PCB - Heading East
My first day off in Panama City Beach, FL and I wanted to head east. This is towards the Apalachicola National Forest. I got on the bike and headed East on Hwy 98. One area I drove through was called Beach Road. One one side are palm trees and the beach. On the other side are nice homes. What a great view and location. There seems to be some huge debate about this wonderful drive on this small section of road. It seems that the local government wants to put in a multi-use path on the beach side. This would remove some trees, etc. It’s a huge debate and I can see why. This section of road is nice as it is. I guess that is progress. Sigh.
Once away from the city, the road is nice. It takes you away from the beach but right through Tyndall Air Force Base. Still a nice ride. The further you go, less people you encounter. There are also a number of really cool bridges you have to go over. You do not realize how big this AFB is until you have to drive through it. The next city you get to is Mexico Beach. If you remember Hurricane Michael, this city got leveled. I mean nothing left. A lot of progress has been made. You still see remnants from the hurricane such as cement stilts and platforms on a nice property with no house left but overall this city has recovered nicely.
This stretch of the road is really close the water. What a great ride. All you see is water on one side. It can be mesmerizing and distracting is so beautiful. The next city is Port St. Joe. I passed an interesting bar here called the TapRoot so I stopped for a break. Cool place. I then headed futher east. There is an intersection for 30A. I took it as it stays closer to the water. This is a great ride through this section. I decided to not go to Cape San Blas (that is another trip) but kept going to meet back up with Hwy 98.
Once it joined back, I headed to Apalachicola, the city. Cool place and there is this long bridge over the bay. The wind today was really bad (blowing about 30-35+). It was getting late so I decided I will come back and do the bridge next time. I stopped at a local park (there are plenty) and ate a quick snack then headed back home. The temperature was great just really windy. Cannot wait to drive back this area next weekend and do more exploring.