Greetings friends and family.
Its with heavy hearts and happy tummies that depart the beer and urine soaked streets of the French Quarter, New Orleans, LA, headed for Panama City, Florida, in the Sunshine State. Our toughest task this morning was figuring out how to get out of New Orleans. Their streets are ill maintained and their street signs are worse. After a few inner-city U-turns we headed out of town on east Interstate 10 headed for Biloxi, MS, for a quick stop at the Hard Rock Casino. Bob's daughter collects Hard Rock pins and Bob is good about collecting them for her on his journeys.
Departing Biloxi, MS, we crossed the Mississippi/Alabama border and made our way to end of the Mobile Bay Peninsula at Bayou La Batre where we boarded a ferry for the 35 minute ride across the bay and then rode on to Pensacola, FL. En route, we stopped for lunch at Flakey Jacks on the bay.
Did I mention that we are experiencing the southeast states' August heat-wave weather in June? Today it is 91 degrees with 85 percent humidity for a heat index, or "feels like," 105 degrees. And, it's suppose to continue for a week!
Departing Interstate 10, we opted for a scenic ride along the gulf coast which pretty much turned out to be a semi-scenic ride and not entirely along the coast. We did have glimpses of the coast along the way, but a coastal drive, it was not. It was also not fast because the day was dragging on and we arrived at the tourist areas of Pensacola, Fort Walton Beach and Destin, FL, right at 5:00 p.m. in the height of the Friday afternoon commuter rush. We had a twenty minute stop and go stretch through Fort Walton Beach when it looked like we might have to stop and cool down overheated motors, but we managed to get through it and arrived in Panama City, our evening destination, just in time to get drenched in the first afternoon thunderstorm of our trip. It was actually somewhat refreshing.
We checked into the Classic Inn Motel, showered and enjoyed an excellent dinner and a few adult beverages at the nearby Los Antojitos Mexican restaurant. Tomorrow, we're off to St. Augustine, FL. Hope you all tag along. And remember, it's all right here in the diaries, mostly true, most of the time.
John and the usual suspects.
No comments:
Post a Comment