Day 1 - Savannah and beyond - A Two Lane Adventure

Well, it's Sunday 10 March 2019 and it's time to hit the road again! We are beginning this Two Lane Adventure in St Augustine, a city on the northeast coast of Florida. But to get there, we picked up another set of friends, Walter & Betty and headed north on US 301 through Zephyrhills, Dade City, Bushnell, Nobleton, Sumterville, Coleman, and Wildwood. Along the way, we saw beautiful roadside flowers, rebel flags and drove under beautiful canopies of oaks.

In Ocala you can see horses, after all, Ocala is known as “horse country,” or is it? Is the "Horse Capital of the World" Lexington, Kentucky or Ocala, Florida? According to the United States Patent and Trademark Office, it's Ocala and the surrounding area in Marion County. Numbers have nothing to do with it. Texas and California lead the way by far in terms of number of horses of all breeds by state. But Kentucky and Florida, in a sort of friendly rivalry, have often gone back and forth on the issue of which state is the horse capital. However, Marion County has more than 1,200 horse farms, which includes 900 thoroughbred farms on more than 77,000 acres.

We continued onto Citra. Along US 301 is The First Baptist Church of Citra. In December of 1876, Florida was sparsely settled and Baptist were few and far between. It was originally built in 1880. The original church building consisted of one room with three windows on each side, and seated about 100 people. By 1893 the membership had outgrown the original building so a new house of worship was erected which forms the main part of the present structure.

In Hawthorne we took 20E, went through Palatka and crossed the St John’s River. We transitioned onto Route 207, arriving at Compass RV Resort, just outside of St Augustine. Compass RV was recently acquired by Sun RV. I am using this opportunity to see St Augustine and conduct a little business for All American Furniture.

St Augustine lays claim to being the oldest city in the US. It is known for its Spanish colonial architecture as well as Atlantic Ocean beaches like sandy St Augustine Beach and tranquil Crescent Beach. Anastasia State Park is a protected wildlife sanctuary. 

We decided to drive into town today and check out a few things. We ended up at the St Augustine Lighthouse & Maritime Museum. The lighthouse stands 165 feet above sea level, overlooking the Matanzas Bay and the Atlantic Ocean from Anastasia Island. Visitors can climb the 219 steps to the top of the St Augustine Lighthouse for a spectacular view of the city and ocean. We did not take the trek! It is still an active aid to navigation. The museum works to keep alive the stories of the Nation's Oldest Port as symbolized by the working St Augustine Lighthouse.

We, Paul & Sandy and Walter & Betty, enjoyed a quiet evening at the campground, in the Oasis section of the park. Since it was the first night of daylight savings time, we sat out until the mosquitoes started to bite.