Gar's #13

Mobile, Alabama - Panama City, Florida - Day 13

After the antics of New Orleans, Mobile gave a chance to recharge the batteries, and an early night, with a bit of sleepwalking apparently thrown in for good measure, meant I was ready for the bang the next day.

After a hearty breakfast of chilidog and pizza, we made our way from Mobile and Spanish Port. Less than two miles into the ride, tricky Dicky's tire played up, which left me to complete the whole leg by myself. In a strange way, this was nice, as it allowed some 'alone time', seen as everybody had been on top of each other all trip. Decent time was made into the wind, and the scenery changed from the tree lined avenues of Alabama, to humid swamp lands as we crossed the Florida border.

The Belch had made up for his puncture by joining the Bear and Phillipousis for a cheeky threesome, which left me to put up with Stoney getting over-excited about any bridges that came into view. He did behave though, he kept it in. Again, the welsh bald eagle and myself did good time, and I had an opp to catch up with the Belch.

Next stint again was decent, good distance made in time, considering the crosswinds and the Florida traffic lights. The bang was still on, and the light rain went some way to cooling us off in the sticky conditions.

Today was the last time we'd see a beach before the Atlantic, and although the Gulf of Mexico has proved spectacular, the back-drop of hazy, humid conditions, and the evidence of hurricanes Katrina and Rita did tarnish it somewhat.

The final stint of the day brought us to our destination for the night, Panama City. It's possibly the equivalent of Western Super Mare, except a fair few more arcades, surf shops, and 20 storey condo blocks, but you can't hide the fact it's spring break. The student jocks riding around in either 'pimp my ride-esq' trucks or on scooters. The divs even started to throw empty trash at us as we exited town. They should have gone to Miami or Mexico like everyone else...pikies!!

Hotel is great, quick dip in pool and Red Lobster for supper, nicest meal on tour (except for the home cooking of Taos and Mrs Dai Evans from Mobile...and Jackies ribs).

So we’re in Florida, our final state, 48 hours and hopefully we'll be in a St. Augustine bar having a few beers. Tomorrow again will be a challenging day, over 200miles if we’re to make the last day shorter, which will enable us a beachside finish early afternoon Friday. Everyone is tired, everyone has various sore bits, but no doubt, everyone cannot bloody wait till 4ish on Friday.