On the Road Again, Heading North

We had little obligation for the morning until we got a call from the Dodge dealer informing us of the completion of the repair job. So, after breakfast, we loaded up our little rental car and headed into old town St. Augustine and the old Spanish

fort built in the late 1600’s.  The fort, Castillo De San Marcos was started by the Spanish and changed hands to the British then back to the Spanish before finally being ceded to the US in 1821.  It is the oldest masonry fort in the US and is a truly magnificent structure.  We spent a couple of hours roaming the grounds and reading the signs before our call finally came.

We returned our rental car and arrived at the dealership at around10:30. I took a look at the old water pump whose bearings were shot, loaded up the truck and got on the road.

The trip north was quite routine.  We are amazed by the amount of traffic on I-95.  We were in that high volume traffic virtually all day until we swung west on I-26.  Traffic was still heavy but somewhat lighter. At 7:00, we pulled into a Hyatt hotel in Charlotte, NC where we secured a room for the night. 

At the suggestion of the gal at the front desk, we drove to Mac’s Speed Shop restaurant where I had a wonderful meal of pulled pork, black beans and rice and cheesy grits.  This place was reputed to have the best barbeque in Charlotte and although I had not checked other barbeque places in Charlotte, I would agree that they are the best in town. And a group of bikers bellied up to the bar agreed with me.

We got back to the room at about 8:45 and nothing to do but to prepare for bed.

Replica of one of Columbus' ships in the distance