January 3 – “Cooling” Our Heels in Jacksonville

We'd hope to complete the last leg of our trip to Sarasota today.  Although this morning's cold temperatures and windy conditions were not a particular problem, the forecasts for freezing rain

and the weather-related closing of sections of I-10

along our route of travel convinced us to sit tight in very a chilly and windy Jacksonville.  Even the GPS in our Jeep was reporting cold conditions through tomorrow afternoon.

However, when Lila and Brandon sent us a photo of their campground on Hilton Head where a once-in-several-decades ice and snow storm had brought even local travel to a near halt, we were glad we'd made it to Jacksonville yesterday afternoon.

Once we'd decided to avoid traveling today, we checked out a local movie theater online and planned to see what was billed as the 9:50 AM showing of "Wonder".   Upon arrival at the theater we discovered the first showing was scheduled for 1:10 PM.  Oh well.  Fortuantely there was a Walmart in the same shopping center so we decided to do some grocery shopping and then returned to our motorhome.

By early afternoon, the precipitation had passed off shore to the east,the skies began to clear and we actually saw the sun.  Debbie suggested we take a trip over to the ocean.  Our drive took us past a family of wild pigs

then through the seemingly impoverished community of Hedges

through Yulee

(St. Peter Episcopal Church)

(old and abandoned school)

and on to Amelia Island and

At the one beach we stopped at, there was a huge flock of Black Skimmers.

Heading south along A1A, we were amazed by the eclectic homes, including among others …and of all out-of-place buildings … a log cabin

and a cement home.

South of Fernandia Beach, the road was separated from the ocean by an endless string of gated communities and we rarely even saw the water … even when crossing the bridges between Amelia Island and Big Talbot Island and between Big Talbot and Little Talbot.

Mouth of the Nassau River

We only passed two mailboxes, one of which I'm adding to my photo collection,

several storks,

some decorative chickens,

a plam tree growing out of a boat,

and, in the distance, the Mayport Naval Base … where I spent several days while on active duty in 1964!

As it warmed into the low 40os this afternoon, it appears the roads will be dry tomorrow and the forecast is for a cool but sunny day, we hope to be on the road to Sarasota by around 8:30 in the morning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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