Jacksonville, Florida

We rode to a cafe for breakfast before leaving the town of Hawthorne. It was alot cooler than it had been. It was clear down in the 60's! Brrr.... Yes, we have been watching the weather back home in Ohio! In Hawthorne we decided to take Rt 20 instead of following the Adventure Cycling Route. As it turned out Rt 20 seemed to be a nice route. There was alittle traffic on it but nothing too bad. We stopped for lunch at Palatka. Traffic picked up as we moved closer to the big city! We debated on which route to take into St Augustine. While we were at lunch we called four different campgrounds. Two of them were full and the other two wanted $45 to camp! I don't think so. We called a hotel and found one for $49. I think it was a better deal! We took Rt 207 into St Augustine. It was a nice wide four lane highway with a really nice berm and not much traffic. We saw a couple of cyclists that were riding. They pulled over and stopped right beside of us. We said hello and they sort of said hi and then turned away. Mmm..... Hap do I stink?? Riding into St Augustine was alot better than we anticipated. We had ridden through there a couple of times before and didn't have fond memories of it. We only got tooted at a few times and maybe one yell at so I think that is a pretty good ratio. When we checked into our hotel, I got the laundry done while Hap did some bike maintance. He put on a new back tire, tightened up some nuts and bolts and lubed a pedal. We have been hearing a creaking noise for awhile and we can't seem to find it. Doesn't that just drive you crazy? Maybe it's the OLD bodies starting to creak? I'm not sure that WD 40 will help! For dinner we walked next door to IHOP.

We ate oatmeal and fruit in the room for breakfast and then started our left turn north. The day was beautiful. Sunny! 70's. We had a headwind but it wasn't so bad. We rode up A1A along the shore all day. It was really pretty. We stopped for a snack on the beach. While we were stopped mailman George called to go over our mail with Hap. We were going to have him send it to our friends in Hilton Head that we will be visiting in the next week. But first we have mail to pick up in Yulee, FL. As we got into Jacksonville Beach the weather became more cloudy but the temp was still warm. We got alittle lost or should I say I didn't tell Hap where to turn and we went way out of the way and had to turn around so it made for a much more fun ride! And that's what it's all about right! We finally found the right road and headed for the ferry to cross the St Johns River near Jacksonville. On the way to the ferry many drivers passed us alittle too close for comfort. One particular car, which was full of....let's say alot of silver haired people, seemed to make a special effort to see the writing on our bicycle. What was sort of funny depending on who ya talk to was that we were all going to the same place. So when we got to the ferry terminal ALL those cars with ALL that silver hair was sittin and waitin. And to make it even better. When the ferry came they told US to get on the ferry FIRST. So ALL those people had to wait while WE walked onto the ferry! I call that BLIND JUSTICE! The man who was directing traffic getting cars on and off was a character. When he walked off the ferry he looked at our bike and started talkin very fast....we couldn't understand a word he said. What we heard was ....bike.....long.....must..be.....on..first....go.... WHAT!?

When we got off the ferry we stopped at a gas station for some dinner supplies. What can you buy at a gas station for dinner? OK here's my healthy tip of the day. We already had rice and a can of chicken. So we bought a can of green beans (yes, they have them at gas stions check it out!), a beer, powerade and some chips. There ya go. Dinner! Hap refilled our fuel bottles for our stove with unleaded gas. The lady at the gas station said that was the least amount of gas that she had ever had. It was .76 cents! We had about a mile to ride to Hugeonot Memorial Park. Now they had campsites for $7 bucks. Now we're talkin. And that included the shower. It was pretty late so we quickly set up the tent and cooked dinner. The bugs came out about that time which speeded up the dinner process! As we were walking to the showers it started raining. So that's why it was getting dark so early. We were in the tent by 7pm because it was dark by then. It was a long night. During the night a storm hit and the wind was just wicked. We had to get out of the tent several times to batten down the hatches. The wind even pulled our stakes out of the ground. I woke up in the morning to Hap saying "We gotta get out of here! There's a bad storm coming. It had been raining all night. He was looking at weather.com on the computer. I think the red stuff is the really bad stuff and that is what was coming. We quickly started packing up. In the middle of that it started to rain again so we jumped back into the tent until it slowed down. Does anyone think this is fun? We stopped at the bathroom before heading out and a couple of people told us that their tents had blown away during the night and they had slept in their car! MMmmmm.... And several motorhomes had packed up and left during the night. MMMmmm....maybe we should be worried?? We had planned to stay along the coast until Fernandina Beach which was 25 miles north. But looking at the Adventure Cycling map we were only 12 miles from the Jacksonville Airport. So we decided to ride to the closer place. Afterall it's only 12 miles. That's nothing. Never mind the howling winds, or the pouring rain....we're tough....we love this stuff..... As we were riding I was debating whether I would rather be doing this ride today or be at work! I never reached a conclusion because we were really moving along and I couldn't breathe. And of course there was the several turns that we missed. That helped the plan also. We finally got within striking distance of the airport and stopped at a gas station to get directions and call some hotels. We have found if you call first you can get a better rate. The manager in the gas station was so helpful. She called a hotel for us and even said she would take us. Oh and a guy walked in and said you guys better be getting somewhere it is going to get worse in about 30 minutes. We only had a mile or so to go so we thanked her for the help and went out into a downpour. I hate it when my feet get wet! When we got to the hotel we were drenched and everything we had was also. When Hap opened the trailer there was a big puddle of water in it. We opened everything up and I headed to the laundry room. My brothers and wives called and were heading home from Daytona so they stopped by to say good bye. They left us some left over grilled chicken that was great for supper. Tomorrow we will be leaving Florida and into Georgia. Another state closer to home! Oh yeah, did I mention that the 12 miles was actually 25 miles! A few more miles of fun!