It Had to Happen

Lighthouse at St Augustine

The day started off very nice.  It was nice and cool last night so I slept well.  Then I said good-bye to St. Augustine and Cara and started off up the A1A again.  Such a pretty drive.  Lots of state parks, nice homes, beaches, trees.  I stopped a lot to look at most of the parks and turnoffs.  Ended up on a ferry across the St. John river which took me by surprise.  But a nice surprise.

Amelia Island

Soon enough, I crossed into Georgia. 

I was taking the side road rather than the interstate when the truck started acting weird.  I pulled over to check it out, and sure enough.....a flat tire.  There was a huge piece of metal in it.  Of course, I had no phone reception there.  I tried leaving in the metal and using the fix-a-flat.  Nothing.  I pulled out the metal and tried another can of fix-a flat.  Nothing.  Still no phone reception.  I ended up flagging down a car and a nice southern gentleman stopped and let me use his phone which had reception (Verizon by the way).  After a fair amount of runaround with AAA because of which state I was in, they said they'd send a man out right away.  A while later, a cab pulled up.  Turned out to be the AAA guy on his way home from the airport who moonlights for AAA.  He brought out his rubbermaid tub of tools from the trunk, and put a temporary patch in the tire that would get me back to civilization where I could get it fixed. I went to the RV park/hotel he recommended, rented a room rather than an rv space, dropped off the trailer, and drove to the tire shop. I needed a new tire.  After eating at a great BBQ place, I'm back in the room.  The whole thing turned out to be a fun, if a bit trying, experience.  Through it, I met and chatted with several really interesting local people.  And got some good advise on where to stay and some things to see in DC when I get there.  I'll try to head to Savannah again tomorrow.  Keep your fingers crossed.