The full circle tour of Florida, and then some. . . .

Well, we have now come full circle with out Florida tour, having come in at Pensacola a month-and-a-half ago and went down the Gulf Coast/West Coast side of Florida, across the Everglades, down to Key West, and then back up the Atlantic Coast/East Coast of the state to Jacksonville in the northeast corner where we picked up I-10 and then pointed ourselves west, completing the grand loop here at Pensacola. The weather was cooler than we had anticipated (and wanted), but other than that we had some beautiful sunny days and some nice warm days mixed in also. It was good to visit the "old homestead" and associated areas in south Florida. We find it to still be a nice state to visit and to tour. Florida has many of the same problems that much of the nation experience, especially in the sunbelt areas, and that is ever increasing growth, more commercialism, and increased automobile traffic. But then too, the beautiful blue/turquoise of the waters, the inlets, the Intracoastal Waterway, and the beaches are still there and still have that certain charm and warmth for folks like us who truly enjoy the ocean and all that entails.

One other interesting side-note that I will mention here is that, we have now traveled every single mile of Interstate Highway 10 from it's initial start in Santa Monica, California at the beach and CA-Hwy 1 (SR-1) to the very end and it's conclusion in Jacksonville, Florida at the I-95 intersection, downtown. That is roughly 2,454 miles. Much of it, especially the western half of I-10, and particularly the California stretch, we have traveled many, many times. It has been interesting to us to note the different topography, the varying flora and fauna, the climates, as well as the local foods all along the I-10 route, much as it has been for us with all the various other routes and locales that we have traveled through and visited.

Since we pretty much covered the sights, history and attractions in and around Pensacola on our 'in-bound' visit, we will not be repeating any of those visits on this journey through Pensacola.

The little blogs will probably become somewhat more infrequent and stretched out over time, but periodically from time to time I will be making an update and a note of those items of interest that we may encounter from time to time.

From here at Pensacola, we depart tomorrow morning and at Mobile, AL we take I-65 North to Decatur, AL then west on US-72 to Red Bay, AL. I have an inkling of curiosity to make a visit to one of the few family-owned and successful motorhome/motorcoach manufacturers in the U.S., Tiffin Motorhomes Inc., where the patriarch Bob Tiffin has his slogan, "Roughing It Smoothly". Yes, I still love to see things made, constructed, manufactured, and this is one that I have wanted to see. I have been through Monaco Coach (3 times) in Coburg (Eugene), OR, Fleetwood RV in Decatur, IN, Winnebago in Forest City, IA, and Newmar in Nappanee (Elkhart), IN

We received some heavy rain this afternoon, and it is still raining lightly with a forecast for it to continue through the night with thunderstorms into tomorrow. It may be wet out, but at least it is warm (currently 68F) and with a prediction of 74F tomorrow. We are looking for improved traveling weather tomorrow, but we'll see. Of course, the weather is always of concern, especially at this time of year, and we will be following the forecasts closely.

Seems that family and friends in California are getting hit quite hard with very heavy rains and high winds back out on the west coast, with rain and snow in higher elevations over the entire state. We do wish them all well and hope that they can keep their feet dry.