May 16, 2023 We’re still in the early (7 AM) wake-up mode, but hopefully that will change. Today was a gorgeous day with sunny skies and a temp of 86. We only have 75 miles to go today, so we weren’t in any hurry. Checkout time is noon and we actually left a few minutes before 12:00, after a quick run to Harbor Freight for a locking hitch pin. I forgot to mention that we have 2 “freeloaders” along with us on this trip. One is my pineapple plant that I propagated myself 2 years ago. Yes, it actually takes 2-3 years to grow one. It would have become ripe while we were gone on this trip, so it came with us.
The 2nd one is a bouquet of beautiful pink and yellow lilies that Anne and the family sent me for Mother’s Day. There were quite a few unopened buds in the bouquet, so I brought it along to enjoy it for as many days as I could.
Today we took Highway 301 north to I-95. Highway 301 is a boulevard highway and a mile or two of it was paved in concrete to test the concrete as a road surface in Florida, or so the sign said.
The drive was relaxing with very little traffic all the way to I-95. We picked up I-95 before leaving Florida and immediately began to see the vast expanse of the Georgia salt flats.
Once we crossed the border into Georgia, it was only 2 miles further to our turnoff of Scrubby Bluff Road.
We arrived at our destination of Jacksonville North/St. Mary’s KOA around 1:30.
We were surprised to find out that our reservation at this campground was for June 16-19, not May. Ooops! We made our own reservation online months ago, so it was our mistake. Luckily, the campground was pretty empty and there was no problem changing our reservation to May 16-19. Problem averted. We pulled into this beautiful campground with grassy sites and tall redwood trees. Site #A8 will be our home for the next 4 nights. One of Bob’s plans on this trip was not to move to a new location every day, but to spend multiple days at one location for a more relaxing trip.
Auggie was anxious to get outside and check out the area. He spent most of the afternoon sitting outside in the shade of a redwood scouting out the area for squirrels. He sat so still for so long that a squirrel did approach him and got way too close to him. Auggie finally couldn’t take it anymore and lunged at him, only to have the squirrel scurry off to safety. Poor Auggie! We watched about 15 campers arrive throughout the rest of the afternoon. The campground started to fill up. While we are here for the next 3 days, we plan to explore Fernandina Beach with its 6-7 ft. tides, Amelia Island Lighthouse, and Fort Clinch State Park to name a few. Fernandina Beach is the northernmost city on Florida’s Atlantic Coast, situated on Amelia Island.