Part 4: Trekking through the Gulf States

I took off from Austin, and I took a couple days to skirt around the Gulf of Mexico. I enjoyed the drive! I had perfect weather. 

You can't leave Texas without stopping at Buc-ee's!

Twice!

Snacked up!

I made it to Lousinana in good time and stayed at at Boondockers Welcome spot on Bayou Teche in the small town of St. Martinville. It was a quiet, tranquil spot.

Ah, the days of repairable TVs and a good business to have....

Morning tea with a view

I left Louisiana with an eye toward lunch. Last year, Trish had found a spot in Gulfport, Mississippi and we enjoyed it muchly. So, I set the GPS to take me there again. Why not?

Seafood boil at the Shrimp Basket! Sweet tea too!

You can't leave Alabama without stopping at Buc-ee's. Yanno, cuz you need to top off your gas, pee, and get the snack you forgot the first two times.  

My stop for the night was in Pensacola, Florida, at a brewhouse. It was a Tuesday night and it was quite quiet. I enjoyed the beer though!

 

Poppy and I were in good company!

Bye, Doc's!

The next morning, I visited the Naval Air Museum at Naval Air Station Pensacola.

Sopwith Camel. Where's Snoopy?

Corsair. Where's Pappy?

Fat Man. Where's Oppy?

Climbed in the cockpit.....

Top Gun

Abort! Abort!

Three men floated 1000 miles for a month in this raft without food and water before they were rescued.

  I was a couple weeks too early for Blue Angels practice session.

Then I drove to the Tallahassee area and stayed at a farm. That was a kick! 

This baby was born last spring and was rejected by her mother. He was bottle-raised. He sucked my fingers. 💗

Henry and his sister

This ol gal didn't want me to leave

Saying goodbye

This boy was shy and didn't want kisses.

Drove down the coast of Florida and stopped for lunch alongside the Suwannee River.

Blackened grouper sandwich

Next stop: pick up Trish and head back northward!

Louisiana - Mississippi - Alabama - Florida

The southern states are all nestled together on the Gulf Coast, so we visited four states in a few hours on Thursday. We drove from Holden, LA to Southport, FL, where we spent the night before making our way to the Tampa Bay Area on Friday.

Ponchatoula, Louisiana, aka Berryland. They were just starting to set up for the weekend's strawberry festival, but we got some berries out of the stop!

We stopped by the Abita Mystery House in Abita Springs, LA. But despite the sign, it was closed. We were disappointed. 

There was a lot of water in Louisiana and Mississippi! There always is, but with the previous night's storms, there was flooding and bodies of water up to their brinks.

It was a windy drive! There had been tornado watches throughout the South the night before, as well as flood watches. The storm that we were following really packed a wallop. 

This tunnel was welcome! It took us out of the goddam wind.

We stopped at Shrimp Basket in Gulf Port, Mississippi for sweet tea and a meal of blackened redfish. Sooo yummy! And of course key lime pie!

We passed through the blink-and-you-miss it southern leg of Mississippi, and within the few miles of Alabama, we were lucky to find another Buc-ees! We had stopped briefly at one in Texas, thinking we'd have plenty of opportunities. But this was our next and last chance to visit the famous beaver.

Snacks acquired, we headed on to our next spot for the night. This night, we visited Southern Grace Lavender Farm in Southport, Florida. They had just harvested their lavender, but we got to walk the garden and peruse their gift shop full of luscious handcrafted lavender products.

The hens gifted us some eggs.

It was especially cold! I couldn't believe we were in Florida!

The next morning, we tackled our last leg before a bit of a rest. It was an all-day affair. 

Trish found a giant rattlesnake for us to visit in Tallahassee.

Also in Tallahassee, this sculpture memorializes a live oak that once stood on this ground at the public library.

The drive from Tallahassee to Dunedin was yucky, especially the last 100 miles. So many lights and stop-and-go. I was exhausted when we finally reached Trish's place. 

But we did enjoy another stop or two....

Find this guy in Crystal River, Florida

We finally arrived in Dunedin in the evening, and after literally throwing out our stuff to be laundered and refrigerated, we retrieved Punk and parked Poppy at friends' house. 

The numbers so far:

• 3,566 miles
• ~ 74 hours of driving
• 15.7 miles per gallon (according to Poppy)

We have a few down days here in the Tampa Bay Area, and then we'll head north.