Jacksonville, Florida to Boca Raton.
Whew, driving on the interstate is tiring. Even if passing through forested areas, it gets monotonous very quickly, and almost completely uninteresting. It’s the quickest way to go, which is why I’ve been taking interstates or other major highways, but that’s only because I’m on this time-limited trip, unlike last year when I could usually be as flexible as I wanted. Just a few minutes ago, Kaye asked me (in a text) if I would spend more time and stop off more if this was an open-ended trip, and the answer is definitely yes. Yesterday’s stops and drive throughs in Charleston and Savannah would have been at least one day each, and today I would have spent another day or maybe two in St. Augustine, Florida if I had more time, not to mention, as I start my return back north next week, I’d instead continue my trip around the Gulf of Mexico to New Orleans (and Baton Rouge) if I had more time.
Plus, I would be taking the coast road, route 1, along the Atlantic instead of I-95, and visit Cocoa Beach, Cape Canaveral (I could never figure why they changed the name Cape Kennedy back to Cape Canaveral; maybe they stopped caring that Kennedy had been assassinated, and of course this is Florida, right wing capital.), Daytona Beach, and all the other beach towns along the coast, on a leisurely and interesting journey to Boca Raton, where I am now. It would have taken an several extra hours, but I would have made an additional overnight stop somewhere along the route and taken an extra day to get here. But it gets dark by a little after 6 pm, and by 5:30 the light is dimming, so the available driving time is much shorter if I want to see anything, plus I have a time limit on my trip.
As a result,although I don’t mind the drive on I-95 (even though its dull and boring), I have to take it because it’s the fastest way here. I did want to stop off at West Palm Beach and then take the coast road into Boca, but it would have been dark by the time I got there so there was really little point. I had planned to stop at Daytona Beach (and the speedway), but I hadn’t set my GPS to take me through Daytona on the way to Boca Raton, and I didn’t realize I’d actually gone way past it when I started wondering where the hell it was. I was already 90 minutes further south, but it’s just as well I suppose, as by the time I left St. Augustine (I’ll get to that), it was already around 2, and another 4 hours until Boca Raton. So, blast – I missed Daytona Beach. Oh well!
But no complaining. Given the time limitation, I’m getting as much in as I can, and have long wanted to visit the Keys and the Everglades, and I’m having a good time despite the long and boring drives on interstates. Today, I covered about 310 miles, less miles than I have been covering each day, and all in, including my stops in Jacksonville before I headed south and my stop in St. Augustine, a little less than 8 hours of driving time.
The day was warm, and most definitely short and sandals weather, I’m happy to say, and tomorrow, when I’m further south, it will be tank top weather as well. The temperatures todays ranged between low and high 70s, sometimes with a balmy and mild breeze. Beautiful weather. And not a shred of autumn foliage. My first stop of the day was in Jacksonville, so I could at least see what the city looks like during the day.
After coming in across the across the Fuller Warren bridge, which spans the St. Johns River, after driving around for just a short while, I headed for the Springfield Historic District. The downtown area is just so-so, another downtown city area with some wide roads and multi story buildings, but otherwise nondescript. In contrast, though, the historic district is lovely, with beautiful overhanging trees shading and lining the streets and houses, and wonderful Queen Anne, Victorian, and Colonial homes, among other styles.
It is a lovely part of town, and quite distinct from the downtown, which seemed kind of bland based on my cursory drive around, and other residential areas that I drove through had somewhat run down and moderate-low income housing. In all fairness. though – what do I know? This was just a drive through, which might have taken about 90 minutes. Jacksonville is a lot bigger than that, with over one million residents.
As I was heading out, I stopped to pick up some water. There was a very sad woman there, a street person, who I could see was appealing to me for some help, even as I drove up to the store. After I parked, I could see her looking at me and saying something, and I went over to her and gave $5. She was so surprised, appreciative, and happy, and gave me a hug. It made me feel very bad, and very sad, that people must live like this and do not have the capacity to function well, and that such a small amount seemed to bring so much appreciation. I feel bad now as I write this. It was a very poignant moment. The world is not a nice place and a struggle for survival for so, so many people.
