5. USA: Vicksburg to Panama City Beach

Thursday, June 13, 400 mile drive, 8:15 a.m. to 5 p.m., Vicksburg to Panama City Beach, Florida.  Friday, June 14, Panama City Beach.

From Vicksburg, it is a short distance east to Jackson, where we turn south to Mobile, Alabama on the Gulf.  The scenery is lush and green, except in places where road works and construction reveal the bright red soil below.  We stop at a DQ in Mobile for lunch.  The city looks very interesting, and I would like to stop and explore, but we push on, turning east once more.  It rains again, but by Florida it is clear.  I listen to a book by David Halbertsam on the 1949 American League pennant race between the Red Sox and the Yankees.  Movies again in the back.  We cross causeways and bridges, then make our way along the Panhandle through the beach cities.  The Gulf Coast cities look like a permanent party. 

Our hotel in Panama City Beach is located right on the beach.  Our room is a third floor apartment with a kitchen and a balcony overlooking the water.  We arrive in time for dinner and celebrate my birthday at the fish restaurant next door.  I receive as gifts a comb and a handsome leather case for my glasses, brought by Cathy all the way from Las Vegas.  I have another present, but she's forgotten where it's packed.  The children order shark. 

Nine year old Mara loves to tell our life story to everyone: hotel personnel, shopkeepers, fellow tourists.  Thomas, at three and two months, has finally started talking.  He may be late, but he is certainly not missing much.  His first real sentences are: "Make my day" and "Ready, John" (from an Arnold Shwartzenegger movie the boys and I watched before we left).  With Thomas in the bath, we all try to coax him into saying his wonderful new words. 

On Friday, we spend the day at the beach.  Cathy and I relax in our rented lounge chairs in the beautiful white sand, while the children play in the sand and water.  The, as advertised, is as white as sand in an ash tray.  The water, with its small waves, is near-perfect, clear and warm, perhaps 85degrees.   For our second night we dine at what must be the most popular place in town, Angelo's steak house.  By the time we're through, the crowds of kids have moved next door to the bungee jumping facility: a huge crane that hoists people up and drops them.  It is the first time we've seen it, and the sight is unsettling.

The drive back to the hotel is a slow march down the main street, which is bumper to bumper with cruising kids.  We're unsure if school is out or this is just a typical weekend.  In either event the town is definitely in a partying mood.  There's a lot of booze being drunk, as evidenced by the empty half gallon rum and vodka bottles outside the hotel doors.  At four in the morning we are awakened by a drunk caller.