50 States, Day 293

  Jacksonville to Monticello, 169 miles
 
"How old would you be if you didn't know how old you are?"
~Satchel Paige



We headed West today, through forest service land, different from the northwest logging forests, as the pine trees grow straight and tall and are planted in rows, which must help harvesting operations. We would show you photos of them, but QG couldn't get any shots as we rocketed past at fifty-eight miles per hour. Speaking of excessive speed, we passed a car today, probably the fourth one on the Adventure. And you guessed it; he was an old man. My definition of an old man is anyone older than me. And who am I to judge? I'm going on fifty-eight. But watch out when I get home, lots of time to make up!
 
Middle North Florida is nothing like the coasts; houses with half acres of grass surrounded by woods. Florida may have the largest swings of real estate values of any state. Two identical houses could sell for $75,000 or a million, depending on their location. And you can buy a brand new 28 by 50 mobile home for $39,950, a bargain. Just find a swamp to set it on. In. Kidding! Plenty of places to set up a place.



We rolled into Monticello around 2:30 and found a pizza restaurant. Being the entrepreneur I am, I was dying to start a restaurant there. The pizza tasted fine, but the ambiance was terrible; chairs and tables that didn't match, run down bathrooms, tired old decor and limited fare made me want to rent a place and set up shop. If I just knew anything about the restaurant business. Stupid details.



Under the warm sunshine we rode out of town to a KOA within screaming distance of a freeway. Thank God for earplugs. We set up while a new friend from Ontario marveled at our domicile as we set it up so efficiently. Maybe we could trade. He's got a $325k motor home.
 
Difficult to determine our immediate future, as a cold front approaches with morning temps predicted to be in the high 20s and possibly rainfall. We may elect to motel it again tomorrow, but time will tell.


 
And now, fellow tent set upper, Quilter Girl!
 
We headed out on 95 south, then 295, then 10 west.  At Macclenny we got off the freeway to check the map as our goal was to take 90 west, a more rural route.  I am so glad we did as the exit we took was the highway to town with 90 going through the center of town.  We found a post office to pick up another flat rate box to mail stuff home.  Post Offices can be very hard to find, or we see one on every corner!  Today we saw four on our trip, amazing.  90 was a wonderful change from I-10, wandering through the woods, even had some elevation changes and curves.  The sun was shining and this was the perfect way to travel today.  
 
QG
 
Tomorrow we visit the Florida Capitol in Tallahassee. (Wouldn't that be a great Wheel of Fortune word? "I'd like to buy an 'A.' Wow!") See you then.
 



 

2 comments:

Mel said...

Your comments about the pizza restaurant reminded me of hearing about a new restaurant on the moon... "There's no atmosphere, but the food is out of this world."

Unknown said...

Well, the pizza was all round good.
KP