We awoke to the sounds of a tropical rain storm beating down on the roof of the Gibson Inn - at the least the bikes were getting a good wash with fresh water, hopefully cleaning them of the salt accumulated from riding along the Florida coastline. The rain was extremely intense and the staff at the hotel, and other local guests at breakfast had advised us not to set out until the rain storms and the flooding that would come with them had passed. In fact the TV news reports were showing many local flash floods happening all around us. Back in our room Jon consulted his iPad Weather App which is typical of American weather reporting i.e. incredibly accurate, almost to the exact minute Jon was able to say when the rain would start and when it would stop and when we would have a 'window' to move out. We eventually got going around mid-day and before long we were stopping west of Apalachicola to don our waterproofs as the rain kept coming.
Here is the route we took.
We arrived into Foley at around 5:30pm and pulled into the 'Best Western Motel' tired, hungry and a little cold - even the American South can surprise you sometimes with its weather patterns. Next door was a southern diner called 'The Shrimp Basket' serving cold local beer and food. Jon feasted on the traditional fish platter comprising of Southern deep fried Catfish, Crawfish, Oysters and some other fish of unknown species. I had a burger!
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