THURSDAY MARCH 4TH

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY SISTER SALLY!!!



The weather today as we travel to Jacksonville from St. Augustine?





Need I say more? I think he even put another jacket on over his fleece top to keep warm



We have enjoyed our stay in St. Augustine. It is as lovely from the water as it is wandering it’s streets.





This is the St. Augustine Lighthouse along the shores of the Atlantic. This lighthouse was constructed in 1871. It is back off the beach a ways. The first one was built in 1824 but erosion of the beach caused it to fall into the ocean.











This is the fort we toured the other day. From the water you get a much better sense as to how large it is. The walls are 18 feet thick in many areas. All made of of coquina.















This 208 foot stainless steel cross marks the spot where the first Catholic Mass was performed in the New World over 400 years ago.







Not long after leaving St. Augustine, the landscape has changed. It looks much more like it did when we were in the panhandle portion of Florida. Much more seagrass and pine trees. Very few palms anymore.




We met this large container ship coming in from the ocean and turning up the ICW to Jacksonville. Being the little guy, we hung back and stayed out of the way.




Just before we arrived in Jacksonville we had a visit from “The Men in Black”. By that I mean the Customs and Border agents. They came zooming out on their boat and 2 guys jumped on our boat. They were very polite and checked our identification, boat documentation and questioned us before leaving. Its still unnerving to have armed men with dark glasses board your boat, knowing they can pretty much do anything they want to your boat if they have suspicions. It probably won’t be the last time we get boarded before the trip is over.

WEDNESDAY MARCH 3RD

Once again it is cold and windy.

It is our last day in St. Augustine so we headed to town for the last of our sightseeing. We toured the Oldest House in St. Augustine. It was built in the early 1700’s from the same coquina mixture as the fort. It’s not as old as the fort though. The British arrived in 1702 and attacked the fort. The entire town had moved inside the fort for protection. They had stores of food, a well and armament and the British gave up after 50 days. Before leaving St. Augustine, they burned everything to the ground. This house was built shortly after the attack.



The Live Oak trees are very beautiful. There is a famous one smack dab in the center of the Howard Johnsons parking lot. It is named The Old Senator and is estimated to be over 600 years old. It is draped in Spanish Moss, which is actually an air fern and not moss at all. This tree is located quite close to the Fountain of Youth. Hmmm, I wonder?








Not too far from the Old Senator is Magnolia Street. No one seems to know why it is named this because it is lined with Live Oaks. National Geographic names this street on it’s list of 10 most beautiful streets. You can certainly see why.












There is a wall that runs along this street made of what is referred to as tabby. We saw walls like this in many other areas of the town too. It was made from oyster shells, lime and sand and was wicked nasty. It would slice up the clothing and skin of anyone who tried to climb over it.








The town really has a quaint feel to it. The streets are narrow and have shops and little restaurants and bars. Oh, and many ice cream shops! The cars are only allowed on a few streets so wandering around is fun.

The wind really started to blow in the afternoon so we cut things short and headed back to the boat to make sure it wasn’t getting knocked around on the dock. We were grateful we had our stocking caps and gloves along! Brrrrrrrrr.

TUESDAY MARCH 2ND

As we ride in to town, we pass several incredible buildings. They were built back in the late 1800’s by Henry Flagler. Flagler made his fortune by joining Rockefeller and starting Standard Oil. He’s also the man who built the railroad down to Key West. He saw the potential of Florida as a tourist area. The biggest obstacle was it took so long to get to Florida from New York. So he built his own railroad and now it only took 30 hours to get to Florida as opposed to 90 hours! He built two spectacular hotels.


The Ponce de Leon, which is now the campus of Flagler College.








He also built The Alcazar Hotel, which is now the city offices of St. Augustine and the Lightner Museum.













We took a tour of the Old Jail. It doesn’t look much like a jail though. Also built by Flagler, he wanted it to look like a hotel. The train ran just in front of it and he didn’t want the “high brows” coming to the area to vacation to be offended by seeing a jail.

Flagler paid for the jail. But the people he hired to design and build it were the same ones who built Alcatraz.

The tour guide was in character as a deputy. It was a little corny, but also somewhat creepy. Back in those days, you could be put in jail for spitting, cursing or sassing! And after touring this building, I wouldn’t have wanted to go anywhere near this building. Most people who spent any amount of time here died, or did shortly after. Conditions were so harsh and unsanitary.

The gallows was out back. It was visible to the inmates sentenced to hanging. When there was a hanging, folks from all over came with their families to picnic and watch it! Nice. Nothing like quality, family time.

MONDAY MARCH 1ST

We left Daytona Beach and headed to St. Augustine. No boat traffic and the water was like glass. Whenever it allowed, we ran the boat much faster than our normal cruising speed. There is some serious shoaling in an area we had to go through so we wanted to make it through there around high tide. Shoaling is where it gets very shallow because the currents and waves have caused sediment to accumulate in a spot. There are websites that one can access that has important navigational info so you can be aware of this type of thing.

We arrived early afternoon so rode the bikes to the historic area of St. Augustine. It is a beautiful city. The buildings have a Spanish/Moor look to them. The Live Oak trees are everywhere and filled with Spanish moss. You almost feel as if you are someplace foreign.

