Retirement Travels: Trying to get where it's warm!

Thurs, Jan 30

Another balmy day in paradise?????

For the third day in a row, it appears that the Gulf Coast of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida are totally shut down due to the weather.

Wonder what the alligators and snakes are doing?????

We left Biloxi this morning. Try leaving Biloxi without crossing a bridge. It's not easy, but after a few futile attempts, we finally find a way that doesn't involve a high rise bridge (which are the ones that are causing the problems) and get to I-10 and were merrily rolling along through Alabama.

Sunshine State?????
Open for Business???????

Then we hit Florida (hoping to get to the Gulf Islands National Seashore) and wham, another traffic stoppage. The bridge on I-10 North of Pensacola is closed - due to the weather. And we are stuck in a massive traffic jam
.

We quickly got on the IPAD and found an RV park close by and ducked into it for the night. After all, what is a motor home good for if you can't just stop where you want to.

We're in an RV park in someplace, I have no idea. We're settled in and HOPEFULLY, tomorrow they will get their one snow plow out and clean off the bridge.

This must be the only snowplow that exists in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida

We can't wait to get somewhere that it is warm AND the bridges are open.

Fri, Jan 31

When we started preparing for today's trip, we realized we were only about an hours drive from our intended destination - Gulf Islands National Seashore. I think we could have made it if I had done a better job of checking our location. I remember that all I wanted to do was get out of the massive traffic jam, so I just took the first thing I could find.

We decided what the heck, we didn't want to drive much today, so we put Gulf Island NS in the GPS and took off. FINALLY, the bridges are clear of ice and for the first time in 4 days, we can travel unimpeded.

Snow is still on the roadways this morning on the road to Santa Rosa Island (our destination)

Gulf Islands National Seashore is comprised of 12 areas on the Gulf Coast that include historic forts, picnic areas, trails and campgrounds that go from Cat Island in Mississippi to Fort Walton Beach, Florida. It is mostly comprised of small barrier islands that dot the coast, some accessible by car and others accessible only by boat. It was established in the same time frame as our own Cape Lookout National Seashore, 1971.

That's not snow. It's the sand. And yes, Clara is cold!

The sands are beautifully white. It's hard to tell the difference in snow and sand.

After settling in, we went to see Fort Pickens, a fort that was first developed after the War of 1812. The fort reminds me in some ways of Fort Macon, but is much larger and has been used for a larger variety of uses.

Then we drove back into the developed areas we passed on the way in and got the car washed and had a late lunch at a really neat restaurant, Flounders. The oysters were a great appetizer and the coconut fried shrimp is becoming a favorite of ours.

It's still only getting up to 50 degrees, but that's actually feeling pretty warm. So after a walk , I washed the motor home, which was caked in road dirt.

Brrrr!

Reminds me of White Sands NP, New Mexico

I think we are now beginning to see some possibility of warmer weather. We plan to follow the coast line of Western Florida South until we get to the Keys, or somewhere close.

Sat, Feb 1

We may be seeing warmth!!!!

As we traveled East today, it has become warmer. I thought for a while that we might even have to cut on the air conditioning. I put on shorts for the first time since Cozumel. And tomorrow it's supposed to be 68 degrees.

We are in St Andrews State Park. It is so great to keep finding nice places to stay. We've stayed on Military bases, National Parks, or state parks every night but two. They are so much nicer than commercial parks. This park is on the end of the island with the RV park on the sound side and a beautiful beach on the Gulf side. We've decided that we will stay at least one more day, and then we'll see. We're really in no hurry at all, so why not?

And if it's warm, what difference does it make if we're in Northern Florida or Southern Florida

We had been told by a couple that we had met at Gulf Islands that this park had lots of deer and this afternoon as we were driving around we saw several along the roads. They seem to be very tame.

Just an interesting picture of the high-rise condo's rising out of the fog

Sun, Feb 2

Today is a catch up day with a few things I need to do around the house. I installed an outside thermometer that we can read in the cockpit. Probably won't be needing it to determine freezing conditions for a while - I hope.

This afternoon we got out and road around the town of Panama City Beach. I would hate to be here in the summer. I can imagine that traffic would be like Myrtle Beach, or worse in the summer. There are dozens of high rise condominiums on the beach. This is obviously a family vacation destination as there are many theme park type facilities.

We had a great brunch at Dusty's. It is quite the place - and the food was great!

Mainly, it's been warm, but overcast. Mainly, it's warm!!! Tomorrow we will start turning the curve to head South toward Tampa. The forecast is for the temperature to get up in the low 80's. No complaints here.