Day. 18 On to St. Mary's and Georgia

Well, we lied again. Actually we thought we were going to stay in St. Augustine, but after walking the streets for a couple hours, we decided to head to St. Marys a day early. There's long stretches of marshland and serenity leading to the Jacksonville coast. John and I took turns doing maintenance jobs in the morning. At one point, I was at the wheel gazing at the same land that the Timucuans saw, mesmerized by the ancient, rustic beauty and a folk version of Amazing Grace came on. Now that was "church". A short time after that surreal moment, we entered the Palm Coast area. It was like running across a carnival in the middle of a deserted desert town. There were boat houses that were more elaborate than some homes - stocked with full living room sets of lawn furniture and every water toy imagineable, but no residents to be seen. New designer houses crammed in as close as possible. Two colorful restaurants were right on the water, but no customers?? That's what's amazing on this trip. You see things from such a different perspective. Then as we were just cruising along, a school of manatees startled us by suddenly thrashing around in front of us. We had to tiptoe around them so as not to disturb their activities. Crossing the St. Johns River was a new experience for me. Lots of strong currents and HUGE boats. Luckily for me, none of them were moving - they were all in a ship building yard.  This area is loaded with dolphins and manatees. After leaving the Jacksonville area, there's marshland as far as you can see . . . except for the massive nuclear power plant. Passed the Ft. Clinch. The weather has been exceptional for the past 2 days. - maybe 80 degrees - at times, chilly. Yes, I said chilly. When you get use to not having A/C, you get like the islanders, huh, Brandi?! You feel the "cold". Passed Amelia Island and Fernandino Beach - the backside - looks very different from this angle. Arrived at St. Marys, GEORGIA. As I turned to say goodbye to Florida - our departing shot was a couple of nasty paper plants. We need to work on that, Florida. Had fish tacos and beer. Citizens are friendly here. Checking out the town and museums tomorrow.