Orange Park, Florida To Savannah. Georgia

Richmond Hill, Georgia

February 26, 2022

Saturday morning at the Love’s Truck Stop. This place is hoping! People waking up from sleeping in their cars, from Los getting gas, others getting food and drink from the convenience store. And a constant flow of trucks.

You can actually get some reasonably healthy food at Love’s. They have fresh fruit, boiled eggs, salads and sandwiches. Granted you can also get your high calorie, greasy junk but it is nice to be able to choose the healthy alternatives.

In this part of the world, the topography is the same — flat, sandy and pine trees. I enjoyed avoiding I95 yesterday and driving the backroads from Orange Park to here. Rundown Southern towns. I started out driving through a poor area of Jacksonville with the glimmering skyline of the city in the distance. Quite a contrast

Jacksonville Jacksonville is the most populous city in the state, and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968. Consolidation gave Jacksonville its great size and placed most of its metropolitan population within the city limits. As of 2020, Jacksonville's population is 949,611, making it the 12th most populous city in the U.S., the most populous city in the Southeast, and the most populous city in the South outside of the state of Texas. With a population of 1,733,937, the Jacksonville metropolitan area ranks as Florida's fourth-largest metropolitan region.

Jacksonville straddles the St. Johns River in the First Coast region of northeast Florida, about 25 miles (40 km) south of the Georgia state line and 328 miles (528 km) north of Miami.[10] The Jacksonville Beaches communities are along the adjacent Atlantic coast. The area was originally inhabited by the Timucua people, and in 1564 was the site of the French colony of Fort Caroline, one of the earliest European settlements in what is now the continental United States. Under British rule, a settlement grew at the narrow point in the river where cattle crossed, known as Wacca Pilatka to the Seminole and the Cow Ford to the British. A platted town was established there in 1822, a year after the United States gained Florida from Spain; it was named after Andrew Jackson, the first military governor of the Florida Territory and seventh President of the United States.

Harbor improvements since the late 19th century have made Jacksonville a major military and civilian deep-water port. Its riverine location facilitates Naval Station Mayport, Naval Air Station Jacksonville, the U.S. Marine Corps Blount Island Command, and the Port of Jacksonville, Florida's third largest seaport.[11]Jacksonville's military bases and the nearby Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay form the third largest military presence in the United States.[12]Significant factors in the local economy include services such as banking, insurance, healthcare and logistics. As with much of Florida, tourism is important to the Jacksonville area, particularly tourism related to golf.[13][14] People from Jacksonville are sometimes called "Jacksonvillians" or "Jaxsons" (also spelled "Jaxons").

Jacksonville's location on the St. Johns River and the Atlantic Ocean proved instrumental to the growth of the city and its industry. Jacksonville has a sizable deepwater port, which helps make it a leading port in the U.S. for automobile imports, as well as the leading transportation and distribution hub in the state. The strength of the city's economy lies in its broad diversification. While the area once had many thriving dairies, such as Gustafson's Farm and Skinner Dairy, this aspect of the economy has declined over time. The area's economy is balanced among distribution, financial services, biomedical technology, consumer goods, information services, manufacturing, insurance, and other industries.

Jacksonville is home to the headquarters of four Fortune 500 companies: CSX Corporation, Fidelity National Financial, Fidelity National Information Services and Southeastern Grocers.[122] Interline Brands is based in Jacksonville and is owned by The Home Depot.[123] Other notable companies based in Jacksonville or with a large presence include Florida Blue, Swisher International Group, BOA Merrill Lynch, Fanatics, Crowley Maritime, Web.com, Firehouse Subs and Deutsche Bank. Naval Air Station Jacksonville, SW of downtown, employs more than 25,000 people.

In 2008, Jacksonville had 2.8 million visitors who stayed overnight, spending nearly $1 billion. A study by Research Data Services of Tampa quantified the importance of tourism. The total economic impact was $1.6 billion and supported nearly 43,000 jobs, 10% of the local workforce.

Wahoo Island

Next stop - Wahoo Island located near Harris Neck, Georgia. The last ten miles of the drive there were beautiful as I passed through marshes and large oak trees with moss clinging loosely to the limbs.

Wahoo Island is a tidal island located on the South Newport River in McIntosh County, Georgia.

The area of the island had been known as the Wawhooo Islands by the local Native population. In 1760 John Barber petitioned General Oglethorpe, who was governor of the colony of Georgia, to grant hammocks on the south side of the South New port River, in what is now McIntosh County. He was requesting confirmation of his rights to the land. He had already settled there years earlier.

In August 2010 the United States Coast Guard rescued two men on the island after their airboat was disabled.

The name Wahoo is said to have come from Creek word ûhawhu, meaning cork or winged elm.

I spoke to a couple that I saw kayaking. The fellow said they had paddled to Wahoo Island. Coincidence? They had beached their kayaks and had lunch on the island. He said there were lots of deer and wild pigs. I’m bummed I don’t have a kayak with me — then again, I probably wouldn’t kayak out there by myself.

Then it was back on the road to my testing place for the night.