Glen St. Mary

Saturday, 10 March 2018

Glen St. Mary, FL

The campground host at Blue Springs is apparently an enthusiastic member of a group called Christian Motorcyclists Association, motto: Riding for the Son.  He has a little banner at the entrance to his campsite and wears a windbreaker with the logo on it.  Lots of motorcycles at the campground.  I heard there's some kind of event in Daytona this weekend.

Dexter saw a rabbit in the campsite next to us within 5 minutes of our arrival.  I was walking him at the time and saw for myself the rabbit came within about 2 feet of Dexter's nose and then ran away waving a very white and fluffy tail.  What self-respecting dog wouldn't want to chase it.

I decided to take the interstate route from the campground to the home of my cousin Karen and her husband Bobby. Even though I knew there’d be a lot of traffic in Daytona and Jacksonville, I decided it was likely to be faster than taking the local roads. I’ve been lost on them in Florida before in Momma’s Honda Civic and didn’t really want to do it in an RV.  As it turned out, it probably would have been faster to be lost and then found, rather than to sit in stopped traffic while trying to get 3 lanes of vehicles through an accident zone, and a construction zone, and other congestive events. So very fortunate that I’m learning patience on this trip.

The critters and I are starting to get into a kind of routine in our drives. They’ve learned (even the cats) that after a while I’ll stop and let them have a bathroom break. So Jasper’s stopped yowling and pooping in the crate, thank goodness, and everybody just settles down soon after we start off. I’m usually interested in a bathroom break myself about midday, and I feed everybody lunch when we stop, so they have that to look forward to, too. With this routine, they’ll let me drive for 400 miles without giving me a hard time. Routines are good for everybody.

Karen and Bobby live about 30 miles west of Jacksonville, on the outskirts of a small town. Thus, the light pollution is greatly reduced and, on this morning’s dog walk, I got to see all of the Little Dipper for the first time in decades. It was great.

Several places during the drive I saw major azalea blooms and wysteria and dogwood starting to come out.  Karen's got several huge azalea bushes in front of her house, blooming like crazy.  So pretty.

Karen's azaleas

Karen and Bobby drove me back into Jacksonville last night for supper at a place they go to often called the European Street Cafe.  Apparently it’s known for its beer and wine but the food is great. I had a sandwich called something like the Prince Andrew Hero with grilled chicken and bacon and cheese and so forth. Really wonderful.

Karen said she’d take me grocery shopping today in a car, which will be a nice change from trying to find 2 parking places together and far enough away from the door that I won’t upset anybody for taking up 2 places.