Blue Boat Home

The ride into Panama City this morning was so easy I felt like I was coasting.  Fresh off the bridge, I saw I convenience store offering free coffee, so I stopped in.  As I was drinking my coffee in the parknig lot, a young man sauntered over and said he had a BikeE similar to mine and a BOB trailer, and he was thinking of doing some touring.  We talked for a while, and I mentioned that I was having trouble planning a route into Tallahassee.

[posted to the Wheeled Migration Yahoo Group on February 9, 2005]

I've had some good times so far in the Florida Panhandle! On Friday I followed the route Bruce suggested around Pensacola to the west and north, but even that far from the coast I saw lots of hurricane damage. The sides of the roads were littered with asphalt shingles and vinyl siding, even as construction workers were scrambling to put new flimsy shingles and siding in their places! Those who do not learn the lessons of the past...

Another beautiful day!  I woke around dawn and took my time getting ready.   I made another trip down to the beach to look for my camera, but someone had already brought it to the park office, where I was able to reclaim it.

I guess I succeeded in getting well clear of New Orleans in time for Mardi Gras.  Although I was still seeing beads along the highway shoulders as far east as Pensacola, today came and went without a single sign that it was Fat Tuesday.

Wow, what a beautiful day!  It couldn't have been more pleasant... clear and dry and mid 70s, and my route took me along the gulf coast -- the real gulf, with waves -- on a paved bike path most of the way.

When I passed through Destin (suggested motto: "Why Settle for Destiny When You Can Have the Real Thing?"), the bike path was crowded with snowbirds on their morning walks, many of them clutching cups of coffee.  I thought it was odd that they kept bidding me good morning when it felt like 2:00 to me, but it was still only 11... time seemed to stretch out forever.

I was prepared for today's ride to take all day, so I hit the road at sunrise and rode fast and hard, at least by my standards.  The ride was uneventful.  Around 2:00 I arrived in the "Twin Cities" -- Valparaiso and Niceville, Florida.

I had a couple of options for today... I could ride long and hard and reach the coast around noon and ride along the coast to Destin, or I could make it a short day and camp at Blackwater River State Park, in the middle of nowhere, and ride to Destin tomorrow.  It was the Interstate that made up my mind for me... the sound and smell of traffic and trucks idling on the on-ramp interfered with my sleep, and I decided I was fed up with following highways.  I'm not contributing to engine exhaust, so why should I breathe it all the time?

Carol fixed me a nice breakfast this morning to get me on my way.  Unfortunately something, either this morning or yesterday, gave me a persistent stomachache in addition to the lower-backache I'd picked up in the strawberry field, so it was an uncomfortable ride.

[posted to the Wheeled Migration Yahoo Group on February 3, 2005]

As I write this, I'm still in Alabama, just across the border from Florida, but by the time I send it I'll be in Florida at last. I wound up staying in Alabama a couple days longer than I expected!

I woke well before dawn in the strawberry field and picked about 50 slugs off my tent before hitting the road at sunrise.  I stopped at a convenience store and told a curious passerby that I was having trouble finding campgrounds and hotels.  His response changed my day and nearly changed my whole trip: he said this area is still recovering from last August's hurricanes, so there are hundreds of workmen visiting from out of town, plus displaced homeowners and renters.  He suggested I go farther from the coast, i.e. back north where I had just come from.

If I could live this Groundhog Day over and over again, like Bill Murray's character in the movie, I don't think I would bike all day in the rain.  I'd watch the 6 AM broadcast of the Buffy musical until I was sick of it.  I'd try all of the thousands of ways to order Waffle House hashbrowns, including the ones that involve Bert's Chili, without fear of getting sick tomorrow.  I'd call a cab and give the cute, sleep-deprived waitress the ride home to Mobile she was fishing for, and then I'd go to the airport and fly to Pittsburgh to meet my new nephew.