Tuesday, March 22, 2016

March 4, 2016 - Jacksonville, FL to Marianna, FL

Edith had been thinking about going to Jacksonville Beach before the sunrise, but when she peeked out the window it was raining!  She went back to bed and slept til about 8 am.

We took our “last” shower in the house (the contractor sealed the corners inside the shower area yesterday).  It was 9 years ago that we, along with Edith’s deceased brother, George, gutted the bathroom 100%. The bathroom was renovated with travertine tiles, wall to wall vanity and light scones.

The repairs were all done and the front boards were painted.  

Very difficult to tell that anything has been done to this area!

We think the shed looks better with the full glass doors!


We walked through the house a couple times to be sure we did not forget anything.  "All clear" and then we locked the doors, left the keys inside.  The other set of keys we had for almost 10 years were left with the closing attorney last Monday.  Edith wrote a check for the remainder of the repair cost for Kevin, the general contractor and left it in the freezer (Yes, freezer!) Our realtor said she will take care of the check.

Edith went to Bank of America to withdraw cash for travel expenses, then went by Publix Supermarket to pick up two boxes of Cornflakes with the raincheck from last week’s sale ad (Buy One/Get One Free).  Erwin likes to eat cereal for breakfast almost everyday.

After Edith got back from the errands we took the last picture of us with the house. We finally left the house at 11:10 am.  


All smiles!!!!
IT IS OFFICIAL! We are now full fledged RV full-timers! We are very excited that our dream for traveling full-time has begun. We waited 12 years to see our dream come true.


Edith's hand can barely be seen dwarfed in Erwin's hand!
Away we go into the wild blue yonder!
Erwin enjoying his coffee while driving
First rest stop was in Sanderson, FL to have lunch. While resting we checked the map and decided we were going to spend the night in Marianna, FL (over 200 miles away).

The weather started to clear up, then the clouds disappeared as we approached Tallahassee.  Erwin wanted to take a break at another rest area, but it was closed and is being remodeled).  Bumper to bumper traffic, two police cars zooming by.  A truck with trailer was on the shoulder with several polices surrounding it. Nobody was in the truck and we did not see the driver anywhere.  Traffic started to pick up afterwards.


Rest Area being renovated
Bumper to bumper slow moving traffic
Possibly a stolen tractor with modified wheels?

We are now in Central Time zone when we were on the I-10 bridge over Apalachicola River. We now have an extra hour!


Apalachicola River
We arrived Walmart in Marianna at 4:30 pm, found a space in the back end of the parking lot. There were two motorhomes and several semis nearby. 



Edith wanted to go to the city centre to explore, so we unhooked the Jeep.  The city centre is 5 miles from Walmart.  Edith wanted to check out visitor’s center on Russ Street.  The historic area is not very big and there were not many historic or old buildings left.  

The historic Joseph Russ Visitor’s Center was closed when we got there, but Edith went out, walked about, took pictures.  The hours are 8 am - 1 pm.  It is the most photographed historic house in this town,  Mr. Russ built the house in 1892-1895.  He was a successful merchant.  It is said that the ghosts still walk the hallways in the house.  Paranormal teams have been called to investigate the activities.






On way back to Walmart Edith spotted a lovely church, pulled into a vacant parking lot across the street.  After she stepped out of the car she excitedly told Erwin that there is an old cemetery next to the church.  She felt like she struck a pot of gold! Of course, she wasted no time getting there before the sun went down.  

There was one area that was closed off because a big oak branch fell into one cemetery plot.  Many epitaphs were hard to read due to wear and tear.  Many dated as far back to 1888. Some tombstones were broken.  We did not go inside the church because we were getting very hungry (remember that our tummies were still set on Eastern Time Zone).  





Rocks were added on top of grave sites in the old days to
deter animals from digging for "meat"!




After getting back to Walmart we quickly warmed up chicken/rice leftovers that Audrey made for supper last night.  There were enough left for 4 meals.  We then walked to Walmart to pick up bottled propanes. We finally found white pasta and salad bowls to replace the ones that were broken not too long ago.

It was not exactly quiet at Walmart parking lot.  We could feel music vibrations from cars driving by.  Hope we can sleep good tonight.

Next destination?  We have not decided yet, will probably know tomorrow morning.

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