Days 33-36: Arrival in Florida

On October 1, after one month on the road, I crossed the St. Mary's River and officially arrived in the Sunshine State. I spent the first night in Callahan, a town of 4,000 in Nassau County, the northeastern-most county in Florida. Here I met two bluegrass singers -- sister who had clearly once been the belles of the ball -- off to do a local festival that very evening. Yup, I was still in the South. However, the next morning I set off straight east to the coast, where I'll be all the way to Key West, and by mid-afternoon it seemed I had left the South behind, for good. The scenery around me had quietly morphed into the golf courses and pastel-colored villas of lore.

And I loved it! The hammocks in the front yard, starfish lawn ornaments, adobe siding -- maybe it's because my family never took beach vacations, always preferring to head for the ski slopes -- despite myself I fell head over heels for the beach kitsch and salt breezes. I felt that I was finally on vacation.

As several residents have noted to me, the north coast of Florida is the state's well-kept secret. Seaside towns here such as Fernandina Beach, Atlantic Beach and its next-door neighbor Neptune Beach (pictured) have not yet become overdeveloped strip mall meccas and miles of coastal dunes between them are protected as state parks. They've preserved their original shady, umbrella-like oak trees, and are real, year-round communities with schools and playgrounds, local restaurants, walkable zoning and average-sized houses placed cozily close together. My parents should totally retire here.