The second port of call on our tour took us out of the home galaxy of Florida into the northern reaches of GA. I was a fairly straight 180 mile shot right up I-95. This would be the last leg of the journey with the support shuttle craft flying in formation. As I anticipated it took us right at 4 hours to make the drive with a gas stop and trip to the grocery store (more on that later).
We left the campground and drove through Old Town to US 1, and headed north. From St. Augustine to Jax is actually faster up US 1 as there are not many traffic lights and I-95 is pretty far west of town. Naya got some drive time in as I wanted her to drive the same stretch of road I made her brother drive when he was learning.
Everything was running smoothly, except the slippy fan belt. It was getting really annoying as I was trying to move with the flow of traffic and it was right at the speed where it would start squealing. We got around town with no issues and headed north on 95 toward GA and I slowed to a pace that would keep the belt quiet.
I had been wondering if they stopped the CoVid check point coming into FL on I-95 and half an hour later we could see it was still in full swing. It was about 11:30 AM and the traffic was backed up for at least 2-3 miles as they stop EVERY vehicle entering on I-95 South. I vowed right then to find a different route back.
I took off immediately again and trundled along in the slow lane doing about 60. The girls caught up again about 70 miles later, about 10 miles before out exit.
We were meeting my boy and his girl at the park and after speaking with them, decided on steak and potatoes for dinner (needed to buy steaks). While stopped I had googled and saw there was Kroger on the way, and a Publix right next to the state park (but a little past it). I decided to patronize the Kroger as a change of pace (we don;t have them in FL). I found parking and masked up and went straight to a disappointing meat section. They steaks they had didn't look really good and they were really expensive for what they were. Tons of Chicken and Pork though. After discussing with Lucy for 5 minutes, I said let's get out of here and go to Publix.
I was not disappointed as I got a really thick London Broil (almost 3 lbs!). Got some firewood, ice, and a few other things and headed out.
We checked into the campground (got a magnet for the RV fridge) and got set up. Honestly, our campsite was larger than the property my house sits on. It was huge and our neighbors were at least 100 feet away on any side.
The boy and his lady arrived about 30 min later and after joyous hugs (haven't seen him in a year), got to the business of handing off the Jeep to it's new owner. The meat was marinating by now and I started setting up the fire to grill. Usually, I just use wood, but this spectacular chunk of beef needed an even heat, so I broke out the bag of Mesquite charcoal and got busy with it.
Earlier JT and I took a bike ride to recon a comet viewing area and found this view looking in the right direction.
We had three bikes (four if you counted JT's that was in the Jeep), but one of them had a flat I discovered in St. Augustine. The beach cruiser had a tendency to throw the chain if you weren't careful. The path was bumpy and the boy got tired of putting it back on. In the process of trying to fix it, the chain actually broke!. So now we were down two bikes....
We all walked back to observation area at dusk and went up on the tower. As it was wood, it shook so the boy and his new camera went down to the ground for better photos.
Went back and stoked up the dinner coals and burned a few logs before calling it a night.
Day 4
Pancakes and Bacon for breakfast, followed by fixing the squealing belt. After two days, I couldn't take it anymore. Internet research and looking at pics of Oldsmobile accessory brackets I came up with a plan. With JT helping we got it snugged up in about half an hour.
A quick reconfigure on the Jeep (move stuff around), and we all were on our way into Savannah about 15 miles away. We parked at a garage downtown and I thought this was a cool alley shot.
We started walking around and made or way to the riverfront as it was getting to lunch time. It was too crowded in the restaurants next to the river, so we retreated back up the hill and a block over and found a brewery with good food. We went and found a bike shop and after talking with the owner, decided to bring back the bike and let them put the chain on so it wouldn't be loose (they could pop off the extra links).
At 5PM the highlight of my day happened when a new bar in town called the Bamboo Room opened for the day. We were the 2nd people in the door and got a good look around before it got busy.
Clouds obscured the viewing, so we cooked chicken on the fire and burned through a lot of firewood.
Day 5
Slow easy start to the day and after breakfast JT and I loaded up the Schwinn and headed to the bike shop. It took about 45 min and $58 later I had a new chain installed and new tire for the mountain bike. We had changed the tube but the sidewall in the tire was shot...
We returned to the campsite and went for a very HOT bike ride for about 3 miles. We saw an old Moonshine still that was abandoned in the park
We decided to go to the beach. Even though we were pretty close to ocean at the campsite, there was no beach in the marshy area we were at and had to drive back around to Tybee Island. Even though is was less than 20 miles, it took us 45 min each way.
We went late which was good as most people had left for the day so the crowd on the beach was fairly light. We all went swimming and caught a few waves on the boogie board. We dragged the grille with us and made burgers on the beach and enjoyed them there.
We then slogged it back to the campsite and played a few games and made another fire.
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