On the road again!

We finally packed up the Pleasure-Way class "B" camper & made it to Florida!

The Gulf Of Mexico around Pensacola

It was almost a year ago that I left Holtville Calif, the free BLM camping & the hot springs with Florida in my GPS.... as place to go.   I wanted to see the Naval Air Museum.

Lot's of changes for me in the last year....

We found a Whataburger on the way! It had been a long time since I'd had a Monterey Melt! 

I'm here in Pensacola right now, at a friends house with the camper plugged in.

Our van parked in Pensacola 

We went to the beach, I went into the water but it's really not warm enough for me this time of the year.

The plan right now (written in sand with a stick :-) is to hang out for a little while, check out the sites (and the naval Air Museum) & then head deeper into Florida. We need to be back in Georgia the middle of March.

Naval Air Museum on NAS Pensacola

In Pensacola we did a Mardi Gras parade, my first.  WOW!

Karen & I at the parade

I can't believe the energy. It was from everywhere, all around me, the crowd AND the people on the floats. I couldn't believe it.

LOUD music from every float, always there & always different as the floats passed by.

And the beads, they throw them from the floats .. Good fun!  A crowd of happy people ... even at the bar after the parade. Pensacola...who'd a thought?

I enjoyed it.

A typical float

People throwing beads

The crowd

Too much to mention at the Naval Air Museum, a great collection of airplanes & aviation history!

A really nice section on Coast Guard Aviation.

I was a flight mechanic in the HU-16A,  HH-52A & the HH-65A during my 21 years in the USCG so I do have a slight lean towards the CG.

I think I worked on this HH-52A at some Air Station over the years

The start of Coast Guard aviation in 1917 

This sign explains it all

As a side note, remember the Wright Bros first flight? The guys helping out were from the Life Saving Service station there (early Coasties).