Note: this post holds many pictures – a good internet connection may be required
After a good night of rest at the Royal Inn in Perry, FL I restarted my journey toward New Orleans. The distance to “NOLA” as they call the city being close to 450 miles, I didn’t plan to do the trip in one day, but rather to stop around Panama City Beach, which city had been highly recommended by Lenny and Margie in Savannah.
Panama City Beaches being less than 200 miles, it would be a reasonably short ride, so when I passed the St. Marks Wildlife Refuge on the 98 I had a second thought and eventually came back to it to visit a bit.
The US Parks decal, still in good shape after so many miles…
The staff at the Visitor Center was particularly friendly and helpful, and they provided me with the necessary decal that I needed to stick on my bike, since I had the US National Parks Annual Pass. I took the opportunity to buy two small stickers from the park, as a small contribution, that I planned to stick on my side cases – unfortunately, I put them in my jacket’s pocket and only found them again many days later and they were no more in good shape…
The park itself was gorgeous, with a delightful silence only interrupted by the songs of a variety of birds. It’s pretty easy to spot many of them, along with alligators, and it’s really a very relaxing and enjoyable experience to go through the small main road that crosses the park until the lighthouse. I was sometimes even feeling sorry that my bike’s engine was not quieter…
While I was parked at the lighthouse at the dead end of the park’s road, a “beemer” (BMW rider) appeared and we had a quick conversation. He was a member of AdvRider Forum too – although I didn’t catch his nickname there and forgot to pass him my card – and visiting from Georgia (Albany, I think) for a day-trip. After wishing each other a safe ride, I went on a gravel trail nearby to get another view from the seaside, then finally left the reserve, after probably a couple hours visiting. Definitely a nice stop I didn’t regret!
Now riding along the coast of the western part of Florida, I stopped at a tiny beach facing a peninsula called Alligator Point, where small boats could be brought into the sea, and took a quick picture. Looks like I went on the sand with the bike, but the sand was quite packed and I wouldn’t really have ventured into soft sand with the weight and load on the bike, to be honest 🙂
I stopped again a bit farther at a public beach in Carrabelle, a tiny city, and ended dropping my bike on the parking lot – second time in this whole journey – because I just wanted to shoot a quick selfie on the bike and I had already removed the kickstand but then I leaned a bit to get my cellphone in my pants’ pocket and that was enough to get the bike off-balance… It’s funny I never think about taking a picture of the bike on the ground – maybe because it’s not so much fun, actually. I tried to bring the bike up alone and it was utmost impossible with so much weight, so I started removing all the stuff from it. I then tried again, but I couldn’t keep my feet from slipping on the sandy pavement. I was lucky that a couple of tourists appeared at that moment, and the guy helped me lift the bike. After commenting on the unfairness of having such a beautiful beach used just by the few hundreds inhabitants of the tiny town around the corner, I left them go and enjoy the hot sun and continued my trip. 
I then rode until St-Joseph Bay Aquatic Preserve, took a few nice pictures of the beach at the beginning of a little peninsula. If you plan to buy a summer villa at the beach and are not afraid of being pretty far from anything – still only 1h drive from Panama City Beach – you should probably look there…
I then rode through the peninsula, which extends for kilometers, up to the entrance of the state park where I decided not to continue because it was already late in the afternoon and I’d have to pay some fee but didn’t really have the time to stay there at some probably gorgeous beach…
I finally reached Panama City Beach little before sunset, which I was lucky to enjoy from the balcony of my reasonably priced motel room. And yes, two beds for one person is pretty cool: one for me to sleep and one for my clothes and stuff (same price than a one bed bedroom…) 🙂
Since temperature was still quite nice, I finally went out for some food and a beer at a mall not very far, enjoy a live local band – not so much my kind of music though, a bit too country’ish…
