On The Meandering Road: November 14, 2015- Jacksonville, FL to Micanopy, FL

It was very cool this morning. Erwin had a light breakfast and Edith was not too hungry, had just a cup of coffee. We were excited about going to Paynes Prairie State Park in Micanopy, FL and camp there for 3 days.

We had a couple of errands to do before we can begin our trip.

Return the shirt back to Costco
Buy a small cutting board
Get gas fill-up for the Jeep

We were at Costco near St. Johns Town Center early and the store did not open until 9:30 am. When the door was open we went straight to the merchandise return department and returned the shirt back. The shirt was too tight for Erwin even though it was in the size that Erwin usually wears. After getting the refund we walked around in the store to see if there was anything else we could pick up. Yes, we did.. We got blackberries, half-half for Erwin’s cereal and Maxwell House coffee.

While still in St. Johns Town Center we stopped at Target to look for a small cutting board. The cutting board we have is too big to use, takes up too much space. We found one, but it was $9.99. Edith had a $5 Target gift card, so it came down to $4.99. Not too bad!

Thanks to Gas Buddy app we found a gas station with cheap regular gas at $2.07. On our way back home from St. Johns Town Center we stopped at Murphy USA on Beach Blvd and got the Jeep filled up. It is easier to fill up the Jeep when it is not towed behind the Lil’ Home (LH).

After we got back to the house our neighbor walked over to find out what is happening with us. He takes care of our lawn, cuts the grass when needed. We informed him of our plan, so he will know what to do while we are away.

After checking to be sure the house is okay we left to go to Murphy USA to get diesel fill-up ($2.15 pg) for the LH. Edith went in the Jeep to Walmart parking lot and waited for Erwin to meet her after the fill-up. After hooking the Jeep to the LH we finally hit the road at 11:30 am.

We got on Southside Blvd to get on I-95 South toward Daytona Beach, but we got on I-295 Beltway. The road construction is still ongoing on the beltway. We crossed Buckman Bridge to get on Route 17 South. There was an accident on the eastbound lane and traffic backed up for miles and miles. We were glad that it did not happen on the westbound lane.

Buckman Bridge (I-295)

Traffic back-up

Erwin was working as a welder and made this metal cross for the church.
It is still standing there.

It was noon time when we got to Palatka, FL, so we stopped at a mall to fix lunch. The mall looked almost dead, many stores are closed. JCPenny is still open.

We arrived Paynes Prairie around 2:15 pm, picked up parking pass and campground map. We got site #38 that has 30 amps. We prefer sites with 50 amps, but since the weather is pleasant we don’t need to run two air conditioners at the same time. One will do.