We woke up and wanted to spend another night at the same spot with our friends, but upon checking with the park rangers, were sad to find out that they didn’t have any sites available for us. So we prepared ourselves to travel further along our path to see my cousin near Tampa and a colleague near Palm Harbor Florida. I was walking to the restroom when my phone rung (it doesn’t do this often, but being my Mom, I did answer). She was calling to inform me that my Grandma, her mom, had just passed away and gone to be with Jesus in heaven. It wasn’t unexpected, but losing a loved one is never without pain no matter how long you’ve been blessed by them on this world. So that sealed it, we’re heading North. My grandma lived and both my parents were born and raised in International Falls, MN. It’s also known as the “icebox” of North America, which sounded quite enticing as we packed up in the humid SouthEast.
We said goodbye to our friends, and plotted a quick course North. My mom called and informed us that the services would be held on Friday, so we had seven days to drive from Florida to Minnesota. Our first night we made it a couple hundred miles to Wetumpka AL where we spent a night at Fort Toulouse-Jackson Park.
