Leg 12 (Feb 3): Apalachicola – Panama City Beach, 113 km, elevation 162 m. Total distance 1290 km.
 
Leaving Apalachicola just before eight AM. Nice temperature, around 15C (59F), absolutely still. Very humid, after a couple of km everything was covered in a thin layer of water.
 
Stopped in Port St. Joe for coffee @McDonalds where we met another fellow crazy being, Jeff, who’s been on the roads from Kentucky for the past 9 months, now heading back home.
 
Immediately after leaving Apalachicola we started to se some of the destruction left behind by hurricane Michael (7 -16 Oct last year, catergory 4 of 5, 72 dead). The further we got the amount of destruction increased. The full impact appeared as we rode into Mexico Beach where the devastation was absolutely horrifying even now four months after the hurricane. Was like I imaging riding into a longstanding war zone. An almost postapocalyptic feeling, further enhanced by the lack of people and noice. It is easy to understand that people without basic science knowledge and a little lower cognitive ability will think of some mythological divine intervention or wrath… I feel deeply humbled by the unbridled power of nature and how people affected has the strength to rebuild and not give up…