Thursday September 29th 2016

I departed the campground in Montgomery about 10AM for the Pensacola Florida area. It was not one of my better travel days. Nothing bad happen, just many “weird” or annoying things kept cropping up.

My research identified several RV parks in the area, so I didn’t make reservations. I plotted my course using Google Maps and took the time to put my desired campground into the GPS. The first weird thing happened when I chose to follow the GPS directions instead of my Google route. This is the first time I’ve let the GPS control my route. The GPS sent me much further south and a little west in Alabama than Google did. I spent a good period of time contemplating where I was going to enter Florida. As it turns out my route intersected Interstate 10 half way between Mobile Alabama and Pensacola Florida. I entered Florida on I-10 from the west.

Blue Angel Aircraft Model at the Florida Welcome Center near Pensacola.

The Florida welcome center had the typical couple of ounces of orange or grapefruit juice as well as tons of brochures. I picked up a few for the Pensacola area. The unique element at this welcome center is a model of a Blue Angels Aircraft in front of the building. It is a reminder that the Pensacola Naval Air Station is the home of the Navy Blue Angel flight demonstration team. One of the things I’d like to do while in the area is go to the National Naval Aircraft Museum that is also at NAS Pensacola.

The second annoyance of the day was caused by my wandering mind. I usually listen to Podcasts while traveling. They keep my mind occupied while I drive. Today I was out of new podcasts. I need to download more from the internet. In place of the podcasts I had the radio tuned to various music stations. Music does not keep my attention. Instead I heard every rattle and squeak as I went down the road. On several occasions I had to resist the urge to stop and find out what was making the noise. It really made for a paranoid travel day.

Next up on the hit parade of “weird” was an error code on my auxiliary car brake. This is a box that sits between the brake pedal and the seat of my car that applies the car brakes when it senses the motorhome braking. It uses power from the car battery. The error code indicated that the car battery was to low to apply the brake. When I stopped at the Florida Welcome Center, I check the cat and the brake controller. Everything had power and once I reset the controller everything was fine for the remainder of the trip.

The last item of the day was at my intended destination. The campground was full. A fact that I only found out after exiting the highway, navigating a narrow road and reaching the office at the back of the campground. Once again I was reminded that traveling without a reservation has risks. A call to the next place on my list determined that only one night was available. The third place was open for the weekend.

Site D-4 at the Milton Gulf Fines KOA.

I am at the Milton Gulf Pines KOA. This campground is 15 to 20 miles east of Pensacola. It is also more expensive than the other two campgrounds. Perhaps those are the reasons they had available spaces. For the higher price a free breakfast is served every morning. I just have to get up in time.