What a glorious day for riding!  The skies are blue, with broken clouds overhead and we literally exit our hotel parking lot onto Florida’s heritage trail.

In the parking lot, before we take off, I catch the eye of a senior gentleman staying at the hotel.  He tells me just how impressed he is with my packing!  Then a woman walks by after checking out and says, “What a great day to ride!  I’m jealous!”  I tell her I am excited for today’s ride!  Then she brags that she’s in the car with two kids and a dog and says, “You’re the jealous one now, aren’t’ you?”  We share a laugh and I wish her well!

But really, today will be a great riding day!  We are all about the back roads and the Gulf Coast!

Right away, I’m loving the sights!  I’m staring at all of the huge trees, with the hanging moss go by and then we ride through a full tree canopy/tunnel over the roadway.  I love it!  And right after we pass under the canopy and get back to the open road, we scare a huge buzzard off the roadkill it’s feasting on.  Its wingspan appeared to be as wide as the lane we’re travelling on!  He flies across the road in front of and lands way up in a tree.

Down the road, it’s just one little sleepy town after another!  I love all the little diners and shops and all of the homes!  Most are perched up high on stilts, to avoid being flooded during storm surges.  I really like the pale colors, from seafoam green to pale salmon, many with contrasting shutters and white railings.

A small cemetery catches my eye on the side of the road; so quaint and old.  The name of it is the best:  Isle of Rest.

Now totally along the coast, the pelicans really catch my eye.  They are everywhere!  As I pass people’s docks, I see that every single piling has a pelican sitting on it!  It’s so interesting to watch how they sit and how they move around.

When I lived in Arkansas, I remember so many friends taking their vacations along the Gulf Coast. I’ve driven through parts of this area before, but not really along the coast they way we are today.

The town of Mexico Beach is by far, my favorite!  There are many, many beautiful vacation homes, cottages and condos here.  It’s early in the day and the beach is already lined with colorful beach umbrellas and tents; families out wading in the water.

It seems much more quaint, quiet and enjoyable than the areas we hit just down the road, completely clogged with traffic and built up with more shopping, restaurants and commerce, than downtown Seattle!

We survive miles and miles of stop and go traffic through towns that just stretch from one to the next.   After passing about 8 car washes, Terron says, I need a car wash!  It takes us another town to find one and it’s rather interesting, unlike any I’ve seen before.  The driveway is guarded by a gate arm, like you’d see at a railroad crossing.  You pay $7 to get through that gate and then choose a bay.  Then you’ve got unlimited water and soap!  This is a good deal and a great way to run a car wash!  We get the bikes washed up, getting a bit wet along the way, a welcome relief from the 100 degree heat we’re riding in.  After the bikes are clean, Terron wipes all of the bugs off my face mask for me!

I never realized before, just how many rivers, creeks and lakes there are.  The sandbars are so inviting!  Where there’s not salt water, it seems there’s another waterway to enjoy.  And I’m noticing with passing cars and businesses, that people here, really like their toys!  There are many boats for sure, but also personal water craft and lots of 4x4s and dirt bikes, mountain bikes, kayaks, etc.

One thing on my list for this trip, is a nostalgic trip into a Stuckey’s!  As a kid, my family took road trips all the time and my brother and I would always scream from the back seat, “Stuckey’s! Stuckey’s! Stuckey’s!” whenever we saw a bill board for one; when my dad said we needed gas; when we needed to use the bathroom; or when we just wanted a snack!  Stuckey’s is a large roadside stop, where you find both gas and bathrooms, along with all kinds of souvenirs and stuff that you really don’t need!  Plus, there are boxes and boxes of candy!  I always liked the pecan patties and nut rolls.  My mom always liked the divinity.  And I remember the rock candy.  I can’t decide today, so I get a good sampling of things to enjoy later!  I walk away totally satisfied at this small revisiting of my childhood!

We finish our ride for the day with another stellar sunset, dinner and then clear skies to see the moon tonight!  (Darn it we missed that Strawberry moon last night.  Did you catch it?)

Tomorrow’s another day for backroads!  And to visit friends where we used to live in Arkansas.