A Slice of Life
Bill Lites
Day 1 – July 15:
At 9:00 this morning I said goodbye to my wife, DiVoran, who wished me “Safe Travels” and our cat Thea (who wanted to go with me) and headed north, out of Titusville, FL on I-95 to begin my 2023 Road Trip. I was driving my 2006 Dodge Grand Caravan that had made my last two Road Trips so enjoyable and comfortable as it allowed me to take all the daily necessities I was used to with me.
Photo Credit: Bill Lites
My first stop today was a visit to the Living Legends of Auto Racing Museum located in the Sunshine Park Mall in South Daytona, FL. This museum is filled with a revolving collection of racing cars from many of the different types of auto racing dating from the early days of auto racing. Most of the cars were raced by well-known drivers who have been part of creating the Legends of Auto Racing. The museum’s collection of signed photographs and auto racing memorabilia is very overwhelming. The museum also hosts periodic local Race Car Shows & Parades along highway A1A in Daytona Beach. Check out the Parade Video on the internet.
Photo Credit: https://yahoo.com/Living+Legends+of+Auto+Raing+Museum
Continuing north on I-95 the next museum I visited was the Classic Car Museum located in St. Augustine, FL. The 1950s Gas Station replica at the front of this museum started my memory clock ticking, and as I entered the museum the memories just kept coming. I was impressed with their oldest automobile, an 1895 Rochet Snyder Roadster that has been beautifully restored for all to enjoy. This large museum displays 80+ beautiful classic cars and sports cars dating from the early 1900s to the 1980s. They also have a large selection of photos and related auto memorabilia from over the years.
Photo Credit: Bill