Days 23 and 24: Dunedin to Jacksonville and then to Savannah.
On Tuesday the 16th we got busy! I took Poppy to get a bath while Punk was at the spa. We worked hard to pack up and get Poppy organized again. We left mid-afternoon, after a couple other errands and appointments.
On Tuesday the 16th we got busy! I took Poppy to get a bath while Punk was at the spa. We worked hard to pack up and get Poppy organized again. We left mid-afternoon, after a couple other errands and appointments.
Punk joined the crew.
We headed north, made the relatively short trip to Jacksonville, and arrived at dusk to Kindred Kitten Rescue, where a pack of donkeys greeted us.
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| Punk wasn't too sure about that big dog! |
Most of the rescued kitties were too skittish to visit, but a few let us give them scritches.
In the morning, the host gave us a nice yogurt parfait breakfast and some gum!
I said goodbye to the donkeys, who were now in their pasture, waiting for the album-cover photographer.
And we hit the road again! I drove Trish to visit an aphasia group in Jacksonville, and I found a Trader Joe's a few blocks from the beach. Not only was I able to visit my happy place, Trader Joe’s, I was able to enjoy a wonderful walk on the wide-open, white sand beach. It was beautiful!
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| Toes in the Atlantic! |
That evening, we drove up to Savannah, Georgia, where we picked up a pizza and took it to Debellation Brewing Company, where we relaxed with pizza, beer, board games, and a lemon crepe from the food truck. Yummers!
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| Little Poppy among the monsters! |
This was our least-favorite Harvest Host so far. Being so close to RVs who fired up their generators was icky. The noisy I-95 ran just behind. The beer was “meh.” They were celebrating their third anniversary, and it showed. They need more practice.
Somehow we got out really early the next morning, and had time to visit Blue Sky Preserve for a short walk before making it to the National Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum in Savannah.
Little Sister Adventurer also has a blog called “Jack’s Cache,” where she scans and transcribes the letters that her dad, Jack, wrote home during WWII to his mother and to his sweetheart and future wife. Jack was a member of the Mighty Eighth Air Corps, and visiting this museum has been on the bucket list for years, since the last time Trish and I traveled this road and saw the sign (it was closed that day).
It was a good museum. They displayed a B-17, which is the bomber that Jack served in as a ball-turret gunner. I’ve been up close to a B-17, but it is still shocking and sobering to see that ball-turret and imagine Jack balled up in there, cold and vulnerable, on the belly of the plane for hours and hours. Not to mention the 60% mortality rate of that particular crew member.
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| It is a tiny space! And there was no room for a parachute. The ball-turret gunner's chute had to be left up above, separated from the airman by a locked hatch! |
They had plenty of exhibits from all over the European theater where the Mighty Eighth served.
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| Library patrons in London. |
This was a poignant story:
What wasn’t fun: the hordes of teenagers from 4-5 school groups who all arrived at the same time and who literally ran amok through the museum with their clip-boards and scavenger hunt worksheets.
What was fun: Meeting Jerry, another Travotan, in the parking lot, who had also arrived early and was waiting to get in. On a multi-month trip from Washington state, he had a beautiful 2019 rig. Travato owners are the best!
After the museum, we put on our safety belts and steered Poppy west, to Andersonville and Plains.
Stay tuned.
Stay tuned.
