On the Way to the Rally

Wow, am I behind on my blog. Blame it on being sick… the whatever it is that has run its way through the whole household, finally catching Lily has really messed up my sense of time. Yeesh!  It feels like the past week has been lost in a fog of germiness…

Anyway, back to the good stuff.

The drive east from New Orleans (gosh that feels like a long time ago) to Florida passes through Mississippi and Alabama. Both these states have small coastlines and it took us only a few hours to cross their borders again - which means no crossing them off my visited states maps. L I would have liked to stop and see something in at least one of them, but it just wasn't to be(this time). The Gulf Coast Exploreum Science Centre in Mobile, AL was a stop that another full-time family had recommended, but there was no RV parking anywhere nearby and our deadline to get to Tampa was looming closer (meaning not enough time for an overnight stop). So we bypassed it; a choice I’m regretting a bit, because I've now heard from several others that it is a Really Awesome place, for both kids and adults. Oh well, choices, choices. I’m not sure we would turn around and head back west just to go see it, though. 

Pulling into Pensacola, FL, as the sun was setting, we stopped at Walmart to pick up groceries.  Then after getting back on the highway, we discovered that my chosen campground for the night (Fort Pickens) closes their gates at dusk. Doh!!! 

Trying to find a new place to stay, in the dark, when the driver refuses to stop so we can all figure out

1) where we are! 2) where we might go 3) what’s the safest/ smartest way to get there

is stressful, to say the least.  So, it the space of 30 minutes we got to 1) head straight toward a 10 foot high bridge 2) realize this just quick enough and turn into a  (almost) way-too-tight for us Welcome center  (Closed)  and 3) take a tour of downtown Pensacola with the trailer in tow.

before finding another Walmart to stay at for the night.  Fun times!

We never did go over to Fort Pickens National Park, which is supposed to have some beautiful beaches and interesting history at the Fort, itself. Instead, we continued east.  By this point though, both Bob and I were tired of traveling the (fast, but often dull) I10, and elected to take the coastal roads to see something different. There are lots of neat little beach towns along road (lots of traffic lights too), and interesting looking shops.  Not many of them have parking for a unit our size though, and so we continued on.  (That really bugs me sometimes!)  There were also many tantalizing signs – Beach Access - , which often also proclaimed No RV’s.  Eventually we were able to pull into Henderson Beach State Park so we could get our first real up -close experience of the Gulf of Mexico.   

The day was cool, and very foggy, and visibility was all of maybe 50 feet. The yellow flags were out, indicating a moderate hazard, and the waves looked rough. That didn't stop my monkeys from playing in the surf and getting thoroughly drenched and full of sand. And having a blast doing it.
It’s really nice when we can find a fun activity for everyone to do in the middle of a driving day. It makes it a lot easier to spend hours and hours in the vehicle. The kids hardly ever complain about the hours in the truck, but it's still good to be able to burn off some energy!

It was my turn to drive, and we continued along in a general easterly direction. We hadn't picked a specific route, but understood the general lay of the roads. Bob had punched in a route on my phone’s GPS, but we weren't really paying close attention to it. About an hour after I started driving Bob goes “Wait, you’re on the 93!”  Um, yes. “We’re supposed to be on the 30!” Um, what!!?? It really was not a big deal – the road we were on leads towards Tampa, but does it the long way.  But at the time… OMG!!!! Huge Panic!!! Get turned around! Get us to the right highway! 

After we turned toward the new road, we all calmed down enough to realize there was nothing wrong with our previous route. Now we were on a new one, and we might as well find out what’s this way.  Although unintended, the turn away from the coast provided an entirely different view of Florida. It turns out inland on the panhandle is pine forest, and cut blocks so reminiscent of home. There were quite a few logging trucks on the otherwise empty road. It was quite interesting actually (to me, that is – don’t think the kids cared, either way). 

We drove the forested highway until darkness threatened, and then figured out a place to stay which was along our current road (thank you PassPort America). After checking into Rocky’s campground, just outside of Perry, FL we completely and utterly failed to notice the entrance (which was behind us), and instead turned onto another paved country road. Where Bob proceeded to drive and keep driving, even when it was apparent we missed the entrance. NOOOOOOOO!!!!!! Since it looked like all the other country roads we'd seen nearby (aka hardly any RV friendly side roads) I convinced him to stop on the highway, where he executed a very neat back-up into a long lane (in the pitch-black) to get us turned around and heading the right way toward the campground. Thank goodness the road was super quiet, and that our usual difficulty reversing when under stress did not come into play. He did an awesome job, really (although, we really shouldn't have left the parking lot, to begin with!) 

Some days we end up with a bit more adventure than even I was intending! Maybe the next day we could have more fun adventures, rather than stressful ones.