Archipelago 9-11 Florida-Alabama-Mississippi

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Ad hoc

Posting from Albuquerque (backtracking)

Mar 26 - 28  FLORIDA-ALABAMA-MISSISSIPPI  

Continued from Archipelago 7-9 Georgia-Florida

Tuesday. March 26  - I got up at dawn and drove off in the direction of Tallahassee. First By way of I-10 and then by the shore, getting somewhere on coastal highway Rt-98 - my notes and recollection obscure - but somewhere on a way encountering a mystical contemplating dawn and pelicans flying over the water.

Drove by the coast; stopped in a little park (I think it was Bald Point State Park) and took a nap off the trail between the dunes. It's still quite cold; the wind seem to be blowing from every direction, and I had hard time finding a spot away from it. Is this unusual for Florida at this time?

Got out the park and went driving West. This coast is rapidly turning yappie. Somewhere there decided to get out of there and go inland. Drove to Crestview (population 21,284 - Jul 2011, Source: U.S. Census Bureau), some way inland off I-10. Did some shopping, gave some food to a couple on bicyclers (seemingly out of money). decided to go to Crestview Library. 

That's definitely and by far the best library I've encountered so far -fast internet connectivity; plenty of space, and just kind of fresh air there...

I had an interesting conversation about Autism with a young librarian there, and donated a book. Here are a

 few pics from the library, etc.. 

This is Marie Garcia with her beautiful smile.

By the time I got out of the library it was just about time to get going and find a place for the night.  Decided to go further inland see what's it's like there... 

Drove TO BLACKWATER RIVER STATE FOREST looking for a campground, that was near Hurricane lake there according to the map.

The signs there are really really confusing and misleading. I am surprised now I got as close as I got. 

Somewhere on a way I was compelled to stop and snap a picture. I'm getting into a habit of it (this is the other part of the training - extending myself to do it almost automatically without thinking), and that is what happened with this picture below. I really like this picture, looking at it now. I think it's the best I've got so far!

This picture is very close to the turn going towards Hurricane lake which is still quite a few miles out there somewhere. I got real close but I didn't find the  turn in the dark. There were quite a few old and faint log roads going into the woods; I got off the paved road and drove in, got to a good spot; popped my hatch and went to sleep in a car that way - it was just like a small lean-to; I had car walls on the sides but the back of the car was open with a canopy that was created by open hatch door. Here is a shot of the woods from there just as the last light was going away, and the same woods in the morning.

The woods there are coniferous and got a bit burned at the bottoms; there was probably a fire not too long ago; the trunks of trees are charred; there's mostly mature trees; perhaps small ones got burned out.

That was NIGHT 9

Wednesday, March 27

In the morning I found the lake and the campsite, I was real close to it where I camped out in the woods. It was nice - real nice, a small camp, and the people there were most likely local people who came to fish or just to be in the woods, but it was still too crowded for my taste, and it was too early and cold. I drove around the lake looking for another access but didn't find it; ended out
driving out and not staying there...
I wanted though to go a bit further north to find other lakes that were on a map, but overshot and ended out somewhere on a log road looking for a way out, with GPS not working there, or working intermittently failing at the important junctures. Drove on some log roads, but eventually got out.

Once I got out of the park I decided to go to the shore; got lost again trying to get there, but eventually after circling who knows where ended in the  Perdido Key State Park on the Bay Side which is almost on the border with Alabama.

The weather was still cold, but I needed to refresh myself, since I didn't wash or anything since waking up in the Blackwater forest, so I went for a short run to warm up, and then jumped into the water, which was pretty warm and  swam a bit, and after that stretched on a beach, and just hung there for a while, thinking of things, until I realized that it was getting a bit late, and I should go back inland if I want to spend the night without hindrance from the cops. The place there was all hotels and upkeep for reach folks; that little beach was the only place left, and it was tiny, and I was sure people were chased out of there as soon as it got dark.  So I got out and drove towards Alabama;  It was 2:20pm at a time.   

Stopped in Foley, population 14900+   and went to the library in Foley, AL  (off R-98)

Had a very interesting conversation about autism with Martha. This is their card; she got it for me for the record. Thank you Martha.  

When I got out it was getting late and I needed to find a place to spend the night. Decided to go to a little park not far from Mississippi border -  Meaher State Park, MVI-727 - and to spend a night there at the campground and then from there in the morning to go to Sandhill Crane National Refuge, there next morning.

By the time I got to Meaher State Park, MVI-727,  it was already pretty late, and the staff was probably gone for the night, although it was still quite light; they have a really sophisticated system there that looked somewhat like a prison camp with a wired fence and the gate with a padlock that was over 10 feet tall. 

Not really a place I felt like going into.  But right across from it on the other side of the pkwy was some other place that looked interesting, so I went there to check it out - it was some kind of offices of the Dept. of Fisheries in a large lot, surrounded by a groove of trees on a hill going down to the bank of the bay. I parked there out of sight and went for a walk. I should have stayed there for the night, sleeping in the groove, as it was already close to 7 pm, but decided to go on, and drove out after I came back, and got on I-10 driving through and out of Alabama.

Ended up stopping in Mississippi not far from the refuge  at the rest stop, that was kind of off the road and had a lot of trees; parked my in a dark corner, away from the buildings, and after resting there for a while, decided not to continue; this was not a bad place to sleep at all, and I wasn't sure if I'd be able to get into the refuge at such a late time and find a place there.  So I  just stretched in the back of a car and slept there.  The road went quiet fairly soon as well as truckers got off the road to rest. I slept well and got up early at 6:30 with dawn.

That was NIGHT 10

Thursday March 28, got  up at dawn at the rest stop and drove to the refuge.  It was just about 10 min away from the rest stop, as I found out.