With our rental Jeep Wrangler loaded full of "stuff," we pulled out of our driveway on Tuesday, January 14. It was a dreary and rainy morning, but we wanted to get an early start. Of course that put us right in the middle of morning rush hour. It took us 30 minutes to go 10 miles and get onto I-95. The traffic thankfully cleared once we passed Main Street Station and the next 601 miles on I-95 passed by quickly. We entered North Carolina and were greeted by clearing skies. When we made our first driver change, I realized we had left our cactus "Home Alone" in its sunny spot on the kitchen table. Not willing to turn around to retrieve our trusty travel companion of the past two years, I made the call to my Mom to arrange an adoption until we return in May. (So far, that seems to be all we've forgotten, so not too bad.) Barry and I worked on two-hour driving shifts and crossed into Florida as the sun began to set. We grabbed dinner before getting back to Ortega Landing Marina. Crossroads was fine and we proceeded to transfer four dock cart loads onboard.
The next few days were spent emptying all those race bags, stowing everything in their proper place, and taking inventories of our freezers and provisions. Barry knocked out several projects including installing a stereo control in the pilothouse and wonderful LED under-cabinet lighting in the galley. We've been treated to colorful sunrises and sunsets. I was excited to learn that yoga classes are held at the clubhouse Tuesday-Friday and have attended two. With daily highs in the upper 70s, I took to Fiberglass Beach and started my first book of the trip. Barry replaced our oil change pump and on Friday we changed the oil in both the main engine and generator. We should be good to go until we get back to Virginia. Our final project for Friday was to fix our paddle wheel that has been inoperable since we ran aground in Wrightsville Beach. Its always scary to have water rushing in from an open hole in the bottom of the boat while the sensor is being swapped for the plug, but in reality its not a lot of water. We cleaned the paddle wheel and repeated the process. I was comfortable enough with the tiny chance of flooding that I caught a picture of the water gushing in. We celebrated being done with major maintenance with a little retail therapy at West Marine and Sam's Club. Romaine lettuce, salmon, yogurt, apples, and Cheerios will keep the crew happy for a while.
A front moved through Saturday night, bringing rain and colder temperatures. We still ventured out this morning to explore downtown Jacksonville while we have the Jeep. Our first stop was the visitor's center where we picked up a map and walked around a few blocks. The ornate street clock outside Jacob's Jewelers dates to 1901 and has been in this spot since 1927. Several buildings have been painted with interesting murals. A rainy Sunday morning made for a deserted downtown area.
We made a quick stop at Cancer Survivors Park which features scale replicas of Jacksonville's five major bridges spanning a pond shaped like the St. Johns River. We strolled like Godzillas in the miniature landscape before crossing the blue Main Street Bridge to the Southbank Riverwalk.
We stopped at the only restaurant in sight for a quick bite to find that they only had a brunch buffet. We ate more than planned, but still surprised the waitress when we asked for the check. "Already? You've just started," she replied. The sky was menacing as we strolled around Friendship Fountain. This is one of the largest self-contained fountains around, but its undergoing a $6 million renovation. We didn't get much of a show, but when its done it will be a state-of-the-art water and sound show in the style of The Bellagio. We finished our afternoon with a visit to the Museum of Science and History. I enjoyed the touch tank and Barry conquered several of the brain teasers.
Rain fell as we made it back to Crossroads in time to watch the NFL playoffs. We will be in Jacksonville through the end of the month. Lows here this week will be in the 30s and I'm very anxious to get further south and east. I'll post occasionally during this time -- if/when anything exciting happens or we firm up our travel plans.
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