Day 23. 4/28/22. 58 mi. 5:26 AIS, 1220 elev. 10.7 mph
Big Lagoon State Park to Blackwater River State Park.
Curtis had an even better viewing of the alligator swamp activity last night. I’ll post his good photos here.
The elevation today was not bridges, although we had a couple of them. It was truly, climbing hills! We haven’t climbed this much since Shepard, TX…April 15th. Most of the hills were called the Pensacola Bluffs. We whizzed past the Pensacola Naval Air Station. Then through the Main Street in Old Pensacola. Really nice looking old downtown area. Then it was up and down, up and down through the bluffs. A bit of another Parade of Homes! Once through the city area we had miles of strung along coastal community businesses and fairly busy road. You had to pay attention and “drive” your bike for awhile.
We took our usual little stops here and there but we made a collective decision to eat at Chick-Fil-A. There is the first one coming to Billings in the next few months. I don’t know if Montana has another one yet. When something new comes to Billings, people go nuts and the lines are tremendous…for weeks! Anyway, none of us had eaten there, so we had to see what the fuss will be all about. They are really efficient, friendly and the food tasted good. I doubt I will need to be in a hurry to eat there again …seriously what is the hype?
Had a wee bit of bicycle trail today…about 6 miles. Of course I liked that.
I need to talk about garbage thrown on the side of the road. I mean serious big garbage…furniture, toilets, loads of miscellaneous garbage. What is that all about?? Does it cost too much to go to the landfill? It’s been bad in Florida today. Mississippi had there share as well. I don’t take pictures of peoples nasty misdoings.
Since we had another relatively short day we made it to our State Forest campground by 3 pm. It’s so great to just decompress for awhile before getting into tasks. We walked down to the Blackwater River. They have canoe and kayak rentals, so as few people were paddling by. The water is only 2 1/2 ft deep on average but it does have a small current. The water was clear and cool with a super sandy bottom. Felt good to wade in it.
We are in a rural part of the Florida Peninsula for the next couple of days. Can’t wait to see what life looks like in the “stepchild” part of Florida…ie Peninsula
cinnicrew 