Day 2, Tuesday, June 8, 2021, Jacksonville, FL (67 miles)

After a fantastic nights sleep, we headed to Nocatee Town Center about a half hour north of St. Augustine.  We detached the car and drove to the Del Webb development at Nocatee to view the model and lot our Kathy and Bob have under contract for their part time move to Florida.  Back to the coach for lunch and we headed about 45 minutes north to Pecan Park RV Resort (50 amp FHU) a bit north of Jacksonville.  We then took the car to Amelia Island for the afternoon. We visited the Pippi Longstocking House in Fernandina Beach which was apparently in the 1987 movie which Rosemary saw but I have not.  The house is across the street from Fernandina Plaza Historic State Park which once housed San Carlos Fort built by the Spanish in 1801 when Spain controlled Florida.  A canon marks the spot.  We then walked around Historic Downtown Fernandina Beach and stopped at the Amelia Island Brewing Company Tavern for a cold brew. The Sm’kn M’rtha Porter was very good with a nice smokey finish. Although I did not plan to order any food, the menu had an item which I just could not resist - pastrami reuben springs rolls. They were delicious and a great compliment to the smokey porter. We wanted to walk the long and beautiful pier at Fort Cinch which we did in 2012 on our inaugural motorhome excursion. Unfortunately, the ranger informed us Hurricane Matthew destroyed the pier in 2016.

Day 1, Monday, June 7, 2021 St. Augustine, FL (208 miles)

After a traveling hiatus in 2020 due to the pandemic, we excitingly begin our summer trip.  My only regret is leaving behind my mango tree with hundreds of mangoes about a week or two from ripeness. Last year’s harvest began in mid-May but not this year’s. Rats! I did bring along a dozen which seem pretty close to ripeness and should be delicious in about a week or two.  Stay tuned.  After no extended trip since 2019, it was like we forgot how to prepare.  The pandemic taught us to keep the refrigerator full but going from two full size refrigerators to a RV fridge made for one overstuffed fridge - must be careful when opening, ready to catch whatever comes falling out.  So with such a full fridge what is the first thing we do, eat lunch out!  We met our good friends, Debra and David, at Bahama Breeze in Orlando.  Great visit made for an after hours arrival at Compass RV Resort (50amp FHU) in St. Augustine.  Dinner was a home cooked chicken soup with matzah balls.  Trying to make room in the fridge but enough left over for tomorrow.  Out of practice resulted in forgetting to take any photos. At least I remembered to bring the camera.