Day 14, Sunday, February 3, 2013, p.m.

 

I was feeling down in the dumps when I left the hotel this morning. Maybe it was the room, maybe it was that my clothes didn’t totally dry from the laundry, maybe it was the realization that I have been on the road for 14 days dragging luggage in and out of hotel rooms. Maybe I was just feeling lonely and a little sorry for myself. Yeah, I guess I’m just having a bad case of homesickness. I miss my kitty.

Then I think of that cold back there and I’m glad I’m down here.

I couldn’t wait to get out of that hotel. It was clear, sunny and 61 degrees. The odometer read 14656.7. I stopped at a BP station for gas and was pumping before I noticed the price was $3.64. That didn’t make me feel any better.

So I got on Rte. 95S and drove and drove; feeling sad and tired of being on the road. I miss our simple back roads. It’s hard to look around going 75-80 mph. I crossed the Savannah River into Georgia at 11:15 a.m. and shortly thereafter stopped at the rest stop. I picked up a bunch of brochures, but nothing really appealed to me. After all the hype about Savannah, I wasn’t interested. I was just feeling down in the dumps.

I thought about going out to Jekyll Island. Maybe it would be nice to see beach and the historical places there. That area sounded really interesting, but in my mood, I just wasn’t up to it. Perhaps when I come back north, I’ll take some time out there.

I continued south. More trees had red buds. Back home we won’t see that until April (if we’re lucky.) There was more green on the trees and more trees. I crossed many rivers and creeks and every once in awhile, I got a quick look out over marsh fields. The Atlantic was out there to the left. At 1:30 p.m. I crossed St. Mary’s River into Florida and stopped at the next Visitor’s Center.

This place was very busy and there were tons of brochures. I was in a state of “I don’t know what I want to do.” At this point, I was leaning towards St. Augustine. One of the guys working there for the day happened to be the manager of a Comfort Inn & Suites in St. Augustine and he gave me a free upgrade.  I picked up a bunch of brochures and booklets.

Back on Rte. 95S, I had about an hour’s drive to St. Augustine. First I had to pass through Jacksonville. There was a 295E and a 295W. I had no idea if I should take either of those so I stayed straight on 95. It was a little scary. I kept my eyes right on the traffic in front of me. There were bridges and clover leafs and ramps, some above and some below. It seemed they were going every which way. I felt I was in some kind of futuristic movie. Staying straight and true on 95, I got through that city and the speed limit again was 70 mph.

I finally saw Exit 318 and got off the highway. Again, this hotel was right there. The lady at the desk was telling the people in front of me that she didn’t think there were any vacancies on the first floor. The manager had told me that I could have a first floor, but I told her that it didn’t matter as long as it was quiet. She put me on the third floor.

Bringing my luggage in on the trolley, my CD player fell off and now won’t work. The room made up for it. It’s really nice with lots of space. Maybe I’ll find a place to buy a new CD player. St. Augustine has lots and lots of shopping places. Maybe a little shopping will cheer me up… not that I like to shop, but buying myself a present would be okay.

So tonight I’m going to chill out and look through the brochures. There are different tours I can take through the city. Decisions, decisions… and the need to rest.