Florida Day 4

Fair sleep; nary a wild boar nor armadillo (though we did see a dead one on the side of the road later). We WERE awakened by a rooster. And spotted a Red-bellied Woodpecker, Bluebirds, Chipping Sparrows, Purple Martins and Robins.

We took a back way to Florida, the country roads filled with contrasts of small and large well-kept houses and abandoned or ramshackle houses and trailers, like Ray Ray's Junkyard.

Two interesting signs:

Free at last, for FREE (a church-based, drug rehab place; bad taste to me)

Critter Gitter (pest control!)

Went through a pretty town, Brewton, with the railway tracks and stinky smells of a mill, in fact, a pulp and paper mill.

We were in Florida by 8:43 (state line in the middle of town with TWO Dollar Generals, a mile apart!)

Next sign indicated the Aircraft Controlled highway AND a vulture flying overhead (austerity program).

We headed south to Pensacola and a stop in the Visitors' Center (and the first pelican sighting of the trip) and a grocery store. We crossed the bridge to Gulf Breeze and to the Fort Pickens Campground (site C21, $20 a night). It's a bit crowded and open, but the beautiful white sand beach is a short walk away.

After lunch, we rode the bikes to the beach, walked a bit and rode to Fort Pickens to scope it out for another day. Here are some sunny, sandy pictures (and yes, sand not snow!):

So many retirees here (and a few younger people, of course four right behind us!) so it's quiet and friendly. And the beach. Can't wait for more.

TV says we're in a Tornado Watch area, and we see that we missed a tornado in Huntsville, Alabama, which we drove through yesterday. Can it be that we will just continue to avoid the bad weather by a day or a few hours? We can only hope.

Here's today's (adorable) view from my chair: