The holidays have come and gone, and Abbey and I were fortunate enough to spend the time with family and friends. We left the van in Florida and flew up to Ohio for two week of excessive eating and relaxing.

We made lots of cookies, including the candy cane cookies that Emily and I always made with mom when we were kids.

When Abbey and I flew back to Florida (now in the year 2020), we had a new objective: get out of Florida. We’ve been in the state a month now, and have really enjoyed everything it has to offer, but we’re ready for something new. Evelyn started right up after sitting for two weeks and we headed North out of Lakeland around noon.

We drove all the way to the panhandle and got to Goose Pasture campground after sunset. The campground, which is a free camp in a wildlife management area, was closed because of hunting season. Abbey and I decided to be naughty and stay the night since 1) It was already after dark and no one should be hunting, and 2) we drove 12 miles down bumpy dirt roads to get to this place. The campground was spectacularly quiet and dark – eerily so. We were awoken around 9 and then again around midnight when some guys came by in their boats with ultra bright spotlights. Not sure what exactly they were doing. We left around 5:30 in the morning to get out before any hunters came in, and indeed we passed several on the dirt roads on our way out. Goose Pasture was nice, but I was disappointed because there were no geese. Also, we’re still in Florida.

For about 100 miles, we saw serious hurricane damage from the 2018 category 5 Hurricane Michael. Mexico Beach was the worst hit, and hundreds of houses and buildings were in ruin and nearly all the trees were snapped halfway up. For some reason, we didn’t take pictures. I guess we were busy taking it all in and looking around with our jaws hanging open. “You mean that hurricane was two years ago and it still looks like this?!?!?!”

I really enjoy coffee, and I’m sure not suffering on this trip. Every morning we hand grind beans and then enjoy hot french-press coffee.

Panama City has nice beaches, and since it’s up in the panhandle and also because it’s January, there weren’t very many people around.

Big Lagoon State Park, at the very western tip of the Florida panhandle, has some nice hiking trails and great hot showers. We chose to make this campground our last night in Florida. In the morning, we saw a lovely sunrise over very still water.

Mobile, Alabama! We’re not in Florida anymore! We celebrated by spending much of the day at the USS Alabama museum, which has a bunch of airplanes, boats, and submarines. My kinda place.

The biggest cannons on the USS Alabama fire a 16″ projectile that weighs 2700 pounds 23 miles. Every 30 seconds. Battleships are so cool. This one served in both theaters of World War II.

Why do battleships, submarines, and nuclear power plants all have the same smell? I imagine it’s the smell of metal shavings, used oil, and electricity. It’s kinda nice but it gets in your clothes. Abbey doesn’t like the smell.

The SR-71. Perhaps my favorite airplane of all time. I mean, if your strategy to avoid enemy missiles is to just go faster, then you’re pretty cool in my book.

We stayed at the museum until it closed at sunset. Here’s a B-52 with Abbey for scale.

We’re glad to be back on the road and out of Florida. Heading West now.

Cheers!