2019 Southern Route (Twenty)

We started our trip south this year on October 18th. The roads weren’t too bad and we were lucky not to run into much construction or heavy snowbird traffic. Every now and then, a little “white line syndrome” snuck up on me, like the East River Tunnel crossing on the West Virginia Turnpike (pictured above). We had Billy Big Rigger in the right lane and we couldn’t get passed him enough to move into the right lane before entering the tunnel. So, he decided to pass us on the right while we were in the tunnel just to remind us that trucks rule. Needless to say, I was feeling a little boxed in for these moments as I focused on that white light at the end of the tunnel! Phew!

We took I77S to I26E to I95S to I295S Beltway, to arrive in Jacksonville, FL on October 21st. It normally takes us 3 days to arrive at Pelican Roost CG (Military only, and one of our favorite stops!) but for 3 years in a row now, we have run into delays prompted by Hurricanes & tropical conditions. For this year, we would have had to drive right thru the cone of “Nestor” to arrive in Walterboro, SC. It was only windy and rainy conditions, but when you don’t have to do it, why do it? High profile vehicles are heavy and you don’t think of them just blowing over, but they do! I do not want to be one of those RV’s that you see laying on their side in the middle of the interstate on the world news. Those are usually the people that think nothing can ever happen to them…and yes, it does. Safe is always better than sorry, which is another way of saying; Smart is always better than Stupid. Sometimes my DH thinks out loud and will say something like “it’s just a little wind and rain.” I just remind him of the smart/stupid rule and that we really have no schedule. So, we arrived safely this year one day later than usual, and all was well.

I always hate this bridge (pictured above) on I295 going into Jacksonville over the St. John’s River, but we have safely crossed every year on route to our destination. Roger used to stay in the right lane, but has kindly obliged my request to stay in the middle lane until we exit the bridge. I can breathe so much easier for that minute or so, which feels like 10 minutes when you suffer anxiety like I do. He now just says “Yes Dear” upon my lane request. I answer with a “Thank you Dear” and life is good!

We stayed 6 nights and had a wonderful time! Our friends, Cheryl and Dave, from our Key West adventures met up with us and stayed for 3 nights. There was Happy Hour every evening at 4:00pm and daily shopping! St. Johns Town Center is an outdoor, pet friendly Mall, and has everything you could ever want, including Tiffany or a Tesla! Yes, there is a Tesla dealer and the boys really enjoyed that part of shopping!

The other Mall that Cheryl and I ventured out to by ourselves was called Regency Square. To quote Cheryl, “AKA, Zombie Land!” Allow me to explain. We arrived 10 minutes or so before 10:00am, so JC Penney was not opened yet. We drove around to the main Mall entrance and Food Court area thinking we would get coffee or tea, and were surprised to find a nearly empty parking lot. We parked the car and entered into the Food Court. Nothing was opened to buy coffee or tea. Almost every gate was down in front of the restaurants, with only one or two employees making preparations to open. One lady with a child-stroller sat in a very large cafeteria space with many empty table & chairs. We walked around the entire area and finally asked a woman if anyone was opened or could sell us coffee. She told us the pretzel place in the mall might be opened, but most food places don’t open until 11:00am. We walked into the mall and saw the pretzel shop was making preparations to open, but not really opened until 11:00am. No coffee or tea was available. So we skipped that idea and walked down to JC Penneys, which has now opened. Success! We had a lovely time shopping and looking, as we both enjoyed conversation and laughing. I am guessing we spent an hour or more there and we decided to move on and shop the rest of the mall. As we exited Penneys, it looked just like it did before 10:00am! Gates were still down and barely a soul around, as if nothing was opened yet. ???? We stared around, and then back at each other, as if we just stepped into the Twilight Zone! We were literally mystified and waiting for Zombies to come out in plain sight! We started to laugh out loud, but too weird to explain how laughing didn’t even feel appropriate, as if Zombies truly were about to come out for a mid-morning snack! Cheryl made the comment that you might have to “open the gates if you actually WANT people to come in and shop!!!” We did bust out a laugh at that moment and headed toward the opposite end of the Mall toward Belks and Dillards. According to the directory, we were standing right in front of what should have been Belks, and there was nothing but a wall! It was gone! All gone! A sign indicated that construction was in progress, and obviously, Belks was gone. So we decided to try one more store. Dillards. Yes! We will go to Dillards! So we walked just a little further and peered down this long, narrow empty hallway, which was the equivalent to a dark alley if it were outside, but closed in. We stopped and looked at each other again, totally shocked. Cheryl asked me “Do you want to go to Dillards?” “Nope! Not going down there! Definitely Zombies down there!” So eerily strange that we could barely laugh, so we turned around and headed back to the food court (where most gates were still down) and back out to the car. We decided to drive to Dillards instead of walking thru the obvious Zombie lunch trap tunnel!

Now, here comes the funny part. We could see Dillards from our car, but once we drove down to the store, there was not one car in the parking lot! NOT ONE! There were weeds growing up in the parking lot everywhere they could! It was like a scene from an apocalypse and we drove right onto the set! Still leaves me speechless, but Cheryl drove to the other side of the building, not sure what to expect, but expected something! And again, nothing! We saw a small sign on the door that said they opened at noon and that it was some kind of “sales center”, like a sales outlet center of some sort. But we opted to leave the Twilight Zone and get back to the real world and enjoyed a very nice lunch at The Olive Garden. We will never forget this bizarro-world experience EVER, for the rest of our lives because we survived Zombie Land! Nothing was mentioned about store closings or the possible closing of the mall when we Googled it, so you’ve been warned! Do NOT go there if you’re traveling in that area….

After our very pleasant stay in Jacksonville, we made it to our RV Resort on October 27th, which is our Winter home for this season. It is always so nice to meet up with old friends and make some new ones, as well! This is our seventh year in a row of Snowbirding for the winter in warm areas of Florida, but it is our first year to experience a beautiful outdoor wedding upon our return. On Saturday, November 2nd, a fabulous wedding took place here in our resort, and we were lucky enough to experience their outdoor nuptials with many friends in attendance! The Bride was dressed in an absolutely stunning off-the-shoulder, sweetheart neckline, ball-gown styled dress, with a sparkling tiara and mid-length veil, with a brilliant sparkling necklace! Her attendants wore peach, coral and soft teal dresses, also with necklaces that sparkled elegantly in the sunlight. Two adorable granddaughters were flower girls, and her sons and grandsons walked her down the street and onto a sheer white runner up the drive to meet her handsome Groom. He was dressed in black trousers, black patent shoes and a crisp summer-white shirt. They were married under a gorgeous floral archway with family and friends standing all around them to witness their vows to love one another for their lifetimes. Afterwards, we all attended a lovely reception at our Social Hall, where we enjoyed cocktails, dinner, dancing, and of course cake! All very lovely and Congratulations to the happy couple! So beautiful to see all your friends and family come together for your special day!

That’s a tough act to follow, so I will end right here, for now. Stay tuned my friends for more snowbird adventures, as we have several months to enjoy the winter in Florida. As always, thanks for following me with Six Wheels Down…