Hampton Inn Panama City/Panama City Mall

... a spot on the sand away from the kiddies and mullets...pretty good time.

Had a dolphin swim within 15 feet of me, probably due to our perfected dolphin and mermaid calls (I had nothing on Brad and Katīs--but it worked).

We had no idea what we were getting into.

But this seems to be the only place on earth that serves Busch Beer in bottles--worth the price of admission.

... had only brought my blender or food processor for making hummus ..... The water has receded quickly - one of the benefits of being on sand. We hope to be on the road early tomorrow. We are not sure how many stops will entice us as we leave Florida, cross Alabama and enter Louisiana. We also foresee some longer days of travel when we get to Texas so are doing some advance planning.

... windshield wipes at Advance Auto.We arrived at St. George Inn around 5 PM or so.  The Inn is an old house.  I had reserved the Windjammer "Suite"--it was actually a regular room, with a King bed.  It was like staying at a relative's house, only you had to pay. The bed creaked and was uncomfortable; the toilet ran if you didn't jiggle the handle; the TV was very small and was up on a stand on the wall.  But it was OK for one night.We took a walk on the ...

... alligator ponds! Mind you we haven't spotted the residents but we are told they are there and signs are posted everywhere warning of a $500 fine for feeding the alligators. Publix featured lobster tails today so we treated ourselves to a couple for lunch. This was the first time trying to use the broiler in the microwave convection oven. It's not quite like having an electric broiler but although ...

... and Priscilla had taken off, they told me they were going down to the ocean to peruse the scene. Unfortunately, Jodie and I each thought the other one was taking pictures, so we have none to share. I probably wouldn't have taken any pictures anyway, because of all of the salt spray. Off we went with a couple of hrs. of driving ahead of us with Maudie in the co-pilot's seat. Driving the RV must be similar to driving a billboard down the road ...

... the boat and sailing it to the pier at the condo. Then it's a calm fishing day. Except, the first boat's motor catches on fire, out in the water. The only replacement is a pontoon, which isn't the best for casting. But nothing stops dedicated fishermen/women. There's enough fish for dinner! No suprise.

... to fish. Lew gave me my first rod...a Wright & McGill. And he tried to teach me how to cast. At the age of 6 I was practicing in his yard. I think my brother Skip was hooked at birth. My younger brother Scott also became addicted. So addicted that he now lives on a trout stream, the Sinnemahoning Creek in Driftwood, PA. Skip taught ...

... so he bought it and drove it back to PJ's. We took almost another month to install, change, add-on or do whatever else was needed to suit our needs. PJ's son Billy came down from Indiana for a visit and he did a lot of the work, like installing all the satellite, TV, and electrical stuff. It's a 35' Tiffin Allegro Bus (3 feet shorter than the Dynasty) and has less storage room, however ...

When we left Brownsville, we headed back east to Perry, GA for a big FMCA RV Rally. Along the way, we connected with our friends Bev and Wynn in Styx River for a couple of days. The FMCA rally was very good and had a lot of worthwhile information and entertainment. After the rally, we worked our way back to our friend PJ's 'farm' in Vernon, FL just north of Panama City in the Florida Panhandle. PJ had bought a reservations service from me, on the island of Maui, several years ago ...

After a pleasant week on the Gulf Shore, we headed for Florida. Then a few miles later, just after we crossed the border into Florida, we barely escaped having a bad accident with a cement truck! We don't know if the truck driver dropped something, or what, but he crossed about 5'-6' over the double yellow line into our lane right in front of us! Terry leaned on the horn and pulled over as far to the right as he could (it was a narrow road with no shoulder due to ...