The Forgotten Coast - Florida Gulf

"I love to go to Washington - if only to be near my money." Bob Hope

Thursday we pulled out of the Ft. Walton Beach area of Florida. Our destination was about 90 miles southeast so we knew it wasn't going to be a long day. Well, as the best laid plains go, we were wrong. We figured we averaged about 20 mph and even for us that's pretty slow. About five hours later we pulled into Mexico Beach.

Why did it take so long? Well, along the route is an outlet mall that had some very unique stores. It seems in most of these malls today the stores are all similar carrying the same name brand stuff. This particular mall was huge with a very different selection of shops and best of all, they were all open and appeared to be thriving. We had to stop. After all, Christmas is just around the corner. That's just about all I can talk about because some of those we buy gifts for read this blog. So, 'nuf said.

Mexico Beach is a pure delight. The park we are at is nice -- not super elegant -- but nice. It is absolutely perfect for us though. Since we're here for a few months, getting satellite set up and internet service was a must. As a matter of fact, we didn't even pay for the site until we were sure of our reception. We did have to change from one spot to another because of all the very tall pine trees. So, here we are getting settled in and thrilled that we are here. We even found a screen room and got it set up.

The town isn't very large as it's only about 1 1/2 miles long. There isn't even one stoplight. Most of the beachfront is open for public access in town. At both edges of town the beaches are dog friendly. Duchess is going to love this as much as we are. Friday, Lee and MaryJane took us for a tour. We visited several different beaches, collected shells, waded in the water and sat on the beach. Just before the sun went down, MaryJane and I went down to the beach with glasses in hand and toasted as we watched the beautiful colors glimmer across the gulf at sunset. What a fabulous day!

My phone is playing havoc with changing the time on it. We are within about a block of the two time zones - central time and eastern time zones. The only way to know really what time it is we need to check the one in the motorhome or the car and not the automatic one on the phone. However, we're not really sure it matters what the time is anyway. The park is in central time zone and the half mile away beach is in eastern time zone. But, come dark no matter the time, we're zombies. And, dark certainly comes early.

On Saturdays Panama City has an open Swap Market (i.e., Flea Market) and on this Saturday there was also a Christmas Craft Bazaar just across the road at the Fairgrounds. We had to check it out, along with the Mall, Walmart and Tyndall AFB. What a day!

We also discovered dove season was upon us. How did we discover that? We discovered it when all the gunfire started at the ponds which border the RV park. And, of course, the local police were called. They talked to the hunters persuading them to point their rifles the other direction and informed us it was entirely legal. Ugh! We aren't sure when dove season ends but we do know that deer season starts next week!