January 26, 2013. Final Day on the Coast

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

January 26, 2013.  We did it all today, our last day in Gulf Shores, Alabama.  We slept late.  After we cleared our heads, we noticed a commotion across the road where residents were watching two raccoons in a tree.  We sat outside in our big fluffy chairs and read.  We biked for nearly two hours, walked on the beach and we saw the sun set over the Gulf.  Finally, we watched the moon rise over a perfectly still Middle Lake. 

We will start home tomorrow.  Home is 900 miles northwest of Gulf Shores.  We plan to take the trip in three bites of about 300 miles each.  That will get us back Tuesday evening. 

This has been a different trip.  Other trips have been mostly travel with stays of two or three days along the way.  We have been in the Gulf area since January 4.  Most of that time, we have been between Gulf Shores and Panama City, FL, a distance of about 140 miles.  There has been less driving and more biking.  There has been more book reading and less map reading.  Annie likes that.  I like it, too.  I don't know that it will change the way we travel.  Time will tell.

There is a feeling of finality as we spend our last night here.  I could do this longer, I think.  But, Annie's mother is still feeling the effects of a urinary tract infection.  Moreover, there is a break in the weather in the Midwest and we want to get Harvey back to the Harvey cave before the cold weather returns.  Those considerations resulted in our decision to return a few days early. 

The blog may stop here, or I may have a few concluding entries on the way back.  Feel free to drop by.  Don't expect a lot of pictures, though.  If there are some, they'll probably be "through the windshield."