Couldn't resist

     The plan for the day(thursday April 21) was to head into Mississippi and check out the Holly Springs National Forest. That plan changed a short while before arriving. I passed a brown sign stating, " Natchez Trace Parkway", so I took a peek.

     A couple hours later and I am sitting on a wooden picnic table at a campsite along side the parkway. It's a stretch of 444 miles from Nashville, TN to southern Mississippi. I entered the parkway at approximately 265 miles.  I started to head North but I decided going South was a better idea since I would be backtracking.

Vroom

     Yesterday Tony and I drove along the west coast of Florida along a highway scenic route of the gulf of Mexico. We passed through beach town after beach town for hours.

     After driving for about eight hours we were somewhat close to Jackson, AL. We pulled into a park "Old Lock One". The sign stated it was one of two locks left in the area. It was renovated in the early 2000's. They had lantern holders near their picnic tables.

     I walked along a dirt road that had a fence blocking the way to a vehicle. The area had a house with a padlock. The sign I read earlier said that they had a camp host. I'm assuming this is where the host would stay. They had a whiteboard with a rough drawing of paths. This is where we were supposed to be camping.

     Unfortunately Anthony received bad news and had to cut the trip short, family emergency. We drove for the next four hours or so until reaching Atlanta, GA to catch a plane back home.

     We said our goodbyes and I headed back west to find a place to crash. I drove for a couple of hours and found a rough road in the Talladega National Forest at 2:30am. I decided to take it and it put the Subaru through its paces. The road was meant for SUV's but I wasnt on it for long.

     After getting a few hours sleep I woke up today and decided to keep heading west. I'm sitting at a Mississippi visitor center, which is one of the best I've come across.

     Alabama has great nature scenes to it. Not at all what I was expecting. It's lush with green surrounding you at all times. The US highways were fun to drive with hills and turns. I must admit I'm impressed.

     Lets see what Mississipi is all about. We're going to keep this trip going as long as I can. I hope to see Anthony back soon.

13hr day

      We camped in the Everglades. We drove.. a lot yesterday. 8am to 9pm we drove from the Everglades to the Apalachicola National Forest area. Along the way we stopped at the Big Cypress area. We watched a few alligators swimming and lounging within 10 -20ft.

     We almost got stuck in an area but the AWD proved to be useful. Now we know for sure it works. Being on an unnamed dirt road getting stuck wouldve put a damper on the night.

     We looked around for a campsite for way too long. We ended up being on the wrong side of the river. Being exhausted from the long haul we just hid in the state forest area.

     The area isn't crawling with mosquitoes though. I made breakfast with only having to kill a couple this morning.

     Currently we're using an open wifi spot and making plans for the day. Most likely heading in to Alabama to find a site.

    

Key West

     Went down to key west last night. Our camping spot fell through and we had to improvise.  Tony ended up camping as I used the Motel Subaru. Nice accommodations, good view, and even a moonroof to look at the sky...

     We woke and headed to the beach for a couple hours. Key west is gorgeous. If you say things like, "I like beaches" then you're in luck, hah. The water was clear and the surf was light.

     The drive was very cool and the towns were nice. A few state parks were on the route but we decided to pass them up. I read that there is a ferry that will take you to an island. If you bring a canoe you can camp at a primitive site around that island, for a fee of course (+$200). Paying that much to sleel on the ground is...too much.

     After hanging out in Key West last night as well as a few hours today we left. Went to the Everglade National Park which was right next door. Cool area, but not what either of us was expecting. We were going to camp but figured out the hard way this is mosquitoe territory. Have bug spray? Sure. It helps for about 5 minutes. Want to wear long clothing to deter? Its 80+ degrees. We went for a short couple mile hike and cut it short after a few minutes.

Miami

Welcome to Miami. I slept in the car last night and tony camped out. We got t to the wildlife management area at 11:30pm and didn't make it in time before the gates locked.  We stayed close by camping out next door where we shouldn't really have, hah.

Tony drove this morning getting us to the Miami Beach by 11am. We lounged around for a few hours in the sand and went for a dip.  The water was warm.  The sun was around and we were trying not to fry our  winter PA skin. It feels hot,  but its  80 degrees. I'm melting. Water?

We drove through downtown Miami. It was pretty neat. Saw a few cruise ships at port. Felt like rolling vice style and buying some neon for the Subaru.

Stopping into a target and getting some groceries.

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Dragon

Stopped in and ate at a place called The Chromatic Dragon. We got some gamer named food, The Malfegor ( from a popular card game), and played a little Mario Kart after we ate. It was a a cool place to check out if you're into that sort of thing.

Thinking about heading South for the night, but not too sure. Hmm.

Tybee beach, GA

     Checking out the beach in Northern Georgia. It's cloudy and very windy. We lasted about 20 minutes on the sand. We went hiking earlier through the Francis Forest we stayed in yesterday for a couple hours and decided to head South.

     We will be meeting up with Tonys friend, Kay, in Savanah, GA this evening.

The trail we hiked in the forest had burned sections which led to scorched panoramas. I put together a short time lapse of walking through a section of the trail. The scenery went from green to black repeatedly.

Update: we went out on the town and tried a local burger place, which was delicious. We had also went out to an irish type oub which was cool as well. I may have had too many drinks and quietly sang the zephyr song karaoke style. Tony had sung a few songs as well, it was a good time. Savanah city has an open bottle drinking law where you can drink in public near certain areas, which is weird to see in action.