Day 9: To St. Andrews State Park: Off-Route

Published on 2010-02-09 by Bryan Carbone

Tuesday February 9, 2010, 34 miles (55 km) - Total so far: 414 miles (666 km)

Woke up to the pitter patter of raindrops on the air conditioner. My first thought, "why is the weather channel always right about rain?" Then I stayed in bed for another 2 hours. At least the motel didn't go to waste. When we finally got packed and ready to roll, it was still coming down.

This place couldn't even afford to put its name on the sign... Just Motel. The rain only adds to the experience. Haha.

We ride down 231 for a ways, there's a pretty good shoulder for most of it. Then we get to this part that's under construction, I guess repaving parts of the road leading into Panama City. This part was horrible. The paving companies like to put up signs saying things like "Uneven Lanes" or "Grooved Roads." What they should say is "Touring Cyclists Find A New Route, Cause These Roads Are Gonna Knock All Your Gear, Joints, and Brains Loose." And the rain definitely didn't help any.

Trying my best to put on a fake smile, at least I got part of a thumbs up in.

When we finally hit Panama City city limit, about 20 miles of rain riding, I notice it starting to slow to a light drizzle. We stop in an IHOP for some breakfast. I drank a full carafe of coffee to warm myself up. That's one good thing about IHOP, they leave a carafe on the table for you. The other good thing is the never ending pancakes. Haha. I had 2 eggs over easy, 2 strips of bacon, home fries, and 2 pancakes. Then another 3. I was gonna gor for a third round, but thought I might not want to ride the remaining 15 miles. By the time we came out of there, the sun was starting to peak through.

View before crossing the bridge onto the beaches.

I believe this is the Hathaway Bridge. Could be wrong though.

We cruised over the bridge into Panama City Beach and banged a left. Rode for another few miles before hitting the end of the island and our campground for the evening, St. Andrews State Park. We got a site right on the water this time. Awesome.