Thursday, March 14, 2019

Day 3 - Savannah and beyond - A Two Lane Adventure


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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