Following the Sign that Reads: "Scenic Route"

So sorry it's been a couple days! Rest assured, I'm alive and well, sitting on the Gulf Coast learning exactly what it means to relax.  And I have no complaints.  If this is what the fallen world looks like, then Heaven's gonna be epic.

Let me start at the beginning.  My last post was Saturday night.  I had just finished my stay in New Orleans, so Sunday found me in my car again, this time planing on driving through 4 states to get to Florida!  This was to be one of my shorter drives, only 250 miles, at most it would be a 5 hr drive.  So I packed up my room at the bed and breakfast, loaded up my car, handed in my keys and sat down with my GPS to see where Matilda would be taking me today. So I get all situated, and I'm about to pop my phone into my handy little vent mount when it breaks!  No!  It was too soon for my stuff to be breaking!  So I get out of my car (I'm still in the parking lot, at this point.) And I start looking for the tiny little black plastic piece that's come flying off.  I had already found the spring, and I couldn't tell if the whole thing was fixable or not, so I started looking for a piece of black plastic (which is about the size of a bread crumb) in my packed car which has black interior.  Needless to say, I had no luck.  But I had a back up mount!  This one suctioned to the windshield and worked almost exactly the same.  No problems there, just frustrations.

After that brief little set back, I was on the road, filling my car up with gas, and listening to the directions on my GPS which was gain taking me to the cursed I-10: the only eastern way out of New Orleans.  The drive out of New Orleans wasn't bad.  No traffic, no set backs.  I wasn't sad to see it go.  I htink I can safely say that I wasn't all that impressed with New Orleans.  Maybe it was because I did it alone.  Maybe its because I grew up in the desert and humidity is only good for one thing: keeping my guitar sounding beautiful.  Maybe its because of the part of town I was in.  Maybe it was because I was sober the entire time.  Maybe there's just more awesome places in this world.  But, the long and short of it is that now I can say I've done it, and for that, I would consider it time well spent.

mississippi welcomes you.

Out of New Orleans, I was on my way to Mississippi: another place I'd never been.  Now when I still worked at Mimi's, I had told several of my guests about the trip I was taking.  Each of them had told me about a thing or two I needed to do in this part of the country or that, and I handful of them I had taken to heart.  One gentleman insisted that on driving from New Orleans to Florida I just HAD to take Highway 90.  Keep in mind, this is the same Highway 90 that I wasn't crazy about driving through Louisiana.  But this time, when I looked at the map, I could see what the appeal of Highway 90 was if you weren't in Louisiana anymore.  See, Highway 90 follows the coast when it's in Mississippi.  There's a little sign directing you to it from I-10 which simply reads: "Scenic Route".  Growing up, any time we were on a road trip, the "scenic route" sign always meant trouble.  It meant that as a kid, I wasn't going to appreciate the scenery no matter how beautiful it was, and it just meant that I was stuck in the car for longer with no apparent reward.  Fortunately, my dad rarely made us take these scenic routes (I think he was privy to our reluctance), but this time it was going to be different.  If the drive was only 250 miles, what was a few extra miles if it was just me?

So on to Highway 90 I steered my car.  Matilda did NOT like this.  She tried very hard to get me back on the interstate (I think she's got a thing for I-10), so I just turned off her volume b/c I couldn't get her to see it my way!  I will say, Highway 90 was most definitely the right choice.  For a glorious 30 miles, this was my view, beach houses on one side, white beach on the other:

this picture totally doesn't do it justice

windows down; hair freakin' out!

So with the new 45 mph speed limit, I rolled my windows down, turned my music up, and just enjoyed it.  This has been the most enjoyable drive yet, and will be difficult to top, I imagine.

