Leg 11 - Biloxi to Henderson Beach, Florida

I am really starting to understand more about the travel part of this Grand Adventure.  This leg was 189 miles.  It would have taken me 3 hours to drive in a car on the freeway.  I started driving at 10am and got to my campground at 6pm.  Holy moley, I drove for eight hours!  How do I even do that?!  It is kind of funny that it takes so long to go...not very far.

Let’s see…why did it take so long?  I stopped and grocery shopped.  I drove the back roads as much as possible.  I feel like that gives me more insight into how the people live.  I drive 35 miles an hour mostly.  I stop and look at anything I want.  I stop and take pictures.  But eight hours!?

Back to the journey:  I started in Biloxi, Mississippi.  Crossed the border into Alabama.  I didn’t know before this day that Alabama had coastline.  I thought it was all inland.  I am pretty ignorant of the geography of the states that are east of…California!  But I’m learning.  Alabama has a coast.

Took a bridge over Polecat Bay.  Then another one over Chacaloochee Bay.  I should count all the bridges I go over.  There are bays and sounds and rivers and deltas that you must cross.  And each bridge seems to reach up into the sky to get across the water.  I wonder why they made them so high?  They scare me every time.  I have learned to drive in the left lane – I don’t care how many cars pile up behind me because I am going too slow.  The right lane makes me feel like a strong wind is going to come up and blow me over the side.  And it is a long way down.

I dropped down off the main road and drove through Daphne, Fairhope, and Magnolia, Alabama.  I have to say, I didn’t like these towns.  They were beautiful, don’t get me wrong.  But they were filled with big old homes set back on huge lawns, all carefully manicured and maintained.  Old money.    It is hard for me to see the poor sections of towns, then see these mansions.  I know, I know…it is the way the world works.  But that doesn’t mean I have to like it.

I then hit the Florida state line.  I thought it was fascinating how I was in three states in one day.  I’m from a world where the states are large, and it takes many hours to cross them.  I kept saying this over and over to myself:  Mississippi, Alabama, Florida.  Mississippi, Alabama, Florida.  Plus, these states are kind of exotic to me, being so foreign to my limited western US life.

I crossed the Florida state line right before Pensacola. I took Highway 90, to try to stay off Interstate 10, which was a large interstate.  Then I dropped down to the islands as soon as I crossed over the bridge on Pensacola Bay.  You can drive on these “islands” many miles.  They look more like spits to me than islands, but who am I to give them a new name.  The first place I hit was Pensacola beach.  Ugh.  Spring Break capital.  Neon lights and tiki bars and scooter rentals and roller coasters and garish clown faces.  And kids everywhere with drinks in their hands.  Couldn’t wait to pass through there.  Then I drove through a bird sanctuary, and that soothed my soul.  There weren’t many people, and it was white sands and beautiful dunes.  And through the pathways in the dunes, I could see…green water!  Not dirty green, but Caribbean green!  I was so excited and hopeful for the water I’ve been looking for.

I hit some bad beach traffic trying to get through another beach community but eventually got to my campsite.  It was Henderson Beach State Park in Florida.  I hit a gold mine - you should see the campsite!  I have been seeing rv campsites that have the rvs packed in, with about 10 feet between each unit.  That was a bit like the one I stayed at in Crystal Beach.

I drove around the campground to my spot.  I found that each site is surrounded by green “walls”.  These walls are enough trees and shrubs so that you can’t see the people next to you, and so far I haven’t heard them.  This makes the sites feel very secluded.  In Crystal Beach, I didn’t feel comfortable opening my blinds in the morning as I wrote, because I didn’t want my neighbors watching me.  Here nobody can see me, so I opened my blinds first thing in the morning.

There is a walkway to the beach that apparently can only be used by people who are staying in the park.  There are electric, water, and sewer hookups.  Electric and water at the site, a dump station at the entrance to the campground.  There are laundry, showers and bathrooms in the common area. Woohoo, I hit the jackpot!

It is so beautiful here.  And the beach…oh, my, the beach - white sand that feels like sugar under your feet.  Water that is clear and is the Caribbean shade of green.  Small waves that would be enough to play in, but not so big as to be scary.  This is exactly what I have been looking for.

Oh, and the temperature - it was only 78° when I got here at 6:00 pm.  Heaven!

I may try to stay here longer.  I’m not sure what I will do during the day.  So far I have found that sitting still bores me.  But I might give it a try.