Medart, Florida

When we left the hotel in Destin we felt like we were going into a war zone as we got back on the very busy four lane divided highway Rt 98 east. Ken had told us about an alternate route but we had a few miles on the main route to get there. It was very busy! I am sure that everyone who was in such a hurry to get by us had some type of emergency like getting to the outlet mall asap, or to breakfast or maybe to play golf. We even got yelled at by an ol' lady. I don't think I 've ever heard someone that age say some of "those" words. That's interesting! We got to the turnoff in one piece and onto Old Rt 98 that Ken recommended. There was a bike/walking trail by the main road. But it was full of people so we stayed on the road. It wasn't too bad. Most people were reasonable. It was a beautiful road by the gulf beaches. One thing that I noticed though was there were occasional signs that said "Do not walk on dunes, habitat area". And then right beside these "habitat areas" were huge condos, motels, restaurants etc. I must be missing something. There is some video of us riding through this section at www.youtube.com/outbikin. We had to get back onto the busy Rt 98 for a few more miles before turning onto Rt 30A that had a bike trail along beside it. The bike trail was really nice. There were some sections that were very bumpy and full of gravel so we occasionally got on the road. It was a pretty ride through the small towns of Seaside. There were some beautiful houses. But too many people and cars for us. We did see alot of people cycling on the trail and on the road. We stopped for a banana/peanut butter break and another cyclist stopped to talk. We asked him about a campground that we had seen on the map. He said that was where he was staying but it was only for RV's. AND they were very picky about the RV's they let in. If an "old" RV pulls in they won't let them in. Sooo I guess that means that us riff raff tent people couldn't stay there. No, but there is a state park near there. Yes, we called there and you needed to make a reservation in 2007 to get in! We thanked him for the help and went on down the trail. The trail ended where Rt 30A came back out onto Rt 98 again. We were just west of Panama City. We did have alittle bit of a berm at this time though. Traffic was still pretty heavy. What was interesting though was that there were these signs that said "Cyclists on roadway". Mmm....wonder what that meant? All of a sudden I noticed the rear tire feeling funny and sure enough we had a flat tire. We pulled into a parking lot and Hap changed the flat. While he was changing it a sheriff pulled up and asked if we needed any help. I asked him if he could find the hole in the tube. He said no, but there is a bike shop just up the road. I said thanks I think we are ok. He asked where we are going. I said, that we were going to Panama City. Oh, he said you want to be careful the road is very busy. Do you want a ride? I told him no thanks. It was really nice of him to stop and check on us though. It does make us feel better knowing at least that someone cared. Hap got the tire fixed and we went back out into the war zone. Coming into Panama City we crossed another big bridge. I had found a coupon for a hotel for only $35! It was just on the other side of the bridge. We somehow made it safely to the hotel. It actually was not bad. We were alittle concerned but it was alright. I got the laundry done while Hap did alittle bike maintance. For dinner we ordered a pizza and salad.

The next morning we left in sunshine and cooler temps, 60's. The traffic was much better once we got away from Panama City. There was a nice berm also. We passed a couple of Air Force bases on our way out of town. It seemed like a difficult day for some reason and then we realized that we had a headwind. Oh, no wonder we're workin so hard! Rt 98 was really nice to ride on now. Since it was supposed to storm we decided to stay at the Dixie Belle Motel in Port St Joe. We stopped at a grocery store for dinner supplies. They had a grill at the hotel so we got a steak to cook. As it turned out it didn't rain that night. But when we woke up in the morning it looked like it was going to rain on our heads at any time. I made sure that all of our rain gear was on top and easy to get to before we left. We stopped in Appalachacola for some great calzones for lunch. We asked the waitress to wrap up our leftovers and we took them with us. When we came out it was pouring down rain. We put on our raincoats. At least it was a warm rain! There was a huge bridge to cross over the river. It was 3 miles long. The wind was blowing really hard from the side. It seemed like the more we moved forward the more we moved sideways. We rode into Carrabelle and stopped at a grocery store for dinner supplies. All we needed was a salad to go with our calzone leftover. We checked into the Georgian Hotel. We were alittle wet but it could've been worse. The owner of the hotel let me do our laundry (it was two of our three cycling outfits) which was really nice. Just after we got checked into the hotel, the rains came. There was a terrible storm during the night. Flood warnings were in effect and several tornado warnings were out. As I was looking on a Florida DOT website I found a list of cycling laws in Florida. I thought one of them was really interesting. It said that drivers are required by law to give cyclists three feet distance when passing them. MMM... Either the drivers here hadn't read that law, most people here aren't from Florida OR they think the 3 feet is measured from where the driver is sitting! It was supposed to storm again tomorrow and tomorrow night, so we decided to ride a short day tomorrow as a rest day. And then do a long day the next day when the weather was better. It is nice to have this option! We made a reservation in Medart at the Best Western for tomorrow.

This morning we were prepared to wake up to more rain, but were pleasantly surprised to find the rain had stopped. But it was extremely foggy out. It was a warm 70's just a soggy one. The fog reminded us of the west coast fog. The big difference was that it was a warm fog instead of a cold fog. It was a really nice ride inspite of the fog. We had all of our bright rain covers on the panniers. All of the drivers gave us plenty of room as they passed. I think they were probably trying to figure out what we were! There was hardly any traffic and the scenery was really pretty. The only downside was that one of my migraines decided today was the day. Oh well. We rode into Medart, stopped for dinner stuff and at a Dollar Store. The hotel was a new one so it was especially nice and clean. It makes you really appreciate having a clean place to sleep in! I think I am going to have to change my housekeeping habits when I get home!