The details are complete, the dates have been scheduled, and a van has been rented. My Aunt Eleanor, Grandpa Herbert, and I are going on a two-week road trip to Florida.

We will be traveling the backroads and small highways, avoiding the freeways through most of our journey. The roundtrip is estimated to be a total of 4,574 miles, of which only 1,377 will be on freeways. The other 3,197 miles will be meandering along the Gulf Coast of Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, and into Florida, where we will be making our first long stop to visit my daughter Jessica.

Jessica is stationed with the Navy in Pensacola at Corry Station for training; we’ll spend the weekend with her before heading southeast to Bradenton. Aunt Eleanor and my Grandfather have family with whom we will spend a short time visiting before turning the car around for the trek north and west.

Major points along our route will be Johnson City, Texas, for the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historic Park. Holly Beach to Pecan Island on the southern coast of Louisiana and New Iberia to Houma on the bayou of Louisiana.

Biloxi holds special interest for Grandpa as this is where he did basic training before shipping off to the South Pacific for duty during World War II.

After Pensacola, we travel the Gulf Shores National Seashore past Panama City and Apalachicola until reaching Perry, Florida, where we turn south with a stop at the Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge before going to Bradenton.

Following our visit with the Densford’s the road east will take us to the Atlantic coast for a short drive up to Cape Canaveral. Soon, we will be driving inland and making our way toward Valdosta, Georgia, going northwest to Montgomery, Alabama, for the historic route to Selma.

The Natchez Trace Parkway is the next major destination. We will drive 146 miles of the Trace south to Natchez, Mississippi to spend some time amongst the Antebellum Mansions and then take seriously to making our way across Texas.

Abilene, Texas, will be the biggest city we pass through on this leg before entering New Mexico for a brief visit to Roswell. Our last stop is at the White Sands National Monument, and then we beeline to Tucson and Phoenix to finish this two-week trip across the southern United States.