and get to the track - I've heard it's in the heart of swamp country and that there are alligators in the pond/swamp at the end of the track.  L is desperately hoping that the alligator business is NOT just a rumor - her goal is to eat alligator on this trip.  :)
I typically indulge my teacher tendencies and research the area to which we are traveling, and then force  my family to learn about the history, native tribes, agricultural products, etc, etc.  I didn't get to that this time, so I don't feel like I know what I'm getting into - I'm not so great at "winging it".  However, hanging out with  my family is just what I need right now, so I can't wait to get started.
Carla