1999-11-08 I don't even want to know my mileage anymore. I seem to be doing worse and worse everyday. Since I reached the coast, I guess there is just too much to be distracted by. I got up early but didn't leave from my campsite until late (7:00) this morning. I followed 98 to Navarre where I jumped over onto 399 just to see the scenery. This white sand keeps freaking me out. If the ground is flat and just a few weeds are poking up out of the ground, it looks just like a cold snow-covered field in January in Wisconsin, yet it is really over 70 degrees. Somewhere along 399 I took a break to go swimming. I decided even salt water would leave me cleaner than I was. The water was crystal clear and not really cold (especially if compared to Lake Michigan at summer's high). Here I learned that soap does not work in salt water. Not at all. In Gulf Breeze, I stopped to eat. Then I followed 98 to 292. Somehow I managed to sneek right into Alabama without realizing it, which bugged me. I've been taking pictures of all the Welcome to Our State signs. I guess I'll have to cheat and take a picture of the Alabama sign when coming from Mississippi. Highway 292 turns into 182 in Alabama. Be careful, because if you get distracted by an advertisement you will miss 59 and go 5 miles down a dead-end road before figuring it out and trudging back. There are literally miles of resort hotels along this route. Each one is twelve stories or more and they are one right after another, side by side. I couldn't believe it. This place must be a mad house in peek season. I took 59 real quick to 180. Down 180 a few miles is where I am now. I had thought about getting a hotel because I decided to take it easy tomorrow, whether I need it or not (remember what I said before about resting after six days), but as soon as I hit 180, I never saw another. Maybe tomorrow I'll find one. Once I found my campsite, I made another important discovery: Deep Woods OFF! on your lips will make anything at all taste horrible. As you can tell, I passed right on through Pensacola. I was hoping to maybe attend services at the Brownsville Revival, but that couldn't happen until Thursday, so I'm skipping it.

Alabama