Billie and I left Green Creek at 7:15 Friday, (temperature was 7 deg F!), and met Bob and Amy at the welcome center on I-85. Ron and Bibi left at 6:30 and met Danny on 85, all headed to Grayton Beach State Park, Fla, near Destin. Claude and Elaine drove down on Thursday, and Lisa and Casey left from Columbia Friday morning. Here’s a shot of Bob and Amy’s new r.pod on their first trip, pulled with a Ford Flex.

We got through Atlanta without too much trouble, and stopped at the Alabama welcome center for lunch---way too cold to eat outside! Somewhere below Montgomery we got separated from the Buckinghams and ended up on 2 lane roads that were quite pleasant to travel on. There was beautiful farmland in lower Alabama and as we crossed into Florida—lots of large cattle farms. It was nice to travel through Florida where the locals live! We pulled into Grayton Beach State Park around 4:30 Central time, and were greeted by our buddies (except for Buckinghams, who got there 30 minutes or so later). We set up quickly and headed over to the cabin that Claude and Elaine rented, where they had a great supper ready: boiled shrimp, pasta with venison meatballs and salad! During supper there was bit of sleet outside—I think the low Fri night was 37. Though tired and full, we managed to muster up the energy for jamming for 1.5 hours or so, and then retired early, maybe at 9:30 or so. It was around 40 deg when we got up this morning. With coffee cup in hand, I walked over to check out the marsh lake:

More coffee and then some of us headed out for a hike on the beach:

The dunes and beach here are beautiful. The sand is white, and the water was a beautiful green—the sand on the dunes looked like a dusting of snow:

When checking out the marsh lake earlier, I met a nice couple from Knoxville who recommended a local restaurant, Goat Feathers. We checked it out and had a great lunch—oysters, more oysters, shrimp, gumbo, fish tacos, crab cakes, fried green tomatoes. Highly recommended—I think the official address is Santa Rosa Beach.

Folks are chilling (resting) as I write. Afternoon hikes are planned, then supper and jamming at Claude and Elaine’s. Sunday we head to St Joseph’s State Park, near Port St. Joe. Other folks in our party are posting photos, etc on FB—if you’re their friend, check ‘em out.