Now, I was in Mississippi, and I needed a gaudy souvenir because it was only going to take me about an hour or two to drive across the state before I found myself in Alabama.  I figured I'd go into a gas station, buy whatever silly thing they had in there, and then be on my way.  Or better yet, I would find a Starbucks, and get one of their state mugs in there.  This proved nigh on impossible.  Every gas station I stopped at (and there were several) carried no touristy trinkets!  Another gas station: nothing.  Another! Nothing!  Then on the side of the road when I had nearly given up hope, I spotted a CVS pharmacy.  Yes! Surely something in there will say "Mississippi"!  So I floored to get in the other lane, tires screeching, cutting some poor down south boy off, I made it to the parking lot.  And in CVS?  Nothing.  I was out of luck.  But in the same parking lot there was a Goodwill!  "Success!" I thought.  Nope.  They were closed.  Why? Because it was Sunday.  Until this point I had completely forgotten what day it was.  It looked as though the Mississippi tourist industry (which is severely lacking) would be getting no business from me.

these pictures are difficult to take 

From there it was on to Alabama.  In Alabama, I decided not to try as hard to find a trinket.  I found a Starbucks and went in to buy my mug, and lo and behold, Starbucks doesn't even make them for Alabama.  Man, I was really not going  to get my souvenirs!  But it certainly wouldn't be for lack of trying.  I got my coffee instead, and was on my way.  From this point on, I got back on the highway, and resolved to get to Ft. Walton Beach as soon as possible.

florida!

Within little time I was in Pensacola.  Here, it really started to look like Florida.  Beach shops lined the roads, palm trees everywhere, greenery, and boats!  But I had to cross a bridge to get to Gulf Breeze, only 45 minutes or so from Ft. Walton Beach, and guess what?  I get stuck in traffic.  Again.  And I see a siren go past.  Again.  (Pattern? Anyone? Bueller?) But this time, I stick it out.  There's only 2 bridges to get where I'm going (at least as far as I could tell) and the other one was so far away that surely it would take longer than just sitting in traffic.  So I waited it out, and my waiting paid off.  The traffic wasn't nearly as bad as I had assumed it to be, and I was over the bridge, in Gulf Breeze, and then on to Ft. Walton Beach before I knew it.

I had made it to the condo.  And it's gorgeous!  I almost died when I saw it.  It's a gorgeous little 2 bedroom thing with an absolutely stunning view from the balcony.  Its 5 minutes away from a lovely sandy beach, and the property itself abuts a little calm canal with boats, fishes, kayaks, etc. It looks like this:

I had made it to Ft. Walton Beach by 3:30, so there was plenty of time to relax and talk.  It's been too long since I've seen Katie.   She got married a year ago, and moved to Florida with her husband.  Katie and I have been friends since we were 6, I was the maid of honor in her wedding, and a visit to Florida was simply long overdue.  I can't express how genuinely excited I am to be here!  So Katie made dinner, we all watched a bit of TV, and then I curled into a big fluffy bed in the guest room and called it a night.

me & katie

The next day, Katie and I woke up late and decided to hit the beach after a bit.  Like I said, it was only about 5 minutes away, and we were able to sit on the sandy beach, talk, and tan.  But then she had to go to work!  So the afternoon I spent lounging around, talking with her husband, watchin TV (Jersey Shore is painful), and generally relaxing.  Not a bad day.

bein a hipster beach bum

on this beach

pretty <3

This morning, I got up to find Katie & Tom both gone off to work, so I made some breakfast, finally sat down to write this blog, and have been enjoying the general relaxation.  (Can you tell that Florida has been relaxing so far?)  I'm here for another 2 days, enjoying the sea breeze, the beach, the pool, the sun, and everything else that we don't have in New Mexico!   A bit of shopping might be on the agenda later, but I'm certainly not worried about it.

I've been on the road for just over 1 week now and I've still got almost 6 weeks to go.  So far, I can say that I do miss home, but only a little.  I'm attempting to enjoy all of this to the fullest because I know its an opportunity I'm not likely to have again.

And that was the first few days of Florida.  I'll be back soon, to tell you about the rest!

TALLY:
miles driven: ~1,750
time spent in my car: 26.5 hrs (over 1 day!)
cities visited: 10
cities slept in: 4
states driven in/through: 6

PS. I got to talk to my brother & his wife on my video chat thing last night, and my nephew seemed to enjoy it quite a lot.   This is him showing me his muscles.

he's so handsome!