Montgomery to Thunder Beach

Thursday we took time, as planned, to visit the Civil Rights Museum and the home of the Southern Poverty Law Center. It was well worth the visit. The displays at the museum were very well done and serve as a stark reminder of the not-so-distant history of the civil rights movement and the intolerance that still exists in our society today.

From Montgomery we headed south and arrived at Panama City Beach late in the day. We did get a chance to visit some of the exhibits at one of the three main venues. There were an amazing number of bikes and the people-watching was on a par with the bike watching. There were some teenagers who did an pretty remarkable stunt bike act, but otherwise not a lot to do beyond looking at the wares of lots and lots of motorcycle-related vendors.

Dinner was at a place called Dusty's - a crowded bar with decent food, a moderately rowdy crowd and a decibel level that rivaled that of a spooling-up jet engine. There were a couple of young, siliconized young women who (reputedly) added a display of their personal miracle of modern medicine to the festivities, as would be expected.

Today (Friday) was RAINY. It's a bummer. All that we really got to do was to purchase a Bluetooth bike-to-bike intercom with some other horns and whistles, get a tire pressure gauge and see a disappointing custom bike show (too few bikes). Otherwise, it was a day to hang around, figure out how the intercom worked, shoot the breeze, etc. To be fair, the people-watching continues to be pretty interesting and the atmosphere intriguing, but I'm looking forward to clearing skies and a good ride out into the surrounding countryside tomorrow.