We set off for the Atlantic coast of Florida, starting at
Jacksonville Beach. As we turned onto the beach road we noticed the recent
hurricane damage – many of the palm trees had supports holding them up. We
followed the A1a coastal road for miles, through beach communities with a
juxtaposition of mega-mansions and old beach shacks that had seen better days.
There was lots of building activity going on as the hurricane recovery
continues. Some of the beachfront homes had their foundations washed from under
them, some had lost decks and roofs, and others were missing cladding.
We stopped at St Augustine for lunch. St Augustine’s is the
oldest permanent settlement in the US, having been founded in 1565. We drove
past the Spanish fort, but the car park was chokkers and with the size of the
RV we had no hope of parking. So we got a quick pic out the window as best we
could without holding up the traffic.
The town also boasts the Fountain of
Youth, which attracted Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon to land in 1513.
Apparently you can still take a swig from the sulphur spring – sounds
appealing, NOT!
We ended up at the Lighthouse and museum, 219 steps to the
top and some pretty good views. Ros got vertigo on the second landing (because
the steps are grills that you can see through and she looked down), but Steve
headed up and took lots of photos.
Back on the road and we passed a small community of houses
on stilts, way out on the beach. They seemed to have survived the hurricane,
although it was hard to see how!
We continued through to Titusville, and to the Great
Outdoors RV resort. It’s a golfing / retirement style community where people
buy their RV sites and rent them out when they are not using them. Nice and
quiet and lots of people scooting around on golf carts.
http://fms.ws/roIcH/28.52209N/80.86554W
If the above link does not work, try this link:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=28.52209,-80.86554&ll=28.52209,-80.86554&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1
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