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- Bradenton
Beach
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Stats.:
Route:
- Panama
City Beach
 9819
- 41
- Bradenton
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- Road Kill:
- UNKNOWN----3
- Birds------1
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Landing in
Bradenton marks the end
of a rather long, rather uneventful, day of
driving. It started on Panama City
Beach - miles of white sand
beaches, framing the Gulf of
Mexico. It ended on
Bradenton Beach - miles
of white sand beaches, framing the
Gulf of Mexico. Okay,
there are more rolling dunes here and this area
is a little busier. But the only real difference
is that it is nearly twelve hours drive further
down the road.
Before I left the Panama City area, I
dropped by a Wal*Mart
(US supermarket franchise) to pick up some
toiletries. I found my dental floss, turned
right at the bottom of the isle and stopped
stock still, as my mouth fell open. Panama
City's Wal*Mart has one side of one isle
dedicated to sun lotion (aka tanning cream, sun
cream, etc.)!!!! I rallied, and attempted to
look like I had just recognised some one I knew
on the opposite side of the isle. Unfortunately
my tortured mind was then confronted with the
dietary aids isle. It was much smaller, but I
was unaware that there were so many different
chemically enhanced ways of burning fat. Slim
Fast to bikinis is evidently the equivalent of
honey to bees. A swarm or stylishly anorexic
beach-babes devoured the shelf-stock. Wal*Mart
evidently not only fills all your desires but
you inadequacies too.
Back on the road, it was only a short
time before I entered a forested area. This
remained with me for the rest of the trip,
broken only intermittently by marsh, scrub and
what were labeled as glades (though I am pretty
sure this has little to do with air freshener).
Yes, the grass was green, the trees tall, the
sky blue ... but after the first five hours, it
started wearing thin. This route is
imaginatively named something like, "The Natural
Wonder Route". I would have been a little more
enthusiastic, if I was walking through this area
and had time to commune with Mother Nature. But
I was not. Even the way that derelict road-side
buildings had been consumed by the surrounding
forest, only momentarily entertained me.
If I am lucky, one more day of this will
get me to Key West.
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