Savannah to Jacksonville Beach, FL
The Lord has no equal. Who else has held the oceans in his hand?
Isaiah 40:12
Today was a good day! We got to sleep in today because the bus didn’t leave until 9:00. And since we were having taco bar for lunch today there was basically no prep. I had already browned, seasoned and frozen the meat in Wichita before we left. We had bought shredded cheese and lettuce so the only things left were cutting up tomatoes, making guacamole and opening cans of black olives. Easy peasy!
Our first stop of the day was to hit a WalMart really quickly for us to grab a few groceries and for some of the passengers to buy a swimsuit or flip flops. When I got back to the bus I reached in my pocket to pull out the 2 Halloween cards that I’m sending to Chris’s boys and was shocked (no, really … I WAS shocked) to find only one card. I checked back in Walmart but no one had turned a card in and I didn’t see it on the floor anywhere. I had been all over the place this morning, loading the bus and going back and forth to the hotel. So what to do? I couldn’t really send just one card. What would Channing think if I only sent one to Cullin? But the card to Channing had been addressed, sealed and stamped. What would Cullin think if I didn’t send one to him and then someone found the card to Channing and mailed it? Such a dilemma. In the end, I called Caroline and we decided that I would mail an extra card that I had to Channing and if the original card didn’t show up, she would go buy him another gift card, since I had sent one in the card to Cullin. Problem solved!
Our 2nd stop of the day was Peach World. With a name like that, I had a little more grand expectations than what we drove up to. But it was still fun to see all the peach stuff they had. Lots of salsas and jams and lotions and sweet concoctions. I bought some stuff called TOE Jam. Sounds pretty yummy, huh? It’s made of Tangerine, Oranges and Elderberry. Get it? Pretty clever. They also had FROG Jam and a couple others. We sampled everything and bought some peach ice cream even though it was only 9:30 in the morning.
As we drove along through all the swamps it again made me think how much we take roads and bridges for granted. It’s no big deal to drive along here, but without the bridges, even though the water may only be a few feet deep, it would be impassable without a boat. I’m guessing they used barges or something. You couldn’t walk or ride a horse through because of the alligators.
Our next stop was the Florida Stateline Visitors Center. We all got out and took a group picture by the Florida sign. Then went in to get our free juice.
When we got back to the Big Bus our driver, Saul, was talking to the guy parked next to us, who was towing a huge boat. Saul told us that the boat belongs to Bruce Springsteen and he (Bruce, not Saul) pays that guy $10,000 a couple times a year to haul it across the country. Saul didn’t ask the obvious question. Why? I would think it would be cheaper to just buy another boat.
We got to our hotel around noon and had our taco bar lunch in the hotel breakfast room. Once we got everything cleaned up and cleaned the bus (in case you are wondering, every night we have to wipe down all the surfaces with anti-bacterial wipes, sweep the floor, drain the water from the 3 coolers and fill them back up with ice. Sometimes we restock the pop and water at night, sometimes we wait until morning) anyway, after all that was done we headed for the beach. It was kinda cloudy and not super hot, but warm enough to be in a swimsuit. The ocean water was warm. We played in the waves for a while and then headed to the hot tub. We talked with a couple who actually live in Jacksonville and were having a stay-cation at the hotel to enjoy the beach. In her opinion, the best Florida beach is Key West. As I was relaxing in the hot tub I happened to look down at my foot and notice the water was making it look dark around my little toe. Weird. So I looked closer. Somehow I had an ink stain between my baby toe and the next one over. How in the world? I had shoes on all day until we went to the beach. Has this been there for days and I never noticed? I have no idea. I scrubbed it and it didn’t come off. So maybe I have a real life tattoo. In a very odd place.
As we were heading to the little outside restaurant to get an app and a marg Bruce called me. So I headed up to our room and enjoyed a little chill time talking to him, while Mary went to the Tiki Restaurant with some others from our bus. It was such a treat to be finished at 3:00. I showered then worked on the blog and then chilled (which is code name for played Spider Solitaire). Mary came back to see if I wanted to play games with some of them. I declined. I was enjoying my alone time thoroughly. For those of you non-introverts, this probably seems weird, but I think all the introverts get it.
Some of you have asked about clean up after cooking our meals. We try to take every precaution to minimize our mess. When we cook in the roaster we line it with tin foil and then put a turkey pan in the bottom to hold the food. Or for smaller things like warming up the Ham Delights, we use a disposable lasagna pan. We also use a disposable lasagna pan for inside the electric skillet and a crock pot liner for the crock pot and sometimes crock pot liners for the bowls. Then to wash the silverware and the dishes that need it, we heat water in the coffee pot and wash in a tub in the sink. We can empty the water out the drain in the sink directly outside. So there you have it!
