February 7th 1999. 74 miles. I left the motel at 9:45 a.m. and headed north on highway 98. Got a bacon and egg sandwich and coffee at a Waffle House restaurant near Panama City beach. 98 took me through miles of woodland with no shoulder and traffic that was too heavy and inconsiderate for really enjoyable cycling. Got a refill of the water bottle at a forest management area that had a fire tower. A ranger there told me they were no longer required to be up in the tower as much as they used to be. I stopped at a convenience store and at a restaurant when it looked like the dark clouds over me would spill their contents, but they just kept blowing East and let loose only a few drops in my area. Got a double Sunday at Baskin-Robbins in Destin, Florida. It is now around 4:00 or 5:00 p.m. I am in Wendy's restaurant in Destin Florida across from the Emerald Tower condominiums which are on the Gulf of Mexico Beach. Earlier in the day I had a slight tailwind. Later it turned to a side wind from the left from the south. Coming into Destin it was a quarter wind from the front left. I was going west.
It felt better getting started this morning after a full day of resting the muscles and getting away from the hectic rat-race highway. Cycling across the United States from east to west is a pain in the neck until you get to Texas where the law requires emergency stop lanes on both sides of the road. From Texas on West, cycling is much more comfortable. I know because I have been through all this before. At this point it looks like I've come about 48 miles so far today. Destin is on a sliver of land between the Gulf of Mexico and the Choctawhatchee intracoastal waterway. It looks like highway 98 will be a four-lane divided highway with paved shoulders to Pensacola from here. That Fairway Inn set me back $40. I just now ate a sour cream and chives potato, a side salad and drank a big diet Coke for $3.18.
I continued peddling my fully loaded bicycle to around Santa Rosa Beach. There I got a bacon and egg sandwich and a grilled cheese sandwich at a Waffle House restaurant. Went on over the bridge and just kept going into the night. About 8 Miles east of Navarre Florida I stopped for water at another convenience store. Three young men working there seemed amazed at my quest of cross country cycling. One very young fellow told me to cycle to Navarre and take the toll bridge to the barrier Island and follow the Beach Road to Pensacola. When I got that far I almost did that, but at the last moment opted for camping the night in a patch of woods near an Eckerd drug store.
The sky had completely clouded over and the wind was coming straight on from the West to the east and it looked like it might shower. I scratched my legs a bit getting the bike into the low-lying scrubs among the myrtle bushes and the pines. I set up the tarp like a lean-to and moved all the gear under it just in case of hard rain. As soon as the mosquitoes came buzzing around I fired up a mosquito coil and sprayed my vulnerable parts with repellent. The wind blew in gusts all night. The rain did not come.
Monday February 8th 1999 70 MI. Looks like I'll get into Alabama today. I was up by 9:15. Packed and got back on 98 west. Ate at a convenience store one pint of milk, tuna salad sandwich, chocolate muffin, cup of coffee. Now in Arby's in Gulf Breeze, Florida. I am drinking artificial lemonade and consulting a map. I have had a sea breeze side-wind from the south all day. There is no sign that it will stop.
It is now 6:40 p.m. in Eleanor, Alabama. That means I've come about 48 miles so far today. This place has a convenience store with a restaurant where I just had a four piece chicken dinner. It was easy getting through Pensacola when I switched from 98 West 290 West. The road has been getting a lot more rolling on the terrain than it has been so far. In Pensacola I stopped in an Army Navy store and bought two P38 type can openers, the large type. This area here is countryside where I am right now, and and the southern accent is thick, just as it has been for some time, actually since I left the east coast of Florida and got as far inland as Okeechobee Florida. I just had a conversation with a man named Ron Odell.
Crossing the four Mile bridge over Pensacola Bay was easy with the nice following wind blowing in from the gulf. Where I am now is Eleanor. 90 West does have a paved shoulder two or three feet wide, and there are signs saying bikes sharing the roadway. I think I'll cycle about 14 miles more tonight to around Loxley Alabama before calling it a day. I am not very exact on the mileage, but I think I've come 50 or 54 mi so far today.
