taking the long way home

This morning, I was awake before the construction crew started.
The beautiful sunrise greeted me for my early beginning of the new day...
so serene, so calm, so reassuring.
I snapped a few photos and crawled back into bed for another two hours.
Then, a leisurely breakfast on the veranda, crane and jackhammer at my back, calm sea before me.
What a beautiful scene!

I was on the road by ten AM.
I wanted - no, I needed - to drive the A1A and assess for myself how it had fared after the bully crashed our coast.
Besides the missing vegetation, damaged dunes, and wrecked beachside stairs, the road itself was good.
There were still a few disturbing signs forecasting "road under water", but I saw no submerged stretches.
Only north of St. Augustine did I find any new pavement.

That was good.
I opted to continue on this oceanview road,
taking the turn for Mayport
and the St. Johns River Ferry.
I was glad to find it operational, too!
A mere six dollars bought safe passage for
my car and myself.
I even ate my lunch while we traveled across!

Up the Coastal Highway I continued into Georgia,
as the road signs changed from A1A to 17.
My destination was the Georgia Sea Turtle Center,
to reassure myself that it was still in one piece.
To my delight, I found it whole!
The bricks for Mama and Mother Pat were still in place, near the front door.
That was reassuring, too.

As I neared Savannah, my attention was
drawn to my dash.
How auspicious!
My odometer clicked over to 186186
as I took Exit 164A,
off I-16 and onto 516.
That's the place where I always feel
that I'm almost home.
(smile)
i thank You, God, for safe passage...
and the many reassurances on this first trip.