Back to Florida

I am emotionally affected when I arrive in Florida. I always seem to feel that I have arrived in a sunnier, cheerier place. We drove over the line from Georgia yesterday, and the surroundings seemed better immediately.

Parking on Jekyll

It was a gorgeous day in Georgia. We checked out of the Jekyll Island campground by the required 12:00 noon, and parked in a lot by the beach, since we had time to kill. Thumper and I walked on the beach, a beach 10 miles long, and very wide since the tide had mostly receded, and it goes out a long, long way at Jekyll. We stopped at the Flying J in Brunswick and topped off our tank, as fuel is 10 cents or more per gallon. Then we cruised down 95 to Jacksonville.

The Jekyll Island beach

It could be because whenever Consuelo and I went to Florida in our past, it was to relax and enjoy the warmth, usually leaving from Rochester, MN, deep in the grip of winter. We vacationed for a dozen years at our timeshare in Key West at the end of February. Sometimes we drove down from Minnesota, and always got excited when we arrived in Florida.

The grass is different in Florida. Unlike the north, the blades are wide and stiff. Golf balls tend to sit on top of it. The land is flat. The roadsides usually have wide ditches that slither off into a swamp or pine bush. Or, if they built the road in a swamp, then the ditches are where they dug the dirt for the road, and they are filled with water, and often birds, and sometimes alligators.

Today, the sun filled a crisp, blue sky. It wasn't that warm, barely 60, and it was breezy. But it was Florida. We're back.