This is a cheaper option for lodging on the Atlantic side of the state near Flagler Beach. The road you see in between the motel and the beach is the famed A1A. The clouds robbed us of the sun rising over the Atlantic ocean.
Flagler is the guy who invested in the railroad built to Key West. He figured that easier access to the Florida keys would bring more tourist money. He was partially right but it didn't take too many years for a hurricane to wipe out his railroad over the water.
This was the view from our motel room in St Augustine, Florida We were in the middle of the action in this historic tourist town. The fort here was run by the Spanish and British then Spanish again before becoming part of the USA. The downtown area sported lots of good eats, tourist shopping, and historic buildings.
The Flagler College was an all girls university that was established in the former Flagler hotel built for the elite in the early 1900s. During the tour there was a portrait of his third wife. She was only about 32 years younger than him when they got married. They added gray hair and extra wrinkles to her portrait making the age difference look more reasonable.
When it rains in Florida the water drains off into the local rivers which flow into sink holes that turn into rivers again at lower elevations. During hurricanes this drainage system gets overwhelmed and flooding occurs. Near our camping spot the Santa Fe river dives into a sinkhole that continues underground for three miles before forming a river again before eventually becoming part of the famed Suanne River heading to the Golf of Mexico.
We hiked into this sink hole. One turtle was riding on a log that was circling around the sink hole. On the side lines were several other turtles and an alligator basking in the sun.
The super bowl in Atlanta was only about 5 hours away. We didn't have the several thousand needed per ticket so we didn't make that trip. Early in March Daytona is having a bike week that is usually well attended. They inflated the camping prices to park near the beach that week to $180/night. We will be camping somewhere else..
Our home for 13 weeks is located a few miles out of town. The lower part of the property is prone to flood during heavy rains. This is also where they have several farm animals around for our entertainment.
There are many other entertaining animals
There are also cows, horses, and pigs. Bruno our mixed breed family dog for many years has plenty places to roam as well. He is getting old and not enjoying the hikes in the 80 degree heat. We are enjoying the heat in February.
Of course there are a lot of huge oak trees with the Spanish moss handing like ZZ top beards around. Next month we will be headed south to the keys for a bit before turning the Land Yacht back towards the NW.
Thanks as always for reading.
