Day 3

Today was a long one... right at 12 hours from start to finish. I woke up at 5:00am, packed the bike and got on the road around 6:00am. Man, was it chilly! I had two shirts on and a leather jacket...plus the full face helmet...and I was still cold. By the time I had ridden about an hour, I was beginning to shake from the cold. I pulled into a convenient rest stop...Florida has really nice ones about every 30 miles on the interstate...and tried to warm up. Unfortunately, the hand warmers there didn't do too much to help.

I got back on the road and rode another hour until I got to Midway, FL...just west of Tallahassee I. I ate breakfast at a Waffle House and tried to get warm...it helped a little. Back on the road by 9:30am and by now the sun was getting warm, and so was I.

My next stop was Pensacola, FL, where I made a little Walmart stop. I needed a few things, including better tie downs and some all purpose cleaner for the bugs. I found what I was looking for so I spent a few minutes eating some peanut butter crackers and drinking a coke while re-securing my bag to the bag of my bike. I was back on the road by 12:30pm or so.

Deciding to skip lunch today, I tried to make better time, with the goal of getting to Baton Rouge for the night. My original plan had been to stay the night in Lake Charles but that was when I was going to spend the second night in Tallahassee...plans have to be flexible.

Shortly after passing leaving Pensacola, I hit the Alabama State Line and shortly after that I came to Mobile. Seeing signs for the Battleship Alabama park, I exited the interstate to check it out. It was only a couple of blocks off the interstate and was pretty interesting...although it cost me $2 to drive through and take some pictures. In the interest of time, I opted not to tour the battleship.

Once back on the highway, I quickly left Alabama for Mississippi, then Louisiana. This whole day I passed places I recognized from days past...Panama City, Eglin AFB, Gulfport, Biloxi, Keesler AFB, Crestview to name a few. I passed over several bridges spanning rivers with interesting names, such as Suwanee River, Blackwater River, Chatahoochee River, Pearl River and last, but not least, the mighty Mississippi River. There were other bodies of water, too numerous to mention here. Oh, and there was another grass fire today...no car in the middle of it this time...thankfully.

After Mobile, the only stops I made were to take pictures of the various "Welcome to ______" signs and to get gas one more time. I arrived in Baton Rouge about 5:30pm and decided to go through town to the west side so I wouldn't have to fight the morning rush hour going into town. I pulled into the hotel parking lot at 6:00pm, almost exactly 12 hours from the time I first got on the highway.

I took a few more pictures today than yesterday...including one or two of me. Enjoy Sharon. Tomorrow, I'll be hitting the road headed to College Station...just not as early. Today my travel took me 583 miles...tomorrow only 360 miles or so...still about 8 hours counting stops. I'm betting I'll make better time...always do when I'm headed home. If all goes well, tomorrow's blog update will be the last for a while. My rear end needs a rest. :)