Earl and I took the opportunity of visiting western Florida to add state number 43 out of 50 to our “visited states list” today. Our rule for counting a state is that we must drive in that state for longer than 30 minutes, so today after work we made the relatively short trip along US 98 from Pensacola, Florida to Mobile, Alabama.
The drive along the gulf coast via US 98 is delightful; we passed through several small towns before ending up in suburban Mobile. Traffic was light, everything was green and the drive was pleasant.
We decided we wanted to get back “home” to Pensacola Beach for dinner, so when we got to Interstate 10, we hopped on and headed east. As a road geek and almost civil engineer, I’m always eager to see how each state treats their interstate highways. Alabama does well with Interstate 10. It felt “comfortable” to me.
We briefly toyed with the idea of adding Mississippi to the list as well, since it’s only 30 miles to the west of Mobile, but we decided to wait until we visit Memphis, Tenn. and then we’ll spend a good chunk of time in Mississippi and add it properly to the list.
