Daytona Beach

We gathered up all our belongings into the truck and left David and Gwen's at 7:00 am.  David was at the wheel and drove us safely to the Cracker Barrel in Chattanooga by 9:00 am.  Dave was at the wheel again leaving Cracker Barrel at 10:30 am and taking us to Buc'ees in Adairsville, GA (Exit 310 on I-75).  We just happened to run into Smyrna friends at Buc'ees, Tommy and Jo Ann Lynch.  We have not seen them in 2-3 years, and they were on their way back from St Augustine, FL.  After grabbling snacks, we headed south on I-75 with Lynn at the wheel.  Other then slow traffic, navigating Atlanta was not too bad.  However, just south of Macon, GA there was a truck accident and fuel spill that closed the interstate for more than 3 hours.  The backup was enormous with 100s of trucks sitting still (https://www.41nbc.com/wreck-in-peach-county-causes-diesel-spill-all-lanes-blocked-on-i-75-s/).  Waze found an alternate route so we rode the shoulder and exited the interstate.  That route did not work out as it took around back roads and then back to entrance to I-75.  That entrance was closed because of accident so we did a u-turn and took Hwy 41 (with everyone else) for about 4 miles and then were able to get back on I-75.  We stopped in Valdosta and had dinner at Cheddars in Valdosta, GA around 5:00pm.  Back on the road by 6:00 pm, we crossed the Florida state line, took the normal Rest Area picture under the Florida sign, and headed to the Fairfield Inn in Lake City, Fl, arriving around 7:15 pm.  A long day.

We left Fairfield Inn 9:00 am and headed to St Augustine.  Waze wanted me to go back north on I75.  Since we had just come down I-75 the day before, I thought Waze was wrong.  It was not.  I had to do a u-turn and go back up I-75 to catch I-10 to Jacksonville.  Getting close to Jacksonville Waze wanted us to take I-295 bypass around Jacksonville.  Waze said exit to I-295 via right 2 lanes.  I was in second lane looking to turn right when the lane was blocked by the famous orange-striped barrels,  I hit the brakes and merged back onto I-10 and then to I-295 North, where I did a u-turn and headed down I-295, around Jacksonville and picked up I-95 South to St Augustine,  We got to St Augustine and parked at the Castillo de San Marcos National Monument, oldest fort in America.  After visiting the fort and getting our passport stamp we went over to old town and had an awesome lunch at Harry's Seafood, Bar and Grill.  We left St Augustine and made our way down I-95 to Highway 1 and exited toward Ormond Beach.  At Ormond Beach we made our way over the causeway/Halifax River to A1A.Atlantic Blvd.  We arrived at our condo around 3:00 pm.  Since the truck (6'5") was too tall for the 6'2" underground garage we parked outside and unloaded the luggage.  Since we were on the 1st floor condo we could walk right into Condo without finding an elevator.  Later we had Panera soup and key-lime pie from Publix for our evening dining experience.

We started our first full day of vacation with Lynn capturing the sunrise with 100 pics followed by a big, late breakfast.  We then headed down to the beach to soak up some rays and ride some waves.  The afternoon was filled with NCAA football and dinner at Boondocks.  Boondocks is an "outdoor" restaurant next to Halifax River in Port Orange/Ponce Inlet.  We were glad it was under a canvas tent as it rained so hard we could not hear each other talking.  After dinner we headed to Cow Lick for some ice cream and then home to watch Tennessee beat Pittsburg in overtime.  I took some photos of the harvest moon coming up from the east (which looks a lot like the sun coming up in the morning).   Around 9:15 pm we watched the Space-X Starlink launch from our balcony.  Click on the button above the photos to watch video.

Starlink Launch

Lynn had another morning of sunrise photos, and then had a morning breakfast of pancakes and sausage.  Lynn went to walk while everyone got ready for the day.  After Lynn got back and was ready we headed to Ponce Inlet to visit the lighthouse.  After the lighthouse we went to Aunt Catfish for brunch.  The afternoon was for resting and a lighter dinner in the condo,  The weather turned dark and cloudy but we had little rain.

