CnC: Holiday and Party in the Gulf

We got away from Apalachicola just on daylight - 7.00 am. Back again through the roads we know so well - now. We were lucky to get away with dodging storms that were passing just in front, so we only get a few spots, but rode on a lot of wet roads.

Finally got to where we were supposed to be yesterday - Pensacola - and had some breakfast. Then we resumed our planned route.

The Emerald Coast, we have discovered, is much much larger than the Gold Coast and runs for about 200 miles. There is very little that is not under high density holiday housing, with condominiums everywhere. You can pick one up for A measly $200 grand without trying hard, but yours will be lost in the maze.

We finally got to the end - sort of. The sand runs out of building room at Mobile Bay and we caught the ferry across to Dauphin Island then by bridge back to the mainland. I was most disappointed in the ferry - it was quite small. Certainly compared to the giants we sailed on up in Canada.

We were passed in the bay by an interesting ship, the Mighty Servant 3, a large semi submersible heavy-lift ship. It works by taking on water and partially submerging for the load to be floated on board, then pumps air in the tanks and raises up. It is mostly used for oil rigs but interestingly sank itself in 2006 and was resting on the bottom until even larger crane ships managed to re-float it.

We then traveled for a short while more in Alabama and made our way up to I-10 and headed at speed towards New Orleans. We crossed Mississippi (the state) in no time, pulled up at the Louisiana Welcome Centre for our motel coupon books and got in to New Orleans about half an hour before Jack and Linda.

We all went in to the French Quarter for a meal, finding a very noisy Bourbon Street in party mood. Still the food was good in the oyster bar. Tomorrow night we will probably find something a little more sedate. Yes, we are getting old. That might mean we aren't fussed on good music played badly and loudly from competing venues, but it does mean we get to ride GoldWings. A lot.