Bronson, FL

Chiefland, FL

Salem, FL

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!

Saint Marks, FL

Carrabelle, FL

Apalachicola, FL

Port St Joe, FL

Panama City, FL

Miramar Beach, FL

Yesterday, I drove only 2 hours east on Highway 98 from Pensacola along the Gulf coast to a town called Destin. Well, technically I’m in Miramar Beach, which is just east of Destin. The drive was unremarkable except to say that I never seemed to be in the countryside and the only way you could tell you were travelling from one town to the other was by the “Welcome to XXX’ signs. I remember that being the case in the lower peninsula part of Florida as well.

This is the most developed of the Gulf beach areas that I’ve seen, I think. And the sand is perhaps the nicest. It’s really fine without being powdery, making for great sand castles, and it is absolutely white. There are no shells and there is no seaweed or anything else along the beach. Don’t think they are groomed, must just be the currents.

Yesterday was a little cool to be on the beach, but after setting up I walked down to our beach and sat there anyway and read my book for a bit. Then I did my normal orientation tour around town to see what was here. Seems like almost everything is.

Today I checked out the outlet mall across the street, but with the Canadian dollar so low, it would have to be a really good price to make it worthwhile and I didn’t see anything that made it worthwhile. It is a bit warmer today and I ventured off to Henderson Beach State Park to spend a couple of hours on the beach reading and people watching. Got a little wind burned, but felt good to soak up some sun.

I grabbed a late lunch/early dinner at one of the few restaurants on the beach – nothing spectacular, but again I went for location over food quality.

Since I’ve been back at the RV Park I’ve spent my time visiting with other campers who are out wandering and stop by and reading. I haven’t been able to settle down to recreational reading much on this trip as I alway seem to be either writing my blog or reading about my next stop so I make the most of my time on the road. But since I’ve mapped out the next few weeks I’m taking a break from tour planning and vegging a little. Loving it.

I’m feeling a bit guilty sending more pictures of white sand beaches when most of you are having to deal with other white stuff. But really, the only alternative would be sending pics of malls, and that wouldn’t be much fun. I’m here for another day and then will have a couple of travel days that will be more of the same (strip mall after strip mall), so you might not hear from me for a few days.