St. Augustine is the oldest, continuously European occupied city in the United States. Ponce de Leon landed here in 1513 seeking the Fountain of Youth. This statue sits near where he landed. He looks pretty puny up on top of it. But that’s because he was! At 4 foot 11 inches tall, and the tallest of his battalion, he must have thought the local Timucua Indians, who where between 6 and 7 feet tall, where giants. In his day the average lifespan of a Spaniard was around 40 years old. A Timucuan Indian lived an average of 70 years. Small wonder he thought he’d found the source of the Fountain of Youth. The fountain didn’t do him much good though. He kicked the bucket from getting shot with a poison arrow.








The Spaniards stayed and it is reflected in much of the architecture here. They built the oldest masonry fort in the United States. It’s not made from cement but from what is called coquina. Coquina is layers of crushed shell, sand and sediment that nature has compressed. It is very pliable when excavated so they cut it into blocks. When it dries it is very hard. Most everything around the town was made of coquina. As a material for a fort, it also had the bonus that it would compress and surround a cannon ball when hit. So it was almost impossible to blow out a wall by enemy fire.





The interior of the fort is now bare, but they did have some of the cannons on display. They were not just functional, but almost works of art in their beauty.















This one is a mortar.

SUNDAY FEBRUARY 28TH

The rain is gone and the sun is out!




Since it was nice out we decided we would ride our bikes over toward the beach and the area of Main Street where more Bike Week activities were taking place. It was a couple of miles away and our route took us down the street we went the other day when the Heimers were with us. We thought there were a lot of motorcycles that day, but it was nothing compared to what was there today. It was block after block of bikes parked along the street. Most all of the traffic along this street was motorcycles, other than Ross and I trying to pedal through the area as fast as possible. Talk about feeling like Pee Wee Herman!! Then and there I decided to take a different route home if I had to go ten miles out of the way.

We crossed the bridge which took us to Main Street over by the beach. We met a bridal party on Harleys going the opposite direction. The groom was in his Navy dress whites and the bride wore a beautiful, pearl and beaded gown. They were each on their own bikes. The wedding party followed on their own bikes. My camera was in my purse and I couldn’t get it out before they passed.

Main Street is closed off to all but bikers. So it is like a continuous parade as bikers cruise past. There are food stands, bars, bands and stores all selling stuff. Bike Week brings in around 300 million dollars in revenue each year to the local economies. Bike Week is nothing new, this year was the 69th year of the event.

Remember you can click on any of these pictures if you want to enlarge them. Some of these motorcycles were really something else. They looked difficult to steer, to me.

This one had spikes allover it.


































This guy had his dog in a side car.



















Okay, I promised Biker Babes and here they are.
















I am sooooo glad she
had these boots on
and not me! She definitely
didn't ride a bicycle over
here. In my opinion this is
one tough lady to be able
to suffer in heels like these.




















These babes were dancing on a bar.
















These babes where shooting
off t-shirts into the crowd.
We didn't catch any.











Even the Budwieser horses showed up.
They didn't like the sound of the bikes
or the music playing by one place
as they came by. They were nervous and
some handlers stopped them and calmed
them down before they proceeded. At
this point I looked around and planned
our get away if things turned south. These
are huge animals and the only way to go was
in to the crowd. Plus I was wearing flipflops.
My toes automatically curled under just
looking at those big hooves!









The driver certainly had his hands full.

























Check out these shoes.
Scary! But I love the flames.















These boots came with a
strap to carry your bullets
in. Guess if some one was
after you, you'd have to shoot
them, because you could
never run away wearing
these babies.















Each bike is truly unique. An
expression of it's rider.
This one was painted with
biblical graphics
and you could take a bible
if you cared to.












If you've ever seen a biker
and wondered if it was a
male or female driver
there would be no question
if the rider was wearing this
helmet.





We really enjoyed the day. And did take a different route home.

SATURDAY FEBRUARY 27TH

Cold and rainy.






The guys dropped Tami and I off at the Farmers’ Market. The cold and rain had kept many people away, and I think vendors too.


Tami and I noticed this weird looking plant. Tami picked it up and said it felt spongy, and looked warty. We asked what it was because neither of us had ever seen anything like it. We were told that it is bitter melon. Ok. So what's that?


The gal at the market split one open and showed it to us. She said you threw away the seeds. She had never eaten one, or prepared one. No help there. So we took a picture and checked it out on the internet. It's eaten in places throughout the world and is believed to prevent malaria. Laboratory tests have shown it has compounds in it that could be effective in treating HIV infections. Tests have also shown it is helpful in regulating diabetes.

We didn't buy any, but still found them curious.



We picked up a few veggies and called the guys for a pick up as it was starting to rain in earnest at this point. Several of the vendors decided to call it a day and began packing up to leave.

We have rented a car for a couple of days so drove Mark and Tami to the airport. The airport is just across the street from the Daytona Speedway where the Daytona 500 takes place each year. This is the speedway where the famous NASCAR racer, Dale Earnhardt died. Today we could hear motorcycles on it. They were either practicing or doing qualifying races. There will several motorcycle events here this week. A major one is called the Dayton 200, a pro motorcycle race. Another is the Supercross. The supercross is where they build a dirt/sand track with curves and hills in. The racers go airborne over the hills trying to gain speed. I think it would have been fun to see it.

The remainder of the day was spent doing boat chores.

We have met some Loopers staying at the marina and they invited us to go along to dinner. Bill and Nancie from the “Watauga” and Brenda and Ken from the “Tellico Lady”. They are all from Tennessee.