Friday, March 24, 2023 - We left Maxwell AFB, Montgomery, Alabama and drove for four hours to Eglin AFB, near Valparaiso, Florida on the Gulf of Mexico. Road quality was good, so we did not shake up the rig as much as we have in the past. We did not leave Maxwell until nearly 11:00 am, since we could not check-in at Eglin until 3:00 pm. We were only able to reserve on night at Eglin since they were pretty filled up for the weekend. The fee to stay at Eglin AFB is $30 per night with full hookups. It is $300 if you stay for an entire week.

On the drive, we passed through Britton Hill, Florida which possess the highest natural point of land in the state at 345 feet above Mean Sea Level (MSL). It also happens to be the lowest "high point" for all the states in the United States.

The roads were quite good with most being two-lane highways in each direction. That is nice since is allows for overtaking vehicles to pass and I don't have to look for turn-off points along the way to allow the traffic behind me to pass.

Once we arrived at Eglin, we do what all people who have been driving all day choose to do, we went for a drive. We chose to head for Fort Walton Beach and head for the Destin shores. We had heard that the Destin areas was absolutely gorgeous. It turns out that the entire area has been commercialized with high-rises, condos, restaurants, amusement parks for the kids and marinas. The only road through the area (Highway 98) is congested and people are driving quite "erratically," I would say. We were almost hit two times on the trip. There should be a big sign stating that there are, "Crazy, Young Drivers in the Area - BEWARE!" You could not see the beach or get to the beach except for a couple areas that were pretty crowded. It is the end of "Spring Break" for the college students, so the area was pretty congested. We did not even stop. We scurried along and then took the "Mid-Bay Bridge" back to the north and off the break-water.

Note: Lisa and I have found that most of the popular places along the shore in Florida are now highly populated and congested. The best place we have see, so far, was at the KARS facility on Merritt Island near the Kennedy Space Center. We were right on the beach, and it was a military installation, so many people could not access the site. It only cost $30 per night with full hookups.