Back onto I-95 (bah), and heading down to St. Augustine, where, at Amy’s recommendation, I spent a couple of hours driving around and walking. What a good recommendation. Another beautiful town, which I would never have thought to visit if not for Amy. Again, I wish I had more time.
About 40 miles south of Jacksonville, St. Augustine is a small town of around 16,000, and was founded in 1565 by Spanish explorer Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, and is the oldest continuously occupied European-established town settlement in the United States. It is rather lovely. Coming into town, after searching for parking (lot of tourists), I was greeted with beautiful scenes and buildings, and the many churches, spires, domes, and Spanish style buildings, as well as bricked and cobblestoned roads. Lovely from the minute I entered.
Flagler college has a beautiful downtown campus, which is on the site of the former Hotel Ponce de Leon, a resort built in 1888 (by Henry Flagler, hence the name of the college). It was a great centerpiece for a town that has many great centerpieces.
I enjoyed walking the streets, which were tourist filled (me too), with endless tour buses and trams, and I walked down to the waterfront, passing through St. George street, which is a lovely pedestrian street walled by stores, restaurants, and bars, and really enjoyable.
I walked the length of St.George street, with its picturesque stores and then through town, as I headed toward the waterfront, just enjoying the buildings, the feel of the town, and the weather.
As I neared the waterfront, I came across the Castillo de San Marcos, a fort overlooking the harbor built by the Spanish between 1672-1695, and is the oldest standing building in St. Augustine. It was built to defend Florida (at least this part of it) against the British, and is built of local coquina stone, that was also used for other buildings in town. Of course, Britain eventually won, and in 1763 Florida became a British colony for a while, before returning to Spain 20 years later, and then becoming part of the United States in 1821. The fort has been used over its many years for lots of different military purposes, until being named a national monument in 1924, and in 1942 being renamed the Castillo de San Marcos.,
The harbor is actually Matanzas Bay, where the Matanzas River flows through off the Atlantic, and has a lovely waterfront walking path running along the bay.
Just a great town to visit, with lots of interesting and lovely buildings and street scenes throughout.
Then, nearing 2 pm, it was time to go. I wanted to visit Daytona Beach and the famous international speedway on the way down to Boca Raton, about 270 miles south, but as I said I missed the exit completely, thinking it was further south than it is, and by the I realized I missed it I was already 90 minutes south of Daytona. So, back on 95 for the boring ride down to Boca.
As always, my thoughts wander while I’m driving, and especially on an interstate like 95, and I found myself thinking that as much as I’m driving toward somewhere, I’m also driving away from somewhere I really would rather not be, living that routine life at home without Bev, the empty house, paying bills, taking care of things, and most of those things of daily life. Permanent vacation? No more responsibility? These travels are sort of an avoidance of routine daily life, which I realized last year on my trip.
I wanted to drive route 1, the coast road, but every time I mapped that route to Boca Raton I realized there was little point, as it would already be getting dark, or close to it, by the time I got to where I wanted to be. So, it was I-95 all the way, arriving here at around 7:15, by which time, of course, it was dark. Wrote my blog (or most of it) which always takes me longer than I expect, and especially if I’ve taken a lot of photos (as I did today), and went to bed. Hotels have off season prices, which was a nice surprise, but Boca Raton is an expensive town so this hotel, the La Quinta, was more expensive than others I’ve stayed in, or will be staying in. But, for the most expensive hotel on this trip it’s also been the crappiest so far.
Tomorrow I’m staying just down the road, in Florida City, a mere 80 miles south, for a couple of days, from where I’ll be visiting the Keys, north and south I hope, all the way down to Key West, the southernmost point.