4/29/2013. - Day 34 - Would you walk to the edge of the ocean? Just to fill my jar with sand...

Mister & Babydoll live in Panama City

4/29/2013. - Day 34 - Would you walk to the edge of the ocean? Just to fill my jar with sand...Just in case I get the notion to let it run through my hand.

I awoke to a very warm and humid climate inside my sleeping bag cocoon. Florida weather is in full swing despite the clouds overhead. I just need a little sun now and life is complete. It’s my birthday tomorrow and usually I get very excited about my birthday. You only get one day a year that is 100% yours, and you are lucky if you get to spend even 10% of it the way you want. And even then you still have to share it with hundreds of other people who have the same birthday and sometimes I don't even like sharing dessert much less sharing my birthday. 

Regardless, I want to always be excited about my birthday no matter how old I get. But in a way, it’s seemed as though this entire trip has been a birthday present, filled with endless excitement. I like to think that this trip was a way to do something just for me, that I needed desperately in order to start living a better story. Now, just a day away, I feel as though I’ve already had the best present ever. Time in so many beautiful places, the opportunity to simply sit and do nothing but enjoy life, alongside some of my favorite people. I've had the freedom to be whatever I want and to meet new people and experience excitement in even the tiniest new adventures. My goal is to be in Charleston for my birthday, but I’m already so blessed that Charleston will just be icing on the cake.

I set out for Pensacola, not because I have anything specific I want to do there, but because it sounds cool. It is indeed pretty and scenic. Downtown features some neat buildings and architecture.

NOT snow. For once.

As I continue on in my drive, the ditches beside the roads are no longer ditches but mounds of earth covered in white sand. At first it seemed a mirage to see such brilliantly bright material and not think it was snow.  I pulled off at a place that indicated it was a nature area with access to the beach and walked down to run my fingers through the soft white grains of sand. I think this is all I would ever need to be happy—the sea and some sand and a little sun. As long as I had access to that I think I could go on doing anything and living anywhere as long as I had breaks where I could just go and sit quietly by the ocean. And as long as I was in close proximity to Target. 

Beachfront homes

I take the highway that runs along the coast so I can see a little of coastal Florida. I drive through Gulf Breeze, Emerald Coast, and Destin- all beautiful beach towns - and then on to Panama City. There is excitement in the air when you drive into Panama City. It’s something you can feel immediately, like everyone there is smiling and the sun is smiling down on them. 

I park the truck, mix a bowl of cereal from my food supplies, and carry it out to the beach. I enjoy breakfast sitting on my blanket and eating my rice crispies while watching the waves roll in. The sand in Panama City is even whiter than in Pensacola. It is already very hot and only about 9:30 in the morning. I have a long drive ahead but I want to explore just a little bit.

I roam the pier and do a little shopping and sightseeing, enjoying the sunshine and smell of the salty breeze. I have a heck of a hard time convincing myself that I need to get back in the pickup and back on the road, but eventually I get there. And good thing, too. As soon as I point north to get up to the interstate and aim for Tallahassee, a torrential rain begins that lasts all the way to South Carolina.

Bucket list item complete:
Visit Ron Jon's Surf Shop

The rain beats down on the windshield and picks a fight with my wipers as they try to hold it off. It continues on and off to Jacksonville, where it lets up briefly. I get to see the city skyline and dream about taking my route south to Daytona Beach and Miami. This trip has involved a lot of tough choices because I want to do and see everything and yet I have to make some decisions and cut some of the destinations out or I’ll be on the road for the next year. This is not feasible for a number of reasons.

Rainbow over Jacksonville.

As I turn to go north for the first time in over a month, the rain starts up again. This time with more vengeance as if to make me pay for that brief bit of sunshine I enjoyed in Jacksonville. I had really hoped to stop and see some of Savannah, Georgia, but as I pass the state line and continue on, it becomes clear that the rain is going to deter me. I pass the signs for Savannah and move on into South Carolina. I don’t mind driving and I’ve had a lot of days where I haven’t had to drive to make up for the marathon days I spend on the road—but this has been a long day, made worse by the rain and made longer by it as well.

Finally I start to see signs for Charleston, and begin to cross bridges and overpasses that signal I am nearing the low country. I cross marsh after marsh and bridges that seem like they go on for miles before finally reaching Mt. Pleasant. The road is finally familiar and I pull into the parking lot at the Edgewater Plantation late in the evening. Jamie and Dodger help me unload my belongings as the rain continues, and are glad to see me as I am happy to see them as well. I’m thankful to be out of the rain, but more than that, I’m glad to be “home” with friends and excited to catch up and have some southern adventures with my old partner in crime from college. Dodger offers to sleep near my camp on the couch and we are both soon asleep soundly as the rain continues tapping the windows outside.