We’re back on the road! 🙌🏼 Driving from Texas to Alabama (our 44th state!)

We're in Alabama! Our 44th state! Woo! Yeah! We just finished making a bunch of big upgrades to our van over the last few months, including a bigger battery bank, new solar panels an AC, which we are super pumped about, plus some new additions like Starlink, a portable awning and more. And after spending the first part of the year traveling via plane and boat we're hitting the road in the van for the next six months. Our goal is to visit our final seven states, plus head to a brand new part of Canada for us, the Canadian Maritimes and Newfoundland. We're getting the van all packed up and tomorrow morning we're hitting the road. Bye, love y'all! Saddle up, let's go! We haven't lived in the van in almost six months, which is the longest that we have ever spent away from it. And while Airbnb life and house life definitely have some major perks when it comes to convenience, the van truly feels like our home and we are so happy to be back in it and to be traveling as a family again. Our plan over the next few days is to drive from Austin, Texas to northern Alabama. It's about 730 miles and 11 and a half hours of driving and we plan to make a few fun stops along the way. No Texas road trip is complete without a stop at Buc-ee's. If you're not familiar with Buc-ee's, it's this mega gas station and convenience store that started here in Texas but has now spread to more of the south. It has tons of gas pumps, clean bathrooms, lots of snacks, fresh food options like barbecue, clothes, home decor and so much more. Alright, try it on. I think it'll fit. Fun fact, we brought Kona to Buc-ee's our first week having her and we got her a little Buc-ee's stuffed animal that she cuddled up with the whole drive and it was so cute. Habanero white cheddar nuggies are. They're basically just like a cheese puff. Mmm. Those are good. Ooh, a little spicy. Dang it. So close. We're getting nuggie dust everywhere. Okay, that's the last one. Mmm, yeah. Those are good. Alright, we've got our first issue on the road. We were driving down the road and we heard this beep. Didn't know what it was so we pulled over to stop and it's our fan. It's making a beep and it's like trying to come on every now and then and that usually happens when there's something going on with the batteries and also the heater has something going on with it and also the charge controller for the solar panels looks like it has some kind of error. Everything else seems like it's fine. The fridge is working but the lights won't come on so Uh oh. I don't know what's going on. We only made it two hours. So this circuit breaker got flipped somehow. We're gonna phone a friend to try to get some answers. Guess what? What? We're having a slight issue. Unplug the solar panel, reset the breaker and let's just see what happens. After talking with Kathryn's dad and running through a few scenarios we think it's the circuit breaker that needs to be replaced but due to shipping times and just the complexities of getting packages on the road we don't think we can get one for over a week until we get to a friend's house so we're just gonna try to manage it until then and hopefully it's okay. We ended up switching out the circuit breaker for a larger one and it seems to be working. Fingers crossed. It's always exciting on the road. We had planned to make another stop here in Texas but unfortunately that little issue kind of delayed us a bit so we gotta keep moving. We made it to Louisiana! And I can't think of a better way to celebrate than to get some Cajun food. This looks so good. Cajun food was brought to Louisiana by the Acadians who were deported from Acadia which is now the Canadian Maritimes during the 18th century. It incorporates West African, Spanish, and French cooking techniques and is known for being heavily seafood based, having lots of spices, and for the Holy Trinity which is a base of green peppers, onion, and celery. And for our Cajun feast we came to a spot in Shreveport, Louisiana called Marilyn's Place which is in an old gas station which is our kind of spot. So I got the combo which lets you get smaller versions of two menu items and first I got a fried shrimp pomelade po'boy. A po'boy is basically a sandwich on French bread which comes with lettuce, tomato, mayo, and then I got the fried shrimp which looked nice and crispy and is covered in that pomelade sauce. You get back on there. Mmm. Mmm. Holy crap. That is so good. You better believe that bread is what you think it is. It is mega pillowy. This bread is ridiculously good. How fitting that you're wearing your A plus K shirt today that says pillowy on the back. I got the pillowy on my back. It is sweet, tangy, a little spicy. The shrimp is still crunchy in there. Creamy from all the mayonnaise and the pomelade sauce. Oh man, these shrimp are like delectable. Man, I don't know how they're staying so crispy. And I got the red beans and rice which is rice, slow cooked red beans, a sauce, and andouille sausage. Mmm. That is just straight comfort food. It has such a good spice level to it. It just makes you feel like you're getting a hug. It's so good. I also got the seafood gumbo which is basically a stew and this one is served over rice and it comes with tons of seafood. There's shrimp, there's crawfish, there's oysters, and then there's also some andouille sausage. It has a deep spicy flavor to it. Like there's lots of spices in there and it just it's just deep. Like deep in your soul. I don't know. It is really good. The seafood