A Long Drive to Florida, 2018

Like last year we rented a beach bungalow in Florida.  It was time to make the drive to Florida and it would involve staying in motels along the way. The first day found us in Lafayette, Louisiana and while the room was cheap and somewhat warn, we did go out to a restaurant named, Fezzo’s. It turned out to be one of the best meals I have ever eaten.

We started out the meal with Oysters Rockefeller, which are charbroiled oysters in a cream, butter and spinach sauce. Each bite was heavenly. They didn’t last long, and I followed that with Acadia Catfish over angel hair pasta, and of course it was Cajun seasoned. Renita opted for a hamburger steak and gravy with a side of mushrooms and grilled vegetables.

The desert was bread pudding, but it wasn’t like any bread pudding we have ever had before. The bread had been baked on site and it was infused with a vanilla sauce with a side of fresh beaten whipping cream. Renita actually rolled her eyes when she had her first bite.

Driving across Mississippi and Alabama was very short, with us first passing a tribute to the Apollo astronauts which included the full size Lunar lander used by the astronauts as they trained for the trip to the moon. The Apollo 13 lander was used as a lifeboat by an Astronaut from Mississippi, and Fred Haise signed a cement  panel beneath the lander. Chipley, Florida.

There was also a neat sundial, something which I need to add to our lot in Star Valley. The other excitement was as we passed the USS Alabama, along with a World War Two fleet Submarine. We had already stopped there on a previous trip and so we continued on to

However, as we neared Chipley, we discovered that we were driving into the path of destruction from Hurricane Michael. It was all too familiar, after spending last year and helping in Rockport, Texas.

Road crews were clearing the ditches from the down trees and while a lot of work had been done, there was lots more left to do. One of the differences from Rockport, was that the trees here are tall stately pines, most of which had been ripped apart leaving mile after mile of tree trunk fence posts.

The pines didn’t take the high winds as well as the live oaks in Texas, and it will be a long while before the tree lined forest rises again. It was the first time we have seen how a hurricane can utterly destroy a forest, and we were thirty miles from where it came ashore.

The destruction caused us to drive clear to Tallahassee before we could find a room at an inn. The last day it rained, and the drive was back to the usual task of watching out for crazy Florida drivers. So, we are now in St Pete Beach for the rest of the month. Yesterday we took our first walk on the beach, which is only a few blocks away. Clear skies

ps The receptionist at one of the few motels open in Chipley told us that further south the destruction was total.