Last time I was here I had just arrived in Jacksonville. My goal was to shoot down to Cape Canaveral, watch a shuttle launch, visit with family, drive BACK to Jacksonville, and see some more family for a few days. Let's see how that went...
I received a tip from a fellow traveler to check out Jax Beach. I navigated Sasha through the night and found a cool looking strip of bars along the water. Public beach parking was only five dollars, and they said I could camp out overnight in the lot. I could hear the ocean while I slept! These two photographs are two sides of the same coin.
The beach was beautiful! The Florida sun was changing my color like bread in a toaster, but the water was a perfect escape. As luck would have it, there was a music festival going on not even three blocks from where I had parked. I ate some ice cream and enjoyed free tunes.
After I'd had a bit of time at the beach, I went to visit family! At this point I had eaten oatmeal/rice as the primary filler for far too many meals. My aunt and uncle brought me out for dinner on the intracoastal, and I can't express how much I appreciated the view and food. The food though. Seriously. Later that weekend we also traveled through St. Augustine to get to another cool restaurant. We even saw a manatee!! This picture is from inside of the restaurant.
Before too long, it was time to say goodbye to the sweetest cousins a guy could ask for. For now...
We said our goodbyes at night, and we noticed that my headlight was out. We thought it best that I leave in the morning, as Sasha wasn't quite ready to leave in the night. With everybody up, I said my goodbye, and began my trek south the watch a shuttle launch. Again, Sasha was not ready for us to leave.
Peace. I couldn't have said it better myself. I spent the next few days in a hotel. I ate ice cream, watched garbage television, had pho on my birthday, and waited for an estimate on Sasha's repairs. The news came, and my aunt offered to let me stay with them for a little while longer. Nothing beats family.
We visited more restaurants, went swimming almost daily, and explored the pleasures of Jacksonville while I stayed. This was the longest that I've visited with family that I can remember, and I'm so glad that my 'disaster' turned into something so great.
After the repairs were completed, we said our goodbyes (for now) and I hopped on I-10 West from Jacksonville with my heart set on New Orleans. Sasha was running better than she had for the whole trip. I put the mementos that I had collected in Jacksonville over my rear-view mirror and drove westward.
