Tuesday 12 March 2019
Departing Compass RV Resort in St Augustine, we opted
to avoid Route 1 in downtown St Augustine and scoot up I-95 a few exits and
take 9B to I-295 E to get around Jacksonville. Not much to see this way, but it
did avoid caravanning 3 rigs through St Augustine!
Before we hit I-95, we passed the Robert F Ensslin Jr
Florida National Guard Armory. More than 300 full-time employees work in the
82,000 square foot facility. The Robert F Ensslin Jr Armory in St Augustine was
named after the former adjutant general under Florida Senate Bill 1634 in 1993.
Ensslin joined the Florida Army National Guard in February 1956, serving as a
battery officer and commander of the 116th Field Artillery Battalion.
Rising through the ranks, he commanded at several levels including the Florida
Army National Guard’s 53rd Infantry Brigade, which he led from 1980-1981. Maj
Gen Ensslin followed Maj Gen Kennedy C Bullard as Adjutant General of Florida
in 1982. He was succeeded as Adjutant General of Florida in 1992 by Maj Gen
Ronald O Harrison. He also served as president of the National Guard
Association of the United States.
Jacksonville is called The River City for good
reason. The wide St Johns River bisects this sprawling city and runs into the
Atlantic Ocean to the east while the whole of a large St Johns tributary, the
Trout River, lies completely inside the Jacksonville city limits. Add a high
water table and land that, at its highest point, is only 40 feet above sea
level, and you have a very watery place that's prone to flooding, with more
than 13 percent of the sprawling city's 875 square miles, the largest surface
area of any US city in the lower 48, under water.
Jacksonville has seven major bridges over the St
Johns River and one over the Trout River for a total of eight major bridges for
road traffic in Jacksonville. We crossed the Napoleon Bonaparte Broward Bridge
(or, the Dames Point Bridge) over the St John’s River. At two miles long, the
Dames Point Bridge is the longest concrete cable bridge in the United States. It
seems to be a popular place for ghosts. The 1988 structure is said to be
haunted by an African-American woman whose apparition is seen walking along the
bridge. Reports say she died when she was thrown over the bridge by an unknown
attacker. Several others are rumored to have intentionally jumped from the
bridge.
We have friends in Yulee Florida, but we can’t stop
to see them because they are in Tampa area visiting now! Sorry, Sandy &
Clarence, we will stop next time! A post office called Yulee has been in
operation since 1893. Clarence might have been around then, but definitely not
Sandy! The community was named for David Levy Yulee, a United States Senator
from Florida.
It is so sad when we travel on highways, like US 17
and we see so many closed, abandoned and dilapidated buildings that once were
thriving businesses.
The Florida Georgia State line along US 17 is the St.
Mary's River. It is actually a rambling stream of black-water that separates
Florida & Georgia on the east coast. It starts in the Okefenokee Swamp and
winds along a 130 mile path leading to the Atlantic Ocean & the Cumberland
Sound. Total distance "as the crow flies" is about 40 miles.
Along this section of US 7 is the “95 Coastal State
Bicycle Route.” It runs from the Florida Georgia line to South Carolina. The
interesting fact is … we have seen very few bicycles along this route!
This route is also the Gullah Geechee Cultural
Heritage Corridor. It is a federal National Heritage Area and it was
established to recognize the unique culture of the Gullah Geechee people who
have traditionally resided in the coastal areas and the sea islands of North
Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. Throughout the Gullah Geechee
Cultural Heritage Corridor today there are vibrant and historic Gullah Geechee
communities to visit.
On Route 17, we passed through Kingsland and Woodbine
Georgia and we saw more remnants of a former business.
I love traveling on this route, because there are so
many waterways and marshes to see and cross over. Maybe I should have been a
fish, because I love the water!
We arrived at Golden Isles RV Park, our home for the
overnight. Charlie and I have stayed here before. It is a great park for an
overnight stop with $20 pull-thru sites and a restaurant in the front of the park. Tomorrow,
our adventure continues when we meet up with the Yankee RV gang in Savannah!
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