Vacation, Day One

Phew.

400-plus miles and over eight hours of steady driving with two stops (one for food, one for some mineral distillate for the Alleged Car).

But I'm here in Pensacola, having driven through the Nature Coast and Emerald Coast.

The Nature Coast was quite scenic, with small rural towns and roads cloaked in dense forests of bay pine and oak, with glimpses of dark hollows filled with palmettos.

Twenty miles out from Perry, with the swamps and bayous and dunes of the Big Bend begin, the drugs started to kick in. "We can't stop here," I said, "this looks like bear country."

And sure enough it is. A good stretch of the road has signs warning about black bears crossing the highway, all the way to the first beach communities. These places run the gamut from quaint to garish, with only common denominator - they're cramped, hugging both sides of the highway.

But that was it for the first day.

Second day, and onward to Mobile!