Day 5: July 31, 2014 Out of Florida Comment via blog

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I spent the night on the east side of Marianna, Florida, near the western end of the section of Old Spanish Trail that started back in Sneads so I took a look at it this morning. It was pleasant but unremarkable. I turned around after a mile or so to continue west.

I turned north in Chipley to reach an old alignment on Old Bonifay Road. It turned to dirt after about four miles which caused me to cut back to US-90. The third picture is of where that section reconnects with US-90 near Caryville.

I again turned north a couple of miles past Ponce De Leon to follow an OST alignment. This one was completely paved and made for a very pleasant drive. Its western end briefly dipped below US-90 before rejoining the US route from the south. A junkyard with a not quite intact metal fence sits near the east end of the loop with at least one military looking helicopter in addition to the normal collection of cars. Approaching the other end of the half mile loop, the small trucks parked on both sides of the road made me think there might be an estate auction or something similar going on. But I soon realized that, although there were a few licensed cars, including a very nice looking mid-year Corvette, toward the far end, this was essentially a junkyard in the wild.

DeFuniak Springs is where the first Florida Chautauqua was held in 1885 and where the Florida Education Association was formed in 1886. The domed building in the first picture is the Chautauqua Hall of Brotherhood. Most of the impressive buildings that line the circular Lake DeFuniak are private residences.

East of Milton, Florida, a sign marks the start of a section of 1921 brick pavement now used as a foot and bike path. Nearer to town, you can get a closer look at the road and even drive on it. Do these bricks make my hood look big?

The drivable section that links to the bike trail leads back to US-90 but a turn north in the middle if the section leads to a signed section of OST and more bricks. You can drive on these, too.

This section of Old Spanish Trail is in Daphne, Alabama. Daphne was on a short lived alignment that connected with a ferry to Mobile.

I learned of Wintzell's Oyster House from first rank road fan Russell Rein. When it started to look like my day would end just beyond Mobile, I decided that a late lunch/early dinner would fit in nicely. I'm not very fond of oysters but had almost settled on trying the fried oyster salad when my waitress (whose name I never did get and who was as much food consultant as waitress) suggested the salmon -- one of her favorites. She also suggested the crab soup and ran down the list of a dozen or so draft beers. I settled on a Brown Ale from Good People's in Birmingham. I also settled on the salmon salad and crab soup. The salmon was very good. The soup was superb!

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