Starting the Ride Home

The trip to Florida ended up being a complete washout.  We managed to have fun and eat some good meals, despite the rain.  The house where we stayed had a smoker on a covered patio, so I spent a day smoking a brisket while reading a book and watching it rain.  The Summer Olympics kept us somewhat entertained, as long as synchronized water dancing or ribbon twirling weren't the day's events.

  

The ride back wasn't looking good from the start, considering I had seen rain every day since leaving Dallas a week prior.  I decided to stick to my plan and hit the scenic coastal roads and head to New Orleans to see my friend Brian, who is a good friend from college.  I knew the ferry was closed in Mobile the previous day, so I would have to head north at Gulf Shores to get around Mobile Bay.  After passing Ft. Walton Beach, the sky got really dark and I could tell there would be heavy rain ahead, so I detoured north through Eglin AFB to miss the rain.

I was just delaying the inevitable though.  Just east of Mobile, the sky turned black again and it was as dark as I've every seen it in the middle of the day.  My phone was not in a waterproof case, so no pics.  I powered through the rain, and luckily the deluge only lasted for a couple of minutes.  After passing through the tunnel in Mobile, I hit another storm. This one was much worse.  It was the heaviest rain that I've ridden in, and not safe conditions at all.  Cars were throwing their hazard lights on, people were slamming on their brakes, the water on the road was deep and visibility was horrible.  It didn't help that my visor and glasses had fogged up.  I took the first exit that I could find and called it lunch.  By the way, D'Michaels has excellent cheese steak sandwiches and is just west of Mobile if you're ever in the neighborhood.

After making it past Mobile, I was back to the beach roads, which turned out to be a really bad idea.  The wind was blowing in from the water at a good clip, so I was sand blasted from Mobile to Gulfport.  It was physically painful, since I had stowed my jacket in Mobile.  I tried to get a pic of the sand dancing across the road, but the photo doesn't truly capture it.

Once I reached Gulfport, I checked the weather and contacted Brian.  I was only 80 miles from NOLA, but it looked ugly.  I ditched the idea of meeting up with my friend and headed north to get out of the rain.

There were several more showers throughout the day, but it was minimal compared to what I had been through earlier in the day, so I powered on to Vicksburg for the night.