tastes awesome. We should eat Cajun food more often. As we've mentioned before van life is quite a bit harder outside of the western part of the U.S. since there's a lot less public land and we anticipate many nights in parking lots in our future which is definitely not our favorite but every now and then you can find a free spot out in nature and tonight we're heading a little bit out of the way to hopefully camp at a free spot that we found close to the Arkansas border. This is such a sick spot. So now we're staying at Corny Lake which is a beautiful lake with tons of trees and rolling hills surrounding it. It is not a bad spot for our first night back at van life. Pillow fight! Pew pew! Oh I just hit my head. It feels so good to be back in our bed. It's funny, anytime we go stay with family or friends they're always like, oh just come stay inside come sleep in our real bed. But we love our bed in the van. It's memory foam, it's super comfy it's our bed. It feels so nice. And we haven't really slept in it much the last six months. It feels so good. I'm so happy to be back in our bed. Well now are you happy to be back in our bed? We had an amazing first night back in the van and our goal today is to drive about three hours to Jackson, Mississippi to check out a couple spots. We're in Mississippi! M-I-S-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-Y! We're making a quick stop at the Mississippi Welcome Center to make some food for us and Kona and this is such a beautiful spot. It's right on the Mississippi River and they even have a Mississippi sign you can get a photo with. Jackson is not only the largest city in Mississippi but it's also the capital of the state and this building right behind me is the state capitol building which is actually the third version of it built in the city. Similar to most U.S. capitol buildings, you're allowed to go inside which we always like to do because they're usually very pretty. As suspected, it is gorgeous in here. There are so many ornate details and it kind of reminds me of a fancy theater with all the bulb lights. After a while, your neck starts hurting from looking up at the dome. Jackson played a big role during important events throughout history including the Civil War and the Civil Rights Movement and to experience some of the city's history we're going to check out the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum. The Civil Rights Movement occurred from 1954 to 1968 with the goal of abolishing legalized racial segregation and discrimination in the United States. The museum starts by sharing the centuries of freedom struggles endured by black Americans including the impacts of slavery, the Civil War and Jim Crow laws like segregated theaters and schools, white only restaurants and more labor intensive and lower paying jobs. The museum is a multi-sensory experience with lots of signs to read, music and even startling audio that replicates what black Americans would hear as they lived their lives. It doesn't stray away from awful topics like the KKK and lynchings including the lynching of 14 year old Emmett Till and includes graphic images that make the stories even more impactful and it showcases how these horrific acts inspired many brave people to fight for change and demand equality. It shares the stories of freedom riders who traveled across the south on buses with the goal of integrating bus station waiting rooms, lunch counters and public restrooms. It tells the stories of those who participated in walkouts, boycotts, marches and so much more. And despite being beaten, threatened, jailed and even murdered, they continued to fight for the same basic human rights as white Americans. That was a very intense museum and I don't think we have the right words at this moment to properly articulate just how impactful that was but everyone needs to come visit this museum or a similar civil rights museum in the U.S. It costs $15 per person and your admission also gets you into the Museum of Mississippi History so it's a really good deal. We unfortunately only had time for this one but it was well worth it. I think we both agree that it was one of the most well put together museums that we have ever been to. We were going to stay at a Walmart tonight but at the very last minute we decided to look for a Harvest Host and found a farm southwest of Jackson which is kind of the opposite direction that we need to go but we figured it would be better than a Walmart and thankfully the host accepted our request and yeah, I think this beats the heck out of a Walmart parking lot. Tonight we're having pork chops with potatoes and asparagus and we realized right as I started cooking this that we have zero oil or butter or really anything to cook anything in so we had to get creative and I used the oil from the chili oil container so now that's just chili. There's basically no oil left and everything kind of got a little burnt. I forgot how to use the induction stove. We also tried to eat outside but Kona was just trying to eat cow poop the whole time so we're eating inside with our partially burnt meal. You win some, you lose some but still beats a Walmart parking lot. Alright just two hours separates us from Alabama. 44th state! Woo! Yeah! I have actually been to Alabama before. I went to Orange Beach as a kid and we have driven through Mobile but we've never actually explored the state together. We're going to be focusing on the northern part of the state which has a bunch of really beautiful looking nature spots and we cannot wait to check it out.