Vacation 2012

10 July - 9 August
a tour of places in eastern USA

the R-pod travel trailer - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - a map of our travels

Friday - Saturday, 3 - 4 August 2012

Page 17b

On Saturday we visited the Castello San Marcos - the Spanish fort in St. Augustine.

~ St. Augustine, Florida ~

Castello San Marcos was constructed beteen 1672 and 1696. The rooms were rebuilt in 1738-1839 and 1752-1756.

Castello San Marcos - Southwest corner and south side gate, the only entrance to the Castello.

Main gate guards. Drawbridge under their feet. These reinactors really know their stuff.
The clothes they wear is of the same fabric as the original, mostly wool.

Showing the drawbridge looking down from the upper battlements.

The little fort in front of the gate, which protects an attack on the gate.

Inside Castello san Marcos - South Wall - entry is the gate in the middle. - The first door to the right opens to the gift shop.
The ramp (now stairs) on the left side gives access to the top battlements from ground level.
The white flag with the red jagged X was the Spanish flag at the time of the Spanish operation of the Fort.

Inside Castello san Marcos - East Wall

Inside Castello san Marcos - West Wall

Inside Castello san Marcos - North Wall
The reinactor standing in front of the seated group on the right was giving an excellent explaination of many deatails of arms and uniform.

Arms on keystone over large door in the middle of the North wall. (see above)
Castile and Leon with 3 French Fleur-de-Lis in the middle as Spain was ruled by Bourbon (Borbon) kings at this time.

- - more pictures coming later - -

Sunday, 5 August 2012.
We got up early and headed out from St. Augustine. It was lightly raining.
At noon we fueled up and had lunch at an Arbys in Lee, Florida.
We proceeded west on Interstate 10 and had an incident which caused the tires to come off the rims of the Rpod wheels.
With help from a Fire Dept. EMT guy we got the wheels off and he managed to find a place to air up
the tires with a rapid enough burst of air to re-mount the tires.
We spent the night at a KOA in Milton, FL. BBQ Supper at a Texas Roadhouse in Milton.
This night we were under thunderstorm thread. It rained, but did not storm too badly. The bathroom facilities were amazingly good at this KOA.
Monday, 6 August 2012
We got a fairly early start but crossing the long bridge over Escambia Bay to Pensacola,
as I looked back at the side rear view mirror I saw that the driver side wheel bearing on the Rpod was smoking.
Not good. Stopped at the nearest filling station and got directions to Fishers Tires which was nearby.
They pulled the wheels off both sides and found that the spindles on the axle were not damaged.
The folks there directed us to an excellent place to have lunch. While they replaced the bearings on both sides we ate, then did a little shopping. Pensacola is a large and modern town with good shopping.
at 2:30 PM Fishers had the job done, and we headed out.
Crossing over a major bridge into Mobile, AL we got a look at the port, and a battleship moored there.
We entered Mississippi and took the old Highway 90 coast road into Biloxi, where I had lived during my last 2 years of high school. (Dad was at Keesler AFB.)
We drove through town, and with the help of a phone call to one of my friends who used to live there, found the house where I had lived.
The street address numbers were changed some time after I left in 1966. Weather was drizzling.
We headed on, getting supper at a small local restaurant near Pascagula MS. Then drove on into New Orleans, LA arriving at the KOA quite late.
(The gps took us on an interesting route through city streets.) -

New Orleans next page.

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