Alabama Road Trip

So one of the great things about your high school friends getting married is that a lot of them don’t live in Florida anymore and I get to travel to go watch them embark on this great next chapter in their lives.

This particular wedding was so special because it was one of my childhood best friends. We lived in the same neighborhood from the 4th grade until after we were both in college. He was always my stand-in formal date even though we went to different schools and we have always remained close. The girl he married is literally perfect for him and I was so excited when he called me to tell me they were finally getting married after like dating for quite some time.

But anyway, Joe was super close with my whole family so we were all invited to the extravaganza in Orange Beach, Alabama. So my sister, my mom and I packed up the Honda Civic (it gets better gas milage then my giant 4Runner) and we headed north to L.A.— that’s Lower Alabama in our world.

So as per usual with these stories I’ll give you a general idea of who I’m with so you can paint the picture for yourselves. My mom wanted to leave at 6:30 a.m. which means we actually left at 7 a.m. she has a cooler packed filled with snacks for our drive. We lied to my sister who is always late to get there at 6a.m. and I wanted Chick-fil-a breakfast because, well duh.

I won the battle and we got our selves some chicken minis and hit the road.

I went to school in Tallahassee, Florida to Florida State University. I went there for 4 years. Why am I telling you this? Because we missed the exit to Tallahassee, Florida. Were we talking? I mean, a little but not enough to miss an exit. Were we paying attention? Absolutely not.

Somehow we ended up on back roads trying to get onto I-10 and as we are roaming around we passed The Busy Bee.

For those of you who don’t know, the Busy Bee is a gas station that will forever be a disappointment in my mind because of later events on the trip but I’ll get there. But, my sisters boyfriend apparently loves this place. We didn’t stop because at this point we were in danger of maybe missing the actual wedding but from the outside it looked just like a large gas station.

Courtney told us that Joe, her boyfriend, claimed it was the best gas station in Florida and we had to stop on the way back. Then I proceeded to tell them about this incredible gas station in Texas called Bucees. But my story didn’t do it justice because they didn’t seem all excited like Kaitlin and I had been on our Trudy trip to find the Bucees.

Another side note to make is that my mom and I got in a car accident a while back, we were totally fine, but the person hit the back end of her car pretty hard and it had to go in the shop for a while. It is worth noting that the back passenger side door doesn’t lock.

We pulled onto I-10. I-10 is a two lane highway and heavily trafficked by truckers, so naturally, there are semis flying past us. My mom moved into the left lane and just ahead of us there is tractor trailer pulling a bunch of cars and I don’t know if he fell asleep or was texting or drunk but he just swerved right into our lane. My mom gasped and avoided any kind of disaster.

Instinctively, Courtney reached for the passenger handle, why? I do not know, but remember the door doesn’t lock, it is also worth mentioning that Courtney doesn’t know the door doesn’t lock, and it opens. Almost throwing Courtney from the car we hear a shut and a “WHAT THE ACTUAL F*#$@!” come from the back seat.

I really hope you’re reading this in the comical sense that I want you to and don’t think I’m a terrible person for literally almost peeing my pants laughing.

She says she deserves a snack after her near death experience and all my mom has packed his healthy food. We should have stopped at the Busy Bee. But I reach for the celery and peanut butter.

Next thing you know my whole arm is covered in hives. My mom looks at me and says “Oh yeah, sometimes celery doesn’t that to people.” ….I’m sorry, what?! Who the hell eats celery then! I demand a cheeseburger.

At the first sight of the golden arches we stopped for a bathroom break. I like my road trips with lots of bathroom breaks at McDonalds so I can get a coke at the same time. I also got a small nugget because I felt like we deserved them.

The middle half of the drive was rather quiet. Besides random cackling from the back seat of Courtney reminiscing on her near death experience we remained pretty safe and focused.

And then we missed the exit….again!

Not by like a mile, by like 15 miles.

We had to put on the GPS that rerouted us a back way, and there it was, like a beacon in the night, Bucees.

So let me tell you about Bucees, it is like if Walmart and WaWa and Cracker Barrel got together and had a baby. There are over 130 pumps for gas and a convenient store. Not just any convenient store though. What do you want? Do you want a pulled pork sandwich? How bout a brisket sandwich? It’s mad fresh every day. The bathrooms are spotless and there are rows and rows of all kinds of things to buy. They are apparently known for there jerky, but I’m not a jerky girl.

They have an entire section dedicated to Bucees merchandise. And of course I did not leave empty handed. I got a tie-dye Bucees t-shirt and and rainbow bathing suit with the Bucees Beaver on it.

My mom and sister were floored. My words did not do it justice and we spent far too long in there. This place is magical. If you don’t know what it is just google it and you’ll see.

Time was cutting it close because I still had to brush my hair and get ready for this wedding.

We did make it on time! Even though our trip took us 2 hours longer than normal we made it to the wedding and it was gorgeous and so much fun.

The way back was a little more uneventful, we listed to a podcast about Britney Spears and Courtney sat on the other side of the car this time. But of course we had to stop at the Busy Bee to compare.

There bathrooms were clean, I will give them that, but it was just small scale penny shop compared to my Bucees. They had no tie-dye shirts or jerky and they hold $100 on your card when you get gas, mine would surely decline so it’s a good thing I didn’t offer to pay.