Romeo, I don't think we're in Florida anymore!

Evening, Campers! It's Silver Cliche' here with you again. Tonight we're  settled comfortably at Topsail Hill Preserve State Park near Santa Rosa Beach, FL.

Settling back into the nomadic life usually followed several steps and took a few days. For Mrs. C' and me on this trip it was more like flipping a switch. After the usual days of prep, packing, cleaning, double checking, questioning and planning we were off yesterday. By 9:30 last night we were both out like lights and didn't move until the sun woke us this morning. We dropped straight into our morning routine on the road. Coffee, reading, relaxing. The prior days' morning discussion included "what do we have to get done today to get ready?" or "well, if we are not ready on Thursday we could leave Friday and drive a double day.". Today our discussion included "look at this interesting article" and "we don't have to hurry... shall I make more coffee?". We quickly remembered that all of the hubbub of the past few days was about this.

Today's route took us from familiar east Florida into a totally different environment... the Florida Panhandle. Here's our route across I-10:

 

We are now deep in the "Redneck Riviera" in Walton County. Unlike the large population centers along the coast of the Florida peninsula and in a few inland cities such as Orlando and (hold your nose) Ocala, this place is sparsely populated with fewer than 60,000 year round residents in the county. The reason for that is, in my opinion, largely attributable to history and geography. The panhandle was the first part of Florida to be settled by Europeans. Our state capital is still there (much to the chagrin of state legislators from populous South Florida whose commute is a killer). When Florida became a state in 1845 the total population of the state was about 67,000. Half of those people lived in the space we traveled today. Few lived in the peninsula which was mosquito, malaria and yellow fever ridden. This is truly the historic heart of Florida. The Civil War, slow penetration of this part of the state by the railroads (compared to the east and west coasts of the peninsula which were exploited by Henry Plant and Henry Flagler) and a lack of natural resources created challenges.

However, most importantly its terrain was forbidding then and still can be today. I took a walk from our campsite to the beach on the Gulf of Mexico this evening after dinner. This area is sandy, scrubby, dotted with small lakes and swamps. Even within 200' of the surf line I encountered a sizable lake while taking a "short cut" from the pavement down a walking trail. I turned back rather than facing the scrub which was dense with sea oaks, southern pine and saw palmetto.  In effect, the natural barriers of vegetation, water hazards, sand and predators are arrayed in rows designed to slow anyone from reaching the goal. In other words, it's like a tough golf hole except here the goal is the beach, not the cup.

Let me show you a few pics to illustrate what i encountered:

The scrub including a trail. Try to envision this land as the first settlers encountered it.. with no trails. The thick, low, sharp vegetation grows everywhere here. It's a nightmare to travel through.

The pond I encountered that eventually caused me to backtrack. The beach dunes are less than 100' from the far end of this pond and the surf no more than 100' beyond that.

A modern warning about the challenges of being near that pond:

However, at the end of all that was a beautiful beach with soft, white sand and pale blue water. There were two people visible for as far as I could see in either direction. The evening was coming on and the sky overcast. I'm sure you can find better 180 degree panoramas on the Walton County Convention and Visitor's Bureau web site, but we are only here for one night so this is the best you'll get from me:

Note the red and purple flags warning beach goers that there is both hazardous surf and potentially dangerous marine life... be warned!

And just to remind me that this is in fact the "old south" and not the modern, coastal Florida of the peninsula where we come from I found this magnolia blossom just days from opening:

So even though we are still in "Florida", we are not in the Florida where we come from any more. This is the roots of Florida... the Florida that was part of the Confederacy... the place where Florida began as a state in the United States. To an extent it's progressed more slowly than the peninsula has. It dabbled with a couple of industry booms including logging and (of all things) turpentine production. It now hosts seasonal visitors... more skewed to summer than winter since this area is far enough north to have a bit of winter that doesn't reach South Florida... as its main economic driver. Discovering it is the reason we travel. Having seen it (again) its time to move on and see what else is out there for us to discover.

Tomorrow we head into the even deeper and older southland. We'll hop back on I-10 West for a while into Alabama then head northwest and spend tomorrow night in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. On Sunday we'll cross the Mississippi River at Vicksburg (I'm hoping that will be easier on us and on the natives than when General U. S. Grant and his buddies visited the area in 1863).

Stay tuned!

SC'