Bob, Luke, and I left Thursday morning for a long drive to Alabama. There was some rain (some of it quite heavy!), but we made it down in about 12 hours, which included a nice long stop at Steak N Shake for dinner (and a long chat with the friendly waitress--I love the south!).
Friday morning we headed over to the university to start moving Luke in!
The nice thing about the housing here is that each student has his or her own room. That was a big positive for Luke! The rooms aren't big, but they're not tiny either. Plenty of room! The rooms come furnished with a bed that you can raise or lower, a desk, a bookshelf/hutch, a desk chair (that rocks, oddly), a dresser, and a closet that has a really small 3 drawer dresser attached inside on the left that is about half the width of the closet.
Luke decided he wanted his bed up a little higher, so he could fit the dresser under it. He could have lofted it even higher--there were extra headboard things to do that with in the closet in the common area, but we could never find any pins to attach them. But what we ended up with is probably high enough. He also fit a big Rubbermaid tub under there, and some other stuff.
In each suite, there is a common area, and 2 rooms on either side. This is looking down the hallway from the common area. Luke's room is the second on the right. He and the other guy each get their own sink, and then there is a shower and toilet for them to share. The other side of the common area has the same set-up for 2 other guys.
Here is the common area. The furniture (or at least the couch cushions) have seen better daysbut they are functional!
There is a little kitchen area with the world's smallest microwave and a pretty small fridge. I think it will be fine for the 4 boys though.
It really didn't take much time to move Luke in, and we were done in time for lunch. Before we left, Bob had solicited opinions in his office for good BBQ places down there, and he received quite a few recommendations. He did due diligence by checking out reviews on the internet, and so for lunch, we tried "Melvin's", which had very positive reviews. It is a not a place you would ever just come upon, for sure. It is literally just these tents stuck next to some building, right next to the smokers.
The barbecue was good, although a bit spicy for me. I had pulled pork, Bob had half a chicken, and Luke had ribs. Each plate came with a cold bottle of water, and some homemade baked beans and potato salad (no other choices or anything!). We each got a ton of meat, which was good because we were a little surprised when we went to pay and each plate was $15! There's no menu there or anything, so we were just flying blind! It was a fun experience though, and Melvin was very friendly.
After we finished lunch, we went to Walmart to pick up all the stuff we realized we forgot (trash can, among other things!). There is no cleaning service for the suites, so the boys are responsible for cleaning their own bathroom/kitchen, and for supplying things like toilet paper! We bought a big thing for that! We also went to Sams to buy a different desk chair. Luke didn't love the one that was provided. We went back to the dorm and assembled it in the parking lot so we didn't have to carry the big box inside.
After that, my parents and some local friends of their's stopped by! In a weird situation of good timing, my parents had some friends just move down to Montgomery, and they were invited down to visit them. So they stopped first to stay the night with friends who live near Luke's school, and of course, since we were there too, they couldn't resist seeing Luke's room and visiting with us! We all went out to eat at a delicious German restaurant, and then over to Rich and Judy's lovely home for dessert and to visit some more. It was so fun!
Saturday we probably could have driven back, but I'm glad we didn't. It was nice to have 2 days in between the big drives. Instead, after breakfast, Bob and I each exercised at the hotel gym, and then I worked on some chemistry. Then we decided to go a little further south to another BBQ place that several people had recommended--"Big Bob Gibson"!
This place was actually a physical building with air conditioning, so that was nice (less flies!). There were a LOT of big trophies all around the room because this place has won some serious amounts of championships, including the
2017 World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest.
I liked this barbecue a bit better because the sauce wasn't as spicy. Also, Bob had the most amazing mac and cheese for a side dish! Even better, they had those yummy little rolls of crushed ice, which are the absolute best. AND (this has never before happened to me) the (really, really nice) waitress asked me at the end if I wanted a "to go" cup so I could take my ice water with me! YES! That's the annoying thing about sit-down restaurants on trips--you usually can't refill your water bottle or take your cup with you!
So then we drove around a little more--I finally think I'm getting my bearings there--and then headed back to the hotel so I could do some more chemistry. Luke was doing ice breaker things at the university since classes don't start for a few more days. But then we picked him back up and headed over to our other friends' house, the ones we stayed with when we came down to visit. We had a ball with them, as well as a delicious meal! It's so fun to see all these friends in other places! But we eventually had to go drop Luke off and say goodbye so we could start the long drive back Sunday.
We got back after another long 12 hour day, thanks to construction and traffic. It was a really nice time though. Originally we thought we'd bring everyone, but once we realized Nathan didn't have to be back at his school until later, we decided to leave everyone else at home with him. It was a really good decision! Although I'd like for everyone to see Luke's school at some point, it was good not to have a circus trailing us as we tried to get Luke situated, so we could just focus on him. Plus it was really fun, just the three of us! On the way down, we listened to an entire week of sessions from one of the WSS speakers this year, on Jonah. It was really excellent, and we didn't have to stop it once to settle a backseat dispute or because someone was crying!
I think it was easier for me since we left 2 days after we got there. I could see him settling in, and everyone was just so very friendly. I think he's going to have a great 4 years there! I did not want to come home though. Aside from the always depressing thought of driving back into Northern VA, there is the thought that the school year is about to start again, and I really am not ready! Oh well--onward and upward, stiff upper lip, and all that. I can't wait for camping next year . . .
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