HOT DOG ON WHEELS

Talk about good omens, as we entered the Sunshine State I saw the Oscar Meyer Wienermobile in my rear view mirror! 
  
  The down side was nearly driving off the road trying to take pictures of it (I couldn't give this important job to Francesca.  She was asleep.  My wife gets upset when I wake her to see giant rolling hot dogs).
       I passed it and it passed me several times with my camera clicking away.  I could see the couple inside wearing weiner shirts and even sitting in weiner chairs.   
I think I know what they had for lunch.  
Ahh, the glory.  I imagined tooling down I-95 in my own Mangomobile someday.

     We finally had to leave its bright, swooping, burnt-orange presence to stop in Saint Augustine.  Being our country's oldest city it was about the same as our last visit, terrific.  I can not get enough of its old world charm. 
     The old town's center is filled with tourist crap but its the perimeters we relish.  You find serious artists and craftsmen  working in beautiful buildings appreciated for their age.    Four hours earlier we had enjoyed similar grandeur in Savannah.

    I did see a few things I had not noticed before, like Henry Flagler's tomb.  As I took the picture above,
  Segway girls

a pack of Segway people came sweeping past.  Its leader was a talkative, corpulent man.   It would do him good to segway less and walk more.   
    I imagined a future with us all growing fat on Segways.  Machines have replaced writing by hand.  Why not moving by feet?
 
 Walking past Flagler College I noticed this roof being
held up by palm tree trunks.  It felt comforting to see a building material not purchased at Home Depot.
      It was Miami hot.  We motored to a nearby beach for a swim.  The water was too murky and cool to stay in long.  As the day faded and the temperature finally dipped below 90, we headed back to Old Town.

Unlike Coconut Grove, it is easy to enjoy an unobstructed view of the bay in St. Augustine.  Every evening hundreds of people gather there to enjoy the water.  After we made sure the sun had set properly,

 we sought out our favorite restaurant, Casa Maya.  This would be our last night on the road and we wanted to make it a good one. Staring at my wife sipping sangria seemed like a good start.

We made plans to make our way home on smaller roads, passing things that interstate travelers rarely see, something more than a Segway or Wienermobile.