Day 29: Milton to Big Lagoon State Park: A Gourmet Oasis

February 2, 2014

Eager to get going we set the alarm for 5:00 a.m. We misjudged the arrival of daylight, which only came around 7:00. So that gave time to check out the T.V. There was a program about Prague, and Protestantism. We learned about Jan Hus, a leader of the movement in the late 14th century. Hus means "goose" and he apparently referred to himself as the goose. When they burned him at the stake in 1415 he reportedly said "now we cook the goose", which is the origin of that expression, at least according to the TV. Amazing what you can learn while waiting for the sun to rise!

We set out into the sea of asphalt again, and quickly pulled up to shore, at McDonald's. Dodie went in to buy yogurt, leaving me outside to answer UQ's. As every touring cyclist knows, people are very curious about these kinds of trips. For our part, we enjoy the universal expressions of support, and the looks of disbelief when we tell people where we are from, where we started, and where we are headed.

Also outside the Mcdonald's was a newspaper box. Though I was not about to invest 75cents to see the whole front page, I could see "our" giant duckie peeking above the fold. The main story dealt with poverty in the county. Shockingly it cited the federally determined poverty line for a family of four at about $23,000, and it claimed 41% of the population was within 200% of the line. Aaarrggh.

Our yellow duck from yesterday made it to the front page

Next up, we came to a series of signs on the highway advertising fresh donuts. They led to an independent, stand alone donut shop. Now, the thing about Krispy Kreme started as the desperate passtime of cyclists looking for fresh bakery, of any type. But were we now to turn into doughy donut guzzlers? Yes! We swung right in without any debate.

Our choice from the donuts on offer was unanimous - maple pecan. Maple because we are Canadian, eh? And pecan out of deference to the unique ecology of this southern region. They were ok - maybe not quite up to the lofty Krispy Kreme standard.

Look Evee your street crosses our route!

The town of Pace lived up to our Google assessment of having no accommodation, though it did have some other favourites, like Home Depot, Walgreen's, etc. From Pace it was time to plunge through the watery world of the Simpson, White, and other rivers entering Escambia Bay. It turns out the water got carried away, and the whole area was blanketed in thick fog. To boot, the highway was under construction, and waterways were bridged by narrow lanes made from metal gridwork.

So there we were in thick fog, riding with reduced traction down the middle of narrow lanes. It was a good workout for our nerves of steel, not to mention all our flashers.

When the time came to slide down the West side of the bay, we discovered that this was the "scenic bluffs" area. Bluffs means hills, so we were not too thrilled about that. And Scenic meant nothing, since all was covered in fog.

The fog was so dense that we saw nothing of the bays

Waaa, now that's a wide load - on the scenic I-90 bluffs section

On a previous day I had hoped Florida would come up with something more interesting, and mentioned Architecture in my list. Well, at the north end of the Scenic highway stood a house of stone with gold roofs in domes and spires, surrounded for some acres by gazebos with gold roofs in domes and spires. The whole thing sits on the waterfront. My shots are poor due to the fog,,,, but does anyone know what this house is all about?

Some of the gazebos that went with the house

In this section of the road other houses were normal, but large and costly looking. In time they gave way to normal neighbourhoods, and finally to a normal outskirts of the city-scape.

The civil war is still fairly alive here

The veterans memorial park. This is a big naval air centre.

Our way did not lead through any historic sections per se sticking rather to the port. This turned out to be good - more than good, stupendous. It`s all due to Joe Patti's. It looked like a restaurant to us, over by the water, and we thought something like some blackened grouper and chips could be a good idea. But Joe Patti's turned out to be a large and extremely active fish market. People were lined up buying large amounts of all manner of local seafood from a large variety of stations - manned by lots of red clad staff. But more than that, the building included a large non seafood section, not with hot food but with bread, cake, pastry, cheese, sausage, salads, chocolate, and even a latte bar. Now the Patti family is Italian, with patriarch Joe starting the business in 1931. His son Frank is still standing at the fish bins, working with all the many other staff. But the non fish stuff is due to Anna Patti, who calls it the Amangiari Gourmet Shop.

It was not just a gourmet shop, it was an oasis, a bit of heaven. They had French bread, real french bread, made there. They had real cakes and pastries. Real! They had cheese, many kinds, and they would slice it for you. They had latte, latte!

For people who have been a month away from anything like this, and who have been wandering forlornly from handimart to handimart, this was a real godsend.

But it was actually better than that. Outside the store was a trailer in which was being made beignet. In French, donut is beigne. But clearly beignet is something different, and we had heard about it in conjunction with New Orleans. You had to give the lady in the trailer your order, and in five minutes your beignets would be ready. They were light and flavourful, and hollow. Miles away from Krispy Kreme, or any of that lot. Really, the best you will ever get out of the donut genre. We ate them all, right there and then!

dodie with an off duty policeman, working security. I asked him about his many flashlights, ammo packs, taser, etc. He was very friendly (thankfully).

Photo of famous chef emeril Legasse with beignet outside the beignet trailer

High on latte and french bread and beignet, dealing with a few final UQs, we set off for the final kms to the Big Lagoon State Park. When we got there, the ranger - strangely still on duty - told us the park (or ok, maybe just the camping) was closed.Something about a controlled burn. But now, in a much appreciated but unusual break with regulations, he said though the water was off and the washrooms locked, we could wild camp in any site we liked. Wow! Our own private state park!

In fact we turned down all the vacant sites and pitched our tent under the overhang in front of the locked washroom door. We found power, which normally powered the Coke machine, and a working overhead light. so, it could scarcely be better. We even have some French bread and cheese left!

Our tent, in front of the locked mens room.

Today's ride: 66 km (41 miles)
Total: 1,576 km (979 miles)

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