Days 57 thru 62: a touch of Mississippi, and Home at last!

This is the final Gallery for our trip "Out West." After a wonderful visit to Paul B. Johnson State Park, MS, we crossed Alabama, and finally made it to Sunny Florida! (Of course, the sun didn't arrive until two days after we got here.) We're taking the scenic tour of the panhandle coast, visiting Henderson Beach SP, St. Joseph Peninsula SP, and Ochlockonee SP, and finally, Manatee Springs SP, FL. All at Sea Level. Air! At full pressure! WOW! What an adventure! We made it home on Friday 10/25/13 at 2:30 in the afternoon, after 62 days on the road. Now for several days of unpacking, cleaning, maybe even some rest, and a thought or two about what we're gonna do next! Statistics: food $917, gas $2500 (708 gals), LPGAS $80, camping fees $564, restaurants & entertainment $378, maintenance & misc $543, grand total $4,982. We've been told that that's a pretty reasonable amount for a two month vacation/adventure, but it still seems to be a lot of money to this little kid, who's measure of value is that comic books should still be 10 cents. We're very lucky to have the money, time and health to do all this. Thanks for traveling along with use on our merry way!

233 - Paul B Johnson SP #86 MS_9509-C
233 Paul Johnson 9509
233 - Paul B Johnson SP #86 MS_9511-C
233 Paul Johnson 9511
9512 - Whoa! Is that the reservoir overflowing? Across the road to get into the park? This can't be right! Then we saw another truck cross in the other direction, so we risked it. And finally got all the red mud off the tires! Car wash!
233 Paul Johnson 9512
233 - Paul B Johnson SP #86 MS_9517-C
233 Paul Johnson 9517
9518 - This was one of the most beautiful parks we've stayed in the whole trip. Canadian geese all over the place (but not in front of the camera). Even a pair of snow white swans (also no camera around). Of course, we also took the best site in the park (and the most expensive)!
233 Paul Johnson 9518
233 - Paul B Johnson SP #86 MS_9519-C
233 Paul Johnson 9519
233 - Paul B Johnson SP #86 MS_9528A-C
233 Paul Johnson 9528A
9543 - The view from the camper at sunset. Sweet!
233 Paul Johnson 9543A
234 - Henderson Bch SP #52 FL_9555-C
234 Henderson Bch 9555
9559 - After just barely surviving our trip through Mobile, AL, we passed the USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park for the second time this trip. This time I got a reasonably good shot of it as we whizzed by on I-10.
234 Henderson Bch 9559A
9566 - Florida at last. Sunshine, warm weather, sea level air pressure at last!
234 Henderson Bch 9566A
234 - Henderson Bch SP #52 FL_9576A-C
234 Henderson Bch 9576A
9574 - Henderson Beach is surrounded by Air Force bases and Naval Air stations. Jets swooping all over. Zoooom!
234 Henderson Bch 9574A
234 - Henderson Bch SP #52 FL_9577-C
234 Henderson Bch 9577
234 - Henderson Bch SP #52 FL_9582-C
234 Henderson Bch 9582
234 - Henderson Bch SP #52 FL_9584-C
234 Henderson Bch 9584
9583 - So much for the sunny part of sunny Florida. This was the only sunlight we saw today. Drizzled all night. But it was still 70 degrees outside!!!!
234 Henderson Bch 9583
9589 - There's something wrong with this building in Panama City. Glad we're only passing through...
235 Panama City 9589
235 - St Joseph Peninsula SP #82 FL_9593-C
235 Joseph Peninsula 9593
235 - St Joseph Peninsula SP #82 FL_9594-C
235 Joseph Peninsula 9594
9598 - It's nice to be surrounded by trees and bushes and things moist and alive again!
235 Joseph Peninsula 9598
235 - St Joseph Peninsula SP #82 FL_9604-C
235 Joseph Peninsula 9604
9599 - Cloudy, gloomy... but warm, ahhhh Florida!
