March 21 Wednesday Day 24

at the St Augustine FL Quality Inn
One of the things I fail to mention is our side trips. We do not always stick to the A1A we slip closer to the ocean or gulf depending on where we were. Today we drove down Daytona Beach for half an hour each way, each of us one way. The speed, well not like a race track 10 miles an hour.

This morning started out at Daytona USA, the race track. We got there really early and people of all ages where visiting. There was a tour of the track and a stop for pictures at the Winners Circle. You get a real feel for what racing is when you look at the corners, they are three stories high around 31 feet. So you are running at about a 30 degree angle when making those corners. The next thing we did was take a ride on a simulated race track lap. It had all the bumps and jostling the intense noise of the high revving engines that one would have in the car. Really fun. There was an Imax NASCAR film in 3-D. Again it was well do, by Disney, and gave the thrill of a real race. The clincher was when the wheel came off one of the cars from in front of us and whizzes right to the right of our shoulders. Dale Ernhardt was mentioned a couple of times, tastefully. To this day he is alive in peoples heart much like Elvis lives. The day that Dale crashed on the last lap of the fourth curve of the Daytona 500 that Michael Waltrip and Dales son came in second and was right in front of Dale. Well as the race was about to start, the TV camera panned over to Dale and his wife holding hands and I said to myself, someday they won’t be able to do that, meaning he would be killed in an accident, I am not a profit but it does give me a funny feeling every time I see something about him.

We stopped at an Olive garden in Daytona for lunch, nothing different except Shirleen had a strawberry Siciliano ice cream drink.

Up the road we go towards St. Augustine, I have already mentioned the driving on the beach.

After bedding down we took off south to the beach area for eats. Looked in my rear view mirror and saw a red C-6 Z06 behind me, ah, I can always dream. Off to the left was a small road, so down it I go. It turned out to go to the beach, but right alongside the end of the road is a restaurant, Beachcomber, wouldn’t you know. We seat ourselves out side on the only open table. It turned out to have one of the few views of the ocean, as the dunes are high and in the way for a good view. The tables are thick wooden tables with wooden benches. We ordered house wines, merlot and shiraz, with a cup of Maorcan (not sure of spelling) clam chowder, spicy tomato base beans, onions and clams. We split a beachcomber fish combo plate consisting of fish of the day today fried in bread crumbs Mahi Mahi, butterfly shrimp and sea scallops.
Tomorrow we are doing the St. Augustine tour thing and off for Jacksonville. jerr