3 Day Worxit (like Brexit)
Rosellen had packed a travel bag for the RV, and Matt picked her up from Sleep Number Wednesday night. What started as a St. Augustine History Festival, turned into an over the top North Florida exploration.
- Day 1,
- drinks and live music in St. Augustine Beach at the Salt Life Food Shack,
- boon-docking at a Tennis court parking lot.
- Day 2,
- Breakfast at Mary’s Harbourview Cafe
- E-Bike tour of St. Augustine
- Tour up A1A to Mayport, Safe Harbor Seafood and Ferry
- Mid-afternoon arrival at the Huguenot Memorial Park
- E-Bike tour of the Park
- Amazing grouper cook & meal
- Observation of the St. Johns River and the Mayport Navy base
- Day 3,
- Matt cast net fishing success & bird-battle for my fish
- Breakfast and fishing on the Atlantic
- Tour up A1A to Fernandina Beach and Fort Clinch
- Beers, Tuna Nachos at the Salty Pelican
- Fishing at Fort Clinch and Stories with Matt’s new buddy Clint
Night 1 - Workxit, Orlando to St. Augustine, Salt Life Food Shack
We got a late start. Matt’s pickup from work was fine, but I had a customer that kept me about an hour after closing. This was especially frustrating for me because my sales for the entire month had been off and my customer failed to book her bed before my departure. I really needed an attitude adjustment and a turn of luck.
Before starting work that day, I got a haircut because it was long overdue. My regular stylist was out of sorts- not her usual smiling self. As a result, she cut it really short and then styled it strangely. I had just enough time to stop by my parent’s house to restyle it before heading in to work. Long story cut short, I didn’t feel like myself.
Our first order of business was to find a beer and I wanted live music 
. Our late departure from Sanford put our arrival time outside of the scheduled music at my targeted pub. So we searched for an alternate destination.
Salt Life Food Shack
These are the same people that own the Salt Life, but through teaming the opened (more than one) restaurant. Our goal was to get there before the live music shut down and we made it.
St. Augustine Tennis Court Boon-Docking
We arrived at St Augustine Beach in time to catch the tail end of a performance at Salt Life Food Shack. He was a soloist with a 3/4 scale electric guitar. We got an Orange Blossom Pilsner and a local IPA SUCCESS! We had never been to one of these before and apparently it is a chain. The decor was lovely with a huge aquarium just inside the front door. It had a concave curved front dolled up to look like a wave in the ocean. The back wall looked black with nice happy fish. The surprise was that from the outside of the building you could see straight through it!
We walked on the beach with flashlights and chased a couple of crabs. 
Our boondock park was perfect and private, but our overnight temperature was too warm. We had set up the bunk room and vented the fans. That night a sleeping bag had blocked the vent and we didn’t set the thermostat low enough. 78 or 77 was too warm.
Overnight parking in St. Augustine Beach City tennis and pickle-ball courts
Great spot, on a dead-end road.
Day 2
We left at first light for Bridge of Lions.
We paid for 4 hours of parking and walked to Mary’s Harbor view cafe for breakfast.
E-bike tour and Freedom Park
We had been to St. Augustine a dozen times before, but many parts of the old town area were new to us. The E-bikes allowed us to move at a good enough speed to make progress but slow enough to take it all in. We started South to Freedom Park, and then to the West side of the island to see the shipyards and fishing fleets, finishing to the St. Augustine Up Town area and visit to Castillo San Marco fort. Amazing finds along the way.
Instead of renewing parking, we headed north. The lunch location was a Winn Dixie parking lot where we made chicken salad and I bought a little travel backpack. Matt restocked the bar and we dialed in for the Mayport Ferry. Just before leaving cafe-de-winn-dixie, we hit a mobile coffee shop for a cafe americano and a chi latte, yum!
A1A drive, Huguenot Memorial Park
Highlights of the drive included hugging the coast to see beautiful homes, Ponte Vidra beach, Grey Matter (owned by the Grey brothers with a desire to be Breaking Bad), and Safe Harbor Seafood (perhaps the best seafood market Matt has ever seen), the short ferry ride, and arrival at Huguenot Memorial Park. The attendant at the front turned us away because they were “full”.
Beach Camp
Camp Kraus
Alcohol was strictly prohibited - wink, wink.
After pulling the bikes out and taking a tour of the island, we spun the seats and set up a table for a nice indoor living room and dance floor.
Matt cooked grouper for dinner with ice cream topped with blue berries and almonds for dessert.
After dinner Rosellen beat Matt at Backgammon then he decided to go fishing using fish bites. For sleeping we shifted from sleeping bags to sheets and blankets with tighter vents. Great sleep!
Day 3
The next morning Matt started at the Family beach with cast netting with great success until an egret ate most of his catch. He got a number of crabs including a big one that bites! One little brown fish had wings like a juvenile flying fish. Rosellen did a big solo tour of the island. We could not extend our site to another night. When she got back we moved the van to the beach so Matt could surf fish. Rosellen walked way out into a sandbar but couldn’t get his attention. When she got back, she cooked breakfast on the beach.
