On Monday, May 5, we took off from New Orleans anticipating a wonderful ocean drive. The first part of the journey was terrific. We cruised through Mississippi and down the the tip of Alabama where we took a ferry across the Mobile Bay. This ride was fabulous and beautiful. We went along rivers and through lots of small towns with curvy roads and hundreds of trees.
We arrived right in time for the ferry and I was a little nervous about crossing the bay on this little ferry because they don't tie down the bikes. Turned out just fine, crossing was smooth and there were several other bikes along with us.
I met an older lady who was on a church mission and used to ride with her husband. She called herself a harley babe! That will be me in about 30 years!
We loved seeing the pelicans swoop down and fly along with us.
It was sunny, warm and a fun cruise. There were several oil derricks in the bay and I was a little surprised to see them and to see how big they are; like little space age cities.
Riding to the Florida/Alabama Border was nice, the Gulf was to our right and as we entered the beach towns I was anticipating a fun beach drive along the Florida panhandle. Well, I was completely wrong! We stopped at Florabama - right on the Alabama & Florida border. This was our first indication that we were heading to spring break mecca! The bar was huge and set up for drinking, dancing and partying. We had a quick ice tea and headed off.
The second part of our trek was awful! The 150 mile ride through Pensacola and Panama City was through bumper to bumper traffic and more traffic lights than I could even count. We hated it and our clutch hands were cramping. Pensacola and Panama City were typical beach resorts probably perfect for families and college spring break. But not for us! There were hundreds of beach houses, hotels and every chain restaurant imaginable. Quaint or quiet is not how I would describe Pensacola or Panama City, at least what I saw. I'm pretty sure we won't be back.
After a hot and awful ride we cruised right through Tyndall Air Force Base and our ride improved 100%! We rode through a cool forested area that had wide sweeping turns and an amazing view of the Gulf of Mexico. This almost made up for Pensacola & Panama City but not quite! It was nice way to ride into Apalachicola.
We arrive in Apalachicola and immediately made our way to the Up the Creek Raw Bar to enjoy oysters and the amazing sunset. After a horrible day along the panhandle, this view made everything all right and created a perfect evening.
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