Gulf Coast Ride 20061111

[Badbob]

My wife and I rode our GZ250s down to US98 yesterday. It was a beautiful day with little traffic and very few bikes out which really surprised me until I found out it was home coming for FSU. Tallahassee is a big football town and things get deserted during "The Game". It good riding while the game is in progress but not after it gets out. Drunks, lost out of towner's, and just plain crazy people out everywhere you go. But while the game is being played its very quiet.

The weather was great and as it turned out I was a little over dressed. Partly cloudy with 20% chance of rain and it got to 82 degrees. I was over dressed and was wising I had my mesh jacket before we got home.

US98 from Panacea FL to Mexico Beach is a nice ride but its a 50 miles from Tallahassee to the scenic areas. If your ever in the area its worth the trip. However. I don't recommend riding US98 past Panama City FL. There is little scenery and heavy tourist traffic from Panama City Beach west to Texas. However this little stretch of US98 is not yet heavily populated and is far enough away from an interstate that most tourists will never see it. It is one of the few places left in Florida where you can ride within a few feet of the beach. If you have time side trips to St Georges Island and down highway 30 are in order. There are plenty of places to eat. Sea food is everywhere and there are a good number of BBQ places as well as a few fast food things if your in to that.

This is a days ride. Don't expect to average more than 35 mph so leave early and take your time. Our ride was about 250 miles but we like to take the back roads where we can.

There are lots of deer hear not to mention other wildlife so you will want to plan your trip so you will get back before dark. This is not a problem in the summer but in November you should be well on your way buy 10:00am. We ran a little late getting stated and got back home just after dark. Half an hour after we got home the rain started. Hows that for timing.

Here is a map of the basic route we took.