We got up early to prepare the bus for our departure today. Bob had to attend the Co-op Board of Director’s meeting at 9:30 EDT (8:30 our time) virtually, so we wanted to make sure we could leave as soon as the meeting was over. We wouldn’t have much to do if we did it before the meeting started. We wanted to be on the road at 9:30, so he could participate in the meeting for an hour. We noticed yesterday that our refrigerator wasn’t as cold as it should be. Bob turned up the temperature, but it didn’t help much. After placing a thermometer in the freezer, we found out that the freezer was staying cold enough, but not the fridge. We made a phone call to General RV to discuss the problem. It will have to be looked at by the service department, so we’ll add it to our list of issues that need to be fixed when we take it in for warranty service on September 15. Until then, we will have to make due and hope it lasts until we get home. I can’t believe that all this stuff is going wrong at the end of our adventure, but I guess it’s better that it happening now than earlier in our trip. We’ll deal with it! We listened to the meeting until about 9:30, got the Jeep hooked up, and pulled out of the campground at 9:45. We would listen to the rest of the meeting on the road. As we made our way towards I-10, we passed a waterway where we saw more destroyed docks from recent tropical storms.
We crossed the Pascagoula River which took us on a raised highway over the salt marshes near the river.
We stopped in Pascagoula for DEF and a quick fill of diesel to top off the tank. It’s always a zoo at the Pilot Truck Stop with trucks going every direction, but the truck stops are the only places where they have DEF at the pumps and it’s cheaper to buy it that way. We crossed the Alabama state line as we crossed the “boot” portion of Alabama to Mobile.
As we approached Mobile, we saw these 2 awesome skyscrapers as part of their skyline.
In downtown, we entered the tunnel under the Mobile River. Going in a tunnel under the water always freaks me out a little, but I try not to think about it.
Leaving the tunnel, we crossed the Bay and by Battleship Park where the USS Alabama was docked for viewing (but not during COVID).
We ran into a little light rain as we neared Florida. We crossed the Florida border around noon as the rain stopped and the skies lightened.
Crossing Pensacola Bay, we had a 13 mph cross breeze going over the bridge over the Bay. That made driving interesting and made white caps on the water.
Crossing East Bay, we weren’t affected by the wind as much. The light rain returned as we neared Elgin AFB.
Traffic was pretty light on I-10. It continued raining all the way to Panama City Beach. This was the most rain we’ve had in 3 months. We spotted this guy on a motorcycle in a tuxedo driving in the rain. He’ll be soaking wet when he gets to where he’s going.
We arrived in Panama City Beach and located our campground around 3:00.
We set up in site #33 in the rain.
It’s a fairly small RV park of only 69 sites, but it has a nice pool area and all the streets are beautifully paved. It is also within walking distance of the beach which is right across the street.
Auggie got outside for a bit to stretch his legs and enjoyed being back in “geckoland”. He sniffed them out right away. We hung out for the rest of the afternoon inside and eventually the rain stopped and the sun came out. Bob had leftovers for dinner from his gumbo and jambalaya yesterday. I had mac and cheese. We relaxed a little before taking our walk and then chilled after a 5-hour drive today. We have plans to spend 5 days here, but may need to cut our stay short due to the 2 hurricanes brewing in the Atlantic. Plan B will be to leave early and head for home. It’s 416 miles to Palmetto from Panama City Beach, so we could make the 6-hour drive home if we had to. However, we might have to run to avoid not one, but both paths of the hurricanes. Both Panama City Beach and Cedar Key, our last stop, might be in the path of the hurricanes. We won’t know anything for another day or so, but then we’ll have to decide what we want to do.