Got a good start this morning, and headed South on A1A. Sometimes this old road is easy to follow, and sometimes, it’s quite a mystery. Before we left on this trip, we bought Delorme 2007 Streets and Trips for our laptop, along with a GPS antenna that plugs into a USB port. It has proved invaluable in finding our way today. We went South for a period of time, and arrived at the St. John’s River ferry. You have to take this over the St John’s River to stay on A1A. We got on the ferry (costs $3.25 per car) and settled down for the ride. I decided to get out and take some pictures. About the time I got to the front rail, I realized we were getting ready to dock. Turned out to be about an 8-minute ferry ride. (must be pretty boring duty for the ferry captain) We continued South on A1A, and again got lost. The sign said to turn right for A1A but then the route vanished. Once again the trusty laptop navigation program (not to mention the world’s greatest navigator) found our way. We t ook a side trip off A1A on 203 which is also known as Pointe Verde Blvd. which rides along the coast through the land of the rich and famous. I’ve seen richer and famouser areas, but this one was pretty amazing. All the houses looked like an army of 4000 Mexicans were on landscape duty full time. We continued down the coast on A1A passing through a continuous strand of condos and beach houses. There is very little buildable coastline that doesn’t have something on it. The vacant lots that are left are there because someone wants 5 bazillion dollars for them. There are still some areas that look like what I imagine FLA must have looked like 20 or 30 years ago, but they are few and far between. In fact, similar to where my son lives in Manassas VA, parasitic building has started. This is when someone buys a little old 1000 sq. foot ocean front cottage for 3 or 4 hundred thousand just to get the lot. Then they tear down the still functional home and build a new 4000 or more sq. foot M cMansion. The temp got up to the 80’s, so we decided to stop early and clean up the car so we could put the bra on. (we couldn’t put it on at home cause the vinyl wouldn’t stretch much at 20 degrees) So we stopped early in Ormand Beach, and got another room at the Comfort Inn with a view overlooking the ocean. Since we are in the week between the Daytona 500 and Daytona Bike week, accommodations are readily available. We cleaned up the car, put the bra on, and then did the most amazing thing. We went driving on the beach with the roof down. They let you get on the beach just a ½ mile or so from our motel, and we drove way down the beach about 4 or 5 miles. We then turned around and came back. It was approaching sunset, so everything was beautiful. Trust me, driving on Daytona Beach in a new Corvette with the roof down, good sounds on the radio, sea birds flying all around, the waves crashing, and the sky getting rosy as sundown approaches, is pretty close to perfect. (oh yea, and a Mojito in the cupholder) After that, we had a gourmet dinner at the Waffle House (I can’t get enough of their Scattered and Smothered hash browns), and some ice cream at The Creamery just down the street. We turned in for a good night’s sleep, and then this morning, Vickie is walking on the beach with her coffee, crossword, and shell bag. I’m sitting in the sun in my shorts communing with my laptop. Today, we plan to visit Daytona USA and the Daytona track. Then we are going to head in the general direction of Cape Canaveral to see about the tour there.
Hola,
Wes and Vickie
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