26.08.2014 Day four : Drive to Panama City

Leaving mid morning, we decided to take a round-about trip to get to New Orleans. Instead of driving the interstate, we drove north into Georgia and headed for Albany. This little town was where Ken's grandfather and his father were buried but it had been years since he had been there, and he wanted to find the gravestones again. Just discussing the heat wave, how hot was it on that drive? All I can say is without the air conditioning in the car I swear I would not have survived. We managed to stop at the 'world famous' Georgia Dairy Queen for a banana split. Yumm. Most of the time we were not on main roads, but driving country roads. Lush bush and trees, and particularly around Albany, there are some just gorgeous wooded areas.

We arrived in searing heat and then discovered there was more than one cemetery there. Chatting to a very helpful woman at one we managed to look into her computer and find out more details about Ken's grandfather Wylie. Although they were definitely buried in Albany there was no record of their plot numbers or at which cemetery. It was late in the afternoon, and we were unable to walk the entire size of the second cemetery and Ken just couldn't remember. We thought about this for a while, should we stay and start looking again in the morning, or shall we continue on? We took a drive around the town and admired the huge trees weeping with long strands of moss, and the fabulous southern homes as we considered.

In this time Ken told me about his relatives who all lived in and around this area. This is where most of his family came from and Ken used to visit them there and lived there himself for a couple of years while looking after his father and visiting his brother.

Finally we agreed to head south again and try to make it to New Orleans. It was after 5pm as we set off on the most beautiful back roads again, but as it got dark and as I was gradually expiring from hours of driving, and extreme heat and as we realised we had a lot of distance to cover, we took a random moment and decided instead to head to Panama City and stay there the night.

Panama City is one of those places famous for thousands of students going crazy at 'spring break'. It has this long strip of white sands, blue blue water and fortunately at this time of year very few people. There were wall to wall high-rise hotels right on the seafront and we ended up on a room in one of them. The view on the 6th floor was looking out at the sea but was pretty wasted on us as we fell instantly asleep.

27.08.2014 Day five : Drive to New Orleans

The morning dawned bright, hot and still. We checked out a few shops had breakfast and set off. Once again we were in Ken territory. He had stories and memories as we passed through many places he had spent time in. Stopping at Navarre we checked out the long pier risking sun burn and heat fever walking its length. By now I had bought a peach coloured hat with the vague hope of protecting my neck from the sun. FAIL.....

Passing through Mobile in Alabama we stopped at the Battleship Museum where Battleship USS Alabama was kept. We got there too late to go on board, but wandered about and looked not only at that, but also at the submarine which had been pulled from the water and obviously was being restored, and some of the planes used in past wars. (We took photos Devon J)

We were aware than again time was moving on, so we continued on to Pensacola where Ken had lived for some years. He used to spend a lot of time (a really really lot of time) at the beach, so naturally we again we were on the white white sand, and walking the footsteps of his youth. A couple of run down and old buildings housing a pizza shop and a bar respectfully seemed out of place with all the beachhouses on high piles, and slick multi story hotels. Apparently when the developers wanted to tear these buildings down, the local population got very angry. They wanted the history of the area to stay, so stay they have. I really liked that, it was so quirky.

We continued on a long interstate towards Slidel. Another place Ken had lived for a while but we passed right on through as we headed determinedly towards New Orleans. We finally pulled into our accommodation at 8.15pm. It had been two days of extreme heat as this whole area of the country is in the middle of a heat wave, and our eyes were dry and blurry and clothes were dripping. I had sunburn on the back of my neck so what would we do? It was obvious. A quick shower, two servings of shrimp creole and a peice of sweet potato pie and we were walking down town to the French Quarter and a look at Bourbon Street at night. What a hoot! A special blog just on New Orleans will be up in a couple of days.

I will just pull my aching feet out of the bowl of ice they have been sitting in, and head off to sleep.

Night night..