Cumulative miles driven: 777

Our journey from Jacksonville to the west coast of the USA started by heading north across the state line into Georgia to visit Okefenokee Swamp. This area is normally a haven for wildlife and also provides a decent seven mile loop road with board walks into the park. We did not see a huge number of critters, which was a shame, and this may have been due to the cold and damp conditions - only us humans are stupid enough to get cold and wet on purpose! We did see one alligator - all too briefly - and a fair few different bird species, however the scenery, the visit to the Chesser Homestead, and tbe visitor centre were actually worth the $5.00 entry fee.

Our destination that evening was Tallahasee, the state capital of Florida and our motel, the Howard Johnson Express (or HoJo Express) was located about three miles from the downtown area. The actual city centre was a nice clean and tidy, if a little devoid of people, kind of place. We visited the History of Florida Museum and the Old State Capitol Museum (both free of charge) and found them informative and well worth the visit. We also visited Wakulla Springs State Park, around 15 miles south of the city again hoping to see some wildlife, but we did not see lots, making the highlight a pod/shoal/gaggle of eight Manatees that were almost within touching distance. In Heather's eyes that was worth the $6.00 entry fee.

Our dining experience in Tallahasee saw us enjoying a large and tasty Domino's Pizza and a rather good bottle of Californian Pinot Noir in our room on one evening - this really was 'living the dream'. We also experienced Sonny's Pit BBQ for some tasty gut filling pulled pork with a couple of 'sidekicks' and we appeared to be two of the few in the packed restaurant choosing the likes of broccoli, green beans and corn as our 'sidekicks' to accompany the mound of meat and two massive slices of garlic bread that came as standard. Needless to say the majority of the restaurant clientele did not appear to be from the 36% of Floridians that have a normal/healthy BMI rating!

Leaving Tallahasee we took the coastal road that skirted the Gulf of Mexico and the further west we headed toward Pensacola the more built up it became. We did however stop in the attractive town of Apalachicola which had a really nice 'old town America' feel with privately run bars, cafes and restaurants alongside individual boutique shops which made a nice change to the corporate strip malls, fast food, chain dining and accommodation options that you see lining the roads as you head toward Pensacola.

Pensacola possibly seemed to punch above its weight, the city centre seemed pleasant and walkable plus being a Saturday there was a regularly held farmers market underway too. There was also the attractive historic 'village' centre that seemed a really pleasant place to walk and, if you had to, live or work. Pensacola is also a naval city with it being the home of the Blue Eagles US Navy acrobatic display team as well as the Naval Aviation Museum which, given the free entry, was a great place to visit especially when combined with a visit to the nearby Pensacola Lighthouse museum. Our time in Pensacola was wrapped up with a meal at Ruby Tuesday which was a short but slightly more difficult walk than it needed to be given the lack of pavements on the less than 300 yard distance from our motel. No wonder they drive pretty much everywhere!

So, it just needs a quick wrap up for this part of the trip as tomorrow we leave Florida and head via Alabahma and Mississippi to Arkansas and the state capital of Little Rock which is a 505 mile drive.