No morning sunrise pics today as we headed south to the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) near Titusville.  Gates opened at 8:30 but we were there by 8:15 and first in line (that is so typical of us).  Once security opened the gate we walked around to where the buses would take us over to the area of the Vehicle Assembly Building and the launch pads (LC39 for Artemis, LC39A for SpaceX and Falcon 9, LC41 for Atlas V).  We disembarked the bus to visit a building devoted to Apollo/Saturn V programs.  After completing the visit we boarded the bus back to the main complex.  We had lunch and then visited the building devoted to the Space Shuttle program.  The actual Atlantis that flew 26 missions into space was on display in the building.  We then visited the Gateway building - the newest building that is being devoted to the trip to Mars or Artemis.  We left KSC around 2:00.  The KSC costs between $70-80 for general admission.  It is well worth the money.  The facility is clean, well laid out, very informative and inspiring.

We left and drove down to Cocoa Beach for some shopping at Ron Jon's before heading back to Daytona  We stopped for some Arby's and came home and watched Apollo 13 with Tom Hanks (well, he did not actually watch it with us)..

No morning sunrise pics today - this is a lazy day to recuperate from the long day at KSC.  We spent time at the beach and sitting on the deck.  Lunch was cheese/rotel dip.  We had the typical afternoon thunderstorms before we headed out to dinner at Crabby's Oceanside.  Patsy and Lynn had eaten here when they were down here during COVID in 2020.  The food was excellent - Lynn tried hogfish - a sweeter whitefish.  It was excellent.  We then walked down memory lane - walked down the old boardwalk (what had not been taken over by condos and hotels).  Ice cream and taffy were still available.

No morning sunrise pics today - another lazy day.  We went to Mike's Galley for breakfast just to find out it was closed on Wednesdays.  We tried the Cracked Egg - it was an excellent choice with quite a variety of breakfast choices.  We hit 4 "cheap t-shirt" stores looking for treasures - I wanted a turtle or hermit crab, but Patsy said no.  We came back to condo for some sun.  We went to Crabby Joe's on the Sunglow Pier for a late lunch, followed by a drive on the beach to round out our day before afternoon showers start moving in.  Pizza for dinner (time to clean out refer).

Last day at the beach.  Did a little boogie boarding in the ocean followed by a swim in the pool.  Took a few photos of the beach and then the famous end of vacation group pictures.  We ate dinner at the North Turn Restaurant.

We got an early start and had the truck packed up and left condo around 6:30 with David driving. It is his birthday. We stopped at Cracker Barrel in Flagler and was back on road at 8:15. David hit the first traffic slowdown just past St Augustine exit around 8:45, which lasted until 9:15. There were 2 semi trucks, one blocking right lane, one in the ditch. We stopped just after wreck for Rest Area break. Lynn drove until we stopped for gas at Love’s Truck Stop around 11:00. We stopped at Bucee's around 2:00 and had some brisket sandwiches (Patsy had chcken). We were 40 miles south of downtown Atlanta when we had big slowdown for second wreck of the day, taking us about an hour to break free of the stop and go. Going through downtown was pretty slow, taking another hour. There was another accident north of downtown, taking another 30 minutes off the clock. By the time we broke free to head to Chattanooga it was 5:30 pm. We were told about the slow speed we would hit at the 24/75 split and encouraged to take 41/Ringgold Rd and hit 24 closer to downtown Chattanooga. Getting off the 41 exit we turned left and thought we were going west but were really going south. After 6 miles we turned around and took 41 to East Ridge and picked up 24. We made our next stop at 6:30 CT - having been in truck for 4 hours. We stopped at Pilot in Monteagle, had a quick snack in a filthy Wendy's and got home around 8:00 pm.  Lesson learned - travel through Atlanta in the middle of the day or a weekend - never at 4:00 on a Friday.