Wednesday, 28 December 2022
David and Anna left about 7:30 this morning and stopped by the RV to say goodbye to Dext and me. I stayed until after 9:30 to use the wifi signal for a while, and because Google said today's drive wouldn't take any great amount of time.
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| today's route |
I planned several errands in Jax before leaving town. First was the local recycling center. Online it looked like they might not let me dump my stuff because of not being a local resident, but when I got there I didn't have any trouble at all. Always nice to get rid of things.
From there I'd chosen stores that were in the south part of town, because I wanted to go by the naval station where my daddy was stationed during WWII. I couldn't get a photo of the main gate because of traffic and can't find one online that isn't under copyright. But it looks like just your basic entry to a military station.
The facility dates to WWI when it was used by the US Army for training and mobilization. After the war, it was decommissioned and later the FL National Guard used it. When WWII was beginning to break out in Europe, the facility was reopened as NAS Jacksonville (Jax), runways were built, and the buildings multiplied as the US entered WWII. It's still a heavily used military facility. Momma and Daddy got married in Rhode Island where they met when he was stationed at Quonset Point NAS; later he was transferred down here (and I'm sure was thrilled about the climate change because he hated cold weather) and Momma moved down to join him; he was discharged from here at the end of the war. I think I still have old photos from when they were stationed here. Seems odd to me now. (And I'm just going to say how worried I've been that Russia's invasion of Ukraine might morph into WWIII; it still looks possible to me.)
Across the road from the NAS I saw a billboard sponsored by The Fire Watch (thefirewatch.org) with a photo of someone called a Watch Stander. I was curious and looked it up and learned this is a program here in Florida that aims to reduce the number of suicides by veterans through the use of volunteer "Watch Standers." Sadly, this program seems seriously needed, with the rate of suicide in veterans 1.5 times higher than in the general population, and 2.5 times higher in female veterans than in female non-veterans. I'm glad to hear of this program and that there are other programs with a similar goal.
Farther along that same road, Roosevelt Avenue, I came to an ABC Liquor (large chain in Florida) and then a Winn-Dixie. From there I turned onto Timuquana Road (named for an early Native American tribe that lived around here) and crossed town, stopping for gasoline on the way. Eventually I met with US-301, and from there it was only about 20 miles to Starke. Somewhat unusually, the KOA is actually in town.
I checked us in for a 3-week stay and hoped this campground would be comfortable for us for such a long time.
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