North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and finally FLORIDA!!

 

 

Well, 16 days of winter was enough for me!  We woke up to a 40° temperature this morning. We had no complaints though since we received a photo from Maryland that showed snow falling there.

 

 

As we drove south, the weather got warmer and warmer and by 2:00 pm, it was sunny and 68°. This was a day when we began to shed layers of clothing. I started out wearing a vest over a long sleeved shirt that was over a short sleeved T-shirt. By noon, I was in my short sleeved shirt.

 

It always excites me to see the scenery change from winter like to more like spring while we are traveling south. First noticeable is that the grass in the median begins to look green.

 

 

Farther along, we saw trees with green leaves.

 

 

After driving 493 miles from home, we saw our first palm trees.

 

 

Our goal when we left Fayetteville this morning was to drive to Starke, FL which is about 40 miles south of Jacksonville. There is a certain geocache there that will complete one of our geocaching challenges.

 

We have heard weather predictions for significant snow fall at home and especially in some of the southern states. Roads at home had already been pretreated before we left. But, the highway department in South Carolina was out spraying chemicals while we were traveling this morning. It made me wonder how frequently they need to do this.

 

 

After we stopped for lunch north of Brunswick, GA, we took a break and looked for 3 geocaches. One of them was located about 120 feet from a parking lot at an abandoned shopping mall. I felt like we were explorers while walking through the overgrown vegetation. There was a lot of Spanish moss all over the place.

 

 

 

The cache was hidden beside a huge tree and I wished we had some information about it.
 

 

 

 

The only wildflowers we saw blooming was the hardy dandelion.

 

 

Another cache was at an old cemetery which is the burial place of African Americans who were enslaved on the Sidon rice plantation. While the number of burials is unknown, it is estimated to be 313, which includes some that were relocated from nearby construction, as well as those for American Indians.

 

 

Most of the burials are now unmarked as they would have been located with hand-made wooden markers which have since decayed. It was interesting to learn that often the burials may have been decorated and marked with personal belongings, stones, or seashells that were commonly left on top of the grave for use by the dead.

 

 

It grieved me to see this cemetery so neglected and seemingly forgotten until The Georgia Department of Transportation recently erected interpretive panels at this site.

 

 

 

 

 

We finally crossed the state line into Florida and the temperature steadily climbed up to 73°. Now this is the kind of weather we came for. We are spending this night in Starke and plan to be in Fort Myers tomorrow. While there are plenty of folks traveling to Florida, we found the traffic to be lighter during this time as compared to driving during the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.

 

 

Rain is going to be arriving tonight and more is forecasted for southwest Florida tomorrow. Temperature will be considerably cooler, but at least it is not snow!!