The Redneck Riviera
Steinhatchee, FL
From Tampa we have traveled north and then west following the gulf coast along the big bend of Florida and then to the Redneck Riviera. For those unfamiliar with where that is, the Redneck Riviera is the gulf coast resort areas of the Florida Panhandle over to the Mississippi Casinos. It stretches from Panama City Beach, FL in the east over to Bay St. Louis, MS in the west. It includes the Alabama and Mississippi coasts. The coast is known for its gorgeous sugar sand beaches, beach bars, high rises, and casinos. The highlight of this stretch for us, though, was seeing old friends in L.A. So there’s no confusion, in the South and Midsouth, “LA” stands for “Lower Alabama” not “Los Angeles”. Gulf Shores, AL is the heart of LA.
We spent some time visiting with Linda and Jeff who were great friends and neighbors in Collierville, TN. Collierville is an eastern suburb of Memphis, TN and close to FedEx World Headquarters where both Pat and Linda worked. It’s a cute town! Linda and Jeff have retired and now live in a beautiful home in Gulf Shores, AL on a canal leading to the gulf. We had a great time going to the bars/breweries, drinking bourbon, boating in the lagoon, and playing Five Crowns - not necessarily in that order! It was great catching up with them and we look forward to seeing them again this summer. They are also RVers and we’ll be caravanning together in our RVs visiting Yellowstone, Glacier, and Banff.
Before getting to LA, we also stopped at a couple of locations in Florida. They were both beautiful in their own ways. First, we stayed near Steinhatchee, FL at Gulf Front RV Park and then at St Andrews State Park by Panama City, FL. Check out photos from these places in the gallery below.
