Great drive today, despite thickening clouds

Perry, FL

Started off in a bit of a fog this morning. The air, not my head. I got on the road just after 8 which is almost a record but I awoke early and was trying to beat the rain that felt like it might start at any moment. It actually brightened up somewhat during the drive, and didn’t start raining so was pleasant enough.

I continued along the Florida Panhandle on Highway 98 all the way to my stop for the night in Perry, Florida. I travelled through some more large beach towns (Panama City Beach, Mexico Beach) and a couple of other smaller cute places on the coast, Port St Joe (this is where the first constitution of Florida was written) and Apalachicola, and Carrabelle (I missed seeing the world’s smallest police station! featured on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson). These places had more personal summer “camps” rather than the huge condos and hotels of the other larger beach communities.

To the north of Highway 98 along much of my route was the Apalachicola National Forest and there was evidence of logging and milling in the area. And there were some ranches along the way as well So the scenery changed from beach towns to bay front towns to forests to farms. Really quite varied.

There isn’t anything of note in Perry, Florida other than it’s at a convenient spot to stop for the night and has a KOA, albeit a less than mediocre one. I didn’t even unhitch the trailer, so low was my curiosity level about this town. So, it’s a purely utilitarian stop tonight.

Did meet some nice people, Wilbur and Pam, who are staying here from 130 miles south of here and are on a bit of a business/pleasure trip. We had a very interesting discussion about the U.S. Presidential race. Very interesting time to be in the U.S. They voted for Obama last election and are supporting Trump this time. They knew that we had a Prime Minister rather than a President and that we didn’t elect him/her directly, and that our current one is young and is the son of a previous Prime Minister. More than many Americans know about Canadian politics.

It’s getting darker as I type this, which is partly clouds, but partly because I’ve moved into the eastern timezone at some point today. So back on home time. The forecast is for thunderstorms this evening and cooler temps tomorrow. Hope it doesn’t include tornado force winds again!