Sarasota to Mobile, Alabama, by way of the Gulf Coast.
Well, I did it. As I was so close, hours away, from New Orleans, I couldn’t resist. I changed my itinerary last night, and because I’d actually allowed myself a day’s leeway between returning home next week and my appointment, I made this work by re-claiming that extra day. So, today I headed to Mobile, Alabama, where I am now, and I’ll head to New Orleans tomorrow morning, just three hours from here. Hopefully, I’ll get on the road early enough, by 7 or 7:30, to arrive in New Orleans between 10 and 10:30, and have the day, and one overnight before absolutely having to turn around Friday and start heading back north. I’ll only have a day and an evening there, but it’s a taste, and I’ll finally see the city. I’m excited – New Orleans.
Now, I could have driven through to New Orleans today, as it was just 380 miles and 5½ hours from Tallahassee, but that’s on the dreaded Interstate. Instead, I wanted to weave around the Gulf, following the coast road as much as possible, which is what I did, taking a meandering route, which would have meant 480 miles and 9 hours to New Orleans, so I came only as far as Mobile, where I am now. Again, you have to trick and manipulate online maps to take you on these non-standard routes (meaning, they want to take you the most direct and straightforward way), and I find myself making adjustments all along the way so I can stay on the coast hugging roads as much as possible. I actually toggle back and forth between Google Maps, plugging in my destinations and using that as my main guide for turn-by-turn directions, and Apple Maps, into which I don’t plug any destination, and instead zoom out so I can use it as a general map to see where I am at any given moment and get a larger picture of my route. Works well.
It was cool again this morning, but warming up, and in the high 40s when I left, and as the day went on it got into the high 60s, later dipping down again, but only into the mid-50s. Almost shorts and sandals weather (maybe not tank top), and definitely so tomorrow in New Orleans with projected temperatures in the mid-70s.
A long day, covering about 340 miles, and taking me about 9 hours, although, of course, I stopped many times along the way, but still a lot of actual driving time. I’m driving for more hours each day than I did on my trip last year, because last year I had no deadlines, so could be more leisurely each day, and didn’t want to drive this much (and still don’t), and last year I was hiking or walking at least 2 miles, and usually more like 4 or 5 , each day, but this trip, other than walking around my destinations, and an occasional nature hike, I’ve done no significant hiking at all. This is a trip where I want to see a lot (like adding New Orleans at the last minute), getting just a little taste of each destination, and covering much ground in just 16 (it was 15) days. The trip back north, starting Friday, will involve interstates (bah) and a lot of driving time because I have to be back by the 18th, but I still want to see things on the way back that are of interest to me.
My route took me west of Tallahassee and then south as I headed down to the gulf coast, and then west again, visiting coastal towns along the way. Some like Port St. Joe were quaint and small, with a population of just 3,900, and even smaller Mexico Beach a little further west, with a population of only 1,200. These are lovely little towns which, for whatever reason, have not attracted the large hotels and tourist frenzy of other beach towns along the coast, which I also passed through.
Mexico Beach was very different than Port St. Joe, at least along the beach front, and it’s coast road was littered with fairly new homes and condos facing the beach. Even so, the average price of a beach front here is $450,000-$750,000.
As I traveled further west along the coast, the towns got larger, more snazzy, and more touristy. Panama City, with a population of over 1½ million, was the first of these as I drove, with beach front homes here averaging between just under a million dollars and some more than 4 million. You have to be affluent to live in these homes.
Then came Panama City Beach, a smaller town of around 20,000, but much more glamorous and built up, where beach front homes here start at a million and go up from there. The has the feel of affluent and highly developed beach towns like Myrtle Beach and Boca Raton, and many of the beach towns along the Southern California coast, but not as large, built up, or intense.
This was a much more tourist driven town, and I wandered around the pier park shopping and attractions area, which was very nice looking, with a nice variety of shops, restaurants, and bars, as well as a small amusement park. I smiled when I saw the Nathan’s hot dog joint. Very New York beach
I saw plenty of those same beach front stores lining the roads near Boca Raton and the other Florida beach towns in that area, with that beach front strip-like look.
These roads hugging the coast get tiring after a while, although not interstates, which are just plain boring most of the time, because of the constant flow of traffic and the many traffic light along the way, and slower speeds, so a 20 mile journey can take close to an hour, or maybe more, and I traveled close to 200 miles along the gulf roads today, mostly on state routes 30 and 98. Lovely towns and beach and ocean views though, although the road didn’t always run right along the coast, and were just slightly inland. And in that long drive, I crossed five or six bridges over the Gulf of Mexico, which were themselves nice looking, with nice views of the beaches and the Gulf, and in some case the towns around them.
The beach town of Gulf Shores, about 8 miles in from the Alabama state line, was pretty much as far as the gulf road could take me before turning north and inland, now heading directly to Mobile without any more stops. a little over an hour away, and I eventually jumped on I-10 for this final drive. By the time I reached Mobile, it was dark even though it was only 5:30, but that’s because I’d also crossed into central time, so it was 6:30 pm in Florida.
Mobile is a small city, with a population a little over 200,000, making it the second largest city in Alabama, next to Huntsville and just edging out Birmingham. I came into the city through the Bankhead Tunnel, which passes under the Mobile River, and by the time I got here I was tired, it was dark, and I was ready to get to my hotel. But the city looked so nice in the lighted evening streets, with some wonderful looking and old buildings along Government Street, that I took a small drive around, including along Dauphin Street, the historic main street which is known for entertainment, dining, bars, and stores, and which looked great. I’d love to head back down that way in the morning, if time allows (as I’m eager to get to New Orleans). We’ll see, I guess.
And then finally to my hotel. But just one more rant about low cost (relatively low cost, I should say) hotels. Some, like this Days Inn and Conference Center, look great from the outside and in their large and well appointed lobbies, but in many cases the rooms are crappy and poorly maintained. This one, for instance, looks like the furniture was picked up from the side of the road, has a torn chair that is too low to use at the desk in the room (I’m writing this on the bathroom sink counter, as the chair is the right height for that), has crud and crust around the back of the sink faucets, water damage on the ceiling and walls, a worn and rusty bathtub, a fridge that rocks back and forth when you open it, and a floor that my shoes stick to and squeak as I walk across it. On top of that, there are, as is usually the case, remarkably few electrical outlets, so that even if I could use the desk for writing, I’d have to unplug the television set in order to plug in my laptop (I’m using the outlet by the sink counter). Enough of that, and I really don’t care that much. It’s just a place to sleep.
I think that’s it. I’m looking forward to tomorrow.