Got to Waffle House in Loxley Alabama at interstate 10. I arrived around 10 minutes after 9:00 p.m. . I stayed there until about 10:30 and and ate a waffle with honey. After that I backtracked to a patch of woods with a sort of trail running beside it. I slept this night under a broad reach of oak boughs about 1,000 feet from the restaurant. The sky had clouded over and a foggy mist hung in the air. The mist collected on the leaves overhead and occasionally sprinkled a very light rain down upon me. Clearly audible were the big tractor trailer rigs speeding by on the highway about 250 ft away.
Tuesday February the 9th 1999. About 64 mi today. It was full light when I awoke. I rolled over to see if I would return to sleep, but I stayed awake. I lay there for I don't know how long listening to the sounds and looking at the sky through the twisted design of the limbs emanating from a giant oak tree, when an old pickup truck pulled up into the patch about 15 ft away from where I lay. A white-haired thin elderly man got out of the trunk. He was carrying a pick axe and a garden hoe. It seemed that he did not see me as he walked slowly over to a twisted clump of undergrowth and started rooting around in it with his tools. I watched for at least half a minute and then said hello. He turned with a start and looked at me. I told him exactly what it was I was doing there. He seemed friendly enough and we had a conversation for about 5 minutes. All the time I was packing my gear and getting ready to leave.
I pedaled my fully loaded bicycle across the highway to McDonald's where I had a deluxe breakfast. I remember seeing the clock on the wall when I left there. It was 11:05 a.m. . Highway 90 west was hilly to the town of Malbis about 10 miles away. There I stopped and had a Coke float. The causeway across Mobile Bay was flat as a board and about level with the water in some places. It must be one hell of a place during a hurricane. There was a nice following wind all the way across. I caught a ride in a pickup truck through the Bankhead tunnel.
The sidewalks through Mobile Alabama were really a cracked up mess, and 90 west, also known as Government Boulevard, leaves close quarters between traffic and bicycles. I ate bananas and yogurt at one food store, standing next to a parking lot entrance between an oak tree and a fence. There are numerous old mansion style houses along 90 in this area, and some historical plaques that go with them. Getting out the west end of the city, I have been pushing against a direct headwind and over large rolling hills. When possible I have been cycling on highway 90 and a frontage road running roughly parallel to 90 west, and lined with nice houses to the northwest. At that point 90 west is running southwest toward Pascagoula, Mississippi. It was time to stop at a Burger King in Tillmans Corner just outside the city limits of Mobile. Around mobile and in this region, 90 is known as the Old Spanish Trail. Time now 3:40 p.m. I've covered about 34 miles so far today.
Time now around 8:00 p.m. in Pascagoula, Mississippi. I meant to get a photo of the bicycle leaned against the state line sign going into Mississippi, but I did not. Either I missed it in the dark, or it was not there. There is a light mist in the area at ground level, but visibility is still very good. At least 90 has a nice wide paved shoulder in Mississippi. I am now at the eatery of the golden arches where I just now polished off a 6- piece chicken nuggets. People keep asking the same old questions. Where did you start from. To where are you going? How long did it take you to get here? How many miles do you ride each day? How many flat tires have you had? You have a long way to go. Or you have a long road ahead of you. Gee, I've never heard that before except for maybe 20 times. I might get to Gautier tonight or thereabouts before calling it a day. I will soon be moving out for that place in the dark. I have a feeling this part of the United States is mosquito haven. I will soon find out.
I did cycle on to Gautier with a lengthy stop on the way to patch a punctured tube in the front wheel. The air was permeated with a fog that became dense later. I went into a patch of woods behind a shopping center. It was alongside a dirt road. Stepping to get to the woods from the road, I sank ankle deep in quicksand and quickly pulled myself out and got back onto the road. The ground was soaked and much too clumpy to sleep comfortably. I cycled on to another Waffle House in Gautier and had a waffle for dinner. The cook there told me about a closed parking area a few miles west on 90. As I pulled away from the Waffle House, two police cars pulled into the parking lot. The fog got so thick I could not see 10 ft in front of me. Headlights became a round globular blinding glare. The eye-glasses kept fogging up blinding me completely. I turned left at a set of traffic lights and searched along its length of road. I finally found an old road going into the trees. I slept at the end of that road among numerous small trees. It must have been around 1:00 a.m. by the time I got there.
