Day 8 was the day we actually made it back to Georgia, though the normal 5 hour drive to get home from West Palm Beach took way longer than it normally would...No, it wasn't Louisiana's fault this time (even though we all would love to blame Louisiana). And it wasn't for bad things like crashes or traffic. Natalie and I just decided that we would stop at every outlet center and Ross that we passed to do some shopping. We found some good deals along the way, which was great!
Then once we made it to Jacksonville, it was time for some more awesome fun! First up, go-kart racing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Jacksonville also has a great indoor go-kart racing that we always have to go to. Once again, we did three races because why not?!?!?!? This time we actually went at a normal time, which meant other people were there. There are pro and cons to that. Pro - having a chance to actually race multiple people and pass them. Con - horrible drivers getting in the way of actual racing. It was still a great time...we weren't the best drivers at the track, but better than most.
In one of our races we both had to deal with an obnoxious driver who 1) did not follow racing lines, 2) paid no attention to surroundings, and 3) lacked common sense. At one point I was passing on the inside line when he decided that he should drive there, which meant we were bumping cars around the turn...I decided to just keep the petal to the metal and came out ahead! The same driver also kept getting in Natalie's way and she had to avoid collisions with him.
Another fun story from racing is from the second race. We had just finished the last lap and they cut the speed to our cars, so everyone is slowing down. I ended being the last car in the line (only because I had lapped another driver) and as we were all going into the turn, I hit my brakes to slow down. BUT THE BRAKES WERE OUT!!!! Which meant I ended up ramming both Natalie and another driver. 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 Clearly, Natalie and I have no luck with these cars. Or we are so awesome and electrifying that we killed the brakes.
All in all, racing was a blast!!! Turns out, both Natalie and I are aggressive drivers...we went to the Verstappen School of Driving. Clearly we missed our calling of being F1 drivers. :)
After racing, it was on to IKEA to wander the store and dream of how we would design our houses if we had way more money (and if I actually had a house). Then it was off to Cheesecake Factory for dinner, which was again meant appetizers (the pretzel bites) and cheesecake. We thought ahead and placed the to-go order from the IKEA parking lot, so the food was ready by the time we got to Cheesecake Factory. ;) After we stuffed our faces in the small walkway (yeah, we have issues) between Cheesecake Factory and Barnes & Nobles, we finally hit the road again and made it back home about 12hrs after our drive first started that morning.
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| Once again, the daily Natalie-is-driving picture! Does she ever look at the road? |
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| Sadly, this is the last of these photos from the trip. :( |