235 Joseph Peninsula 9599
235 - St Joseph Peninsula SP #82 FL_9607-C
235 Joseph Peninsula 9607
9616 - In the early morning light, it almost seems we are in a lush pre-historic meadow.
235 Joseph Peninsula 9616A
9621 - Ochlockonee. Repeat after me: "OK -- LOCK -- KNEE". At the confluence of the Ochlockonee, Dead, Sopchop rivers and Buckhorn creek. The weather this morning was blowing the Gulf into white caps, but it was almost perfectly still here, just a few miles North, and surrounded by trees. The sun was out all day today, and it sure beats the "liquid sunshine" we've had for the last two days!!
236 Ochlockone 9621
236 - Ochlockone SP #19 FL_9622-C
236 Ochlockone 9622
236 - Ochlockone SP #19 FL_9625-C
236 Ochlockone 9625
9683 - This deer trotted right through our campsite this afternoon. Just shows you, anything can happen!
236 Ochlockone 9683
9660 - Speaking of "anything can happen"... a WHITE squirrel! The local ranger said that it's not an albino squirrel (our first impression), but a White Gray Squirrel! Huh? Yup, a bona fide variation, officially called the "White Eastern Gray Squirrel". The ranger said they are very common, but only to this area! Every season, the hawks and other raptors migrate through the area and pretty much decimate the population, but then they repopulate, and the cycle continues.
236 Ochlockone White Squirrel 9660A
9690 - Pretty darn cute for a rodent, eh?
236 Ochlockone White Squirrel 9690A
9695 - Pretty darn cute for a rodent, eh?
236 Ochlockone White Squirrel 9695A
9695 - Pretty darn cute for a rodent, eh?
236 Ochlockone White Squirrel 9702A
9722 - I don't want to be accused of being prejudiced against grey squirrels, so just to be politically correct, and here's a snap of one of them! (Some of my best friends are grey, really),
236 Ochlockone White Squirrel 9722A
9729 - We overslept this morning in Ochlockone State Park, and we wanted to get to Manatee Springs SP as soon as possible, so we skipped making breakfast in the camper, and just hopped on board "we'll find a diner or something just up the road." The internet said there were THREE restaurants just 6 miles down the road in Sopchoppy. Yeah, right, 3 abandoned (years ago) restaurants. The internet never lies... So on we went, another 20 miles before we saw two things: A Subway and a big sign that said "Breakfast Buffet - 2 miles". I took a risk, said lets go large, and 3 1/2 miles later we come to "County Buffet" and look at each other and say: "WE'VE BEEN HERE BEFORE!!!" How'd that happen? Doesn't matter... great breakfast!
237 Country Buffet 9729
9734 - We were here in March 2012. Beautiful State Park. Back then, we dis-mounted the camper (just to make sure we could while on the road) and took a side trip to Cedar Key for a great lunch and to check out the small airport that my sister and brother in law wanted to fly into shortly. When we got back to the campsite, and started re-mounting the camper, we noticed that I had forgotten to transfer to license plate from the camper to the truck. All day with an un-licensed truck. Ooooops!
237 Manatee Springs 9734
237 - Manatee Springs SP #13 FL_9738-C
237 Manatee Springs 9738
237 - Manatee Springs SP #13 FL_9742-C
237 Manatee Springs 9742
9745 - Almost as soon as we arrived, this deer walked up to our campsite, completely unconcerned by our presence. She lives here, we were only visiting....
237 Manatee Springs 9745
9749 - Manatee Spring. Beautiful.
237 Manatee Springs 9749A
9774 - The Manatee Springs waters, almost to the Suwannee River, just before sunset. Gail and I gazed into the river for quite awhile. We saw 3 different types of fish. There was a big, illustrated sign with all the types of fish around. 2 of the 3 we saw weren't on the sign.....
237 Manatee Springs 9774A
9785 - What a nice campsite. Maybe we'll stay awhile! Don't think that the management has been maintaining the planters out front too well. Seem to be overgrown with weeds or vines or something....
238 Home Last 9785