Friday was a driving day...over 500 miles, first up to Perry, Florida, where I turned west on US 98, which I stayed on until the congestion in the western panhandle area, starting near Mexico City / Panama City / Tyndall AFB, finally sent me up to Interstate 10 through Pensacola, Mobile and Pascagoula (Florida, Alabama and Mississippi).
The problem here was that I needed to make time and the state of Florida has all these little "come hither" birding signs, one about every 50 miles, with arrows pointing OFF whatever road one is ON. I found it difficult to resist this particular seduction but dutifully just kept driving, at least today. The signs are small and brown and read The Great Florida Birding Trail...AND in addition, there are the state and national refuges, parks, trails, natural management areas, coastal beaches or just plain unpaved roads perpendicular to nearly any route one drives.
I found US 98 wonderful up until Port St. Joe. The road was wide with little traffic, mostly through trees, marshes, across rivers and along the Gulf coast. It reminded me of US 2 west of St. Ignace in the Upper Peninsula. The road is that close to the water for a significant part of this route. There were small towns and vacation homes, nearly all built on pilings, many with second and even third floor balconies and screened porches. The ambiance was laid back in a different way than that in southern Florida. I pulled into one RV park to check out a raft of ducks (redheads) and the people seemed more like old hippies than old Republicans. Everything was quieter, with fewer roadside gimmicky shops; instead, there were funky little restaurants featuring fresh seafood, and small places selling shrimp, etc. If the timing had been right, I would have stopped for the night in a motel right on the beach....
But that all changed in the western panhandle and I was back in the artificial world of shopping (outlet malls for "3 miles" one sign said), all the usual commercial establishments, high rises, traffic, etc. Still, I loved the first 150 miles of US 98west from Perry.
To be fair, Interstate 10 from Destin to Ocean Springs, Mississippi was easy and I did make good time.
I worked 4 hours after I got here and then read Steve Jobs until after midnight. The TV in the room next door was loud, but the bed was extremely comfortable and the temperature exactly right so I didn't have to listen to any heating or cooling fans.
I'm now on Central Time; it's Saturday morning. On to Louisiana...
Maria, I may check out Sabine NWR; today would be the day to do that.
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