7:30 felt like it came way too soon, but since it did, we packed the car and said goodbye to Costa and Karlie. Thanks for spending time with us and letting us crash for a night! Come visit us in Florida anytime.

Karlie, Costa, Hollis, Jason, and Rhett taking a goodbye photo

Rhett took the first (and longest) shift driving.

Rhett driving

Entering Louisiana

We stopped for lunch at Whataburger in Louisiana.

Whataburger

Enjoying lunch

We crossed the Mississippi river before stopping at LSU to pick up samples.

Mississippi River

LSU's campus

Rhett continued driving until we reached Florida, where we stopped at a subway for dinner.

Entering Mississippi

Heavy rains while on the way home

Entering Alabama

Dinner at Subway

We finally pulled into Orlando at 1AM, ending our trip. Thanks to everyone who helped make it a great success!

We got up at 6 this morning do that we could shower, pack, and say goodbye to Craig and still leave town by 8. We had scheduled to meet Hollis’s brother for lunch in San Antonio, so we had to leave early.

Packing the van in the morning to start the trek east

Thanks again, Craig, for all of your help. The house was very comfortable and convenient, and it was a real pleasure meeting you and your wife.

It rained for much of the drive to San Antonio, but the weather cleared up as we arrived, so it was nice and sunny when we met with Hollis’s brother, Parker, and his friends Erica and Matteo. They took us to a delicious and really fun Greek restaurant, Mina and Dimi’s.

The restaurant in San Antonio

I ordered the fat gyro

Me, Eirca, Jason, Rhett, Matteo, Parker, and Hollis

Unfortunately we couldn’t stay long, because we had to make it to Houston to meet with an acquaintance, Kristopher, who had generously collected some snake samples for us and then on to meet Karlie and Costa (our UCF friends, Karlie just moved out to Houston) for dinner. Parker, Matteo, and Erica: thanks for meeting us for lunch, it was fun meeting you three.

Parker and Hollis taking a goodbye photo

We drove for a little while before stopping for gas at Buc-ee’s, a local gas station phenomenon. Buc-ee’s has a huge store that was full of food, gifts, and people.

Gas station

Some of the jerky selection at Buc-ee's

We got into the Houston area a little later than anticipated, so we had to rush our meeting with Kristopher. We still had a fun chat (too short, but we had to hurry) and he gave us several tissue samples from several snake species. We really appreciate your help, Kristopher, and we’re looking forward to future collaborations (and hopefully seeing you in Florida sometime soon).

We finally arrived at Karlie and Costa’s new house (they moved in today) and helped Karlie move a few things up the stairs.

Rhett walking into Costa and Karlie's new house

Karlie and Jason surveying the desk they just moved upstairs

When Costa arrived (bringing another car load of items to the house), we went to dinner at a delicious restaurant, Lorenzo’s El Tiempo Cantina (the fajitas were amazing).

Rhett outside the restaurant

Beef fajitas

It was pretty late when we got back to the house and everyone was pretty exhausted, so Costa and Rhett fell asleep while Jason, Hollis, Karlie, and I struggled to stay awake to socialize for a bit (struggled from exhaustion, not poor company). We eventually got to bed around 1:30.

Thanks to everyone that we got to see today, we had a lot of fun and really appreciate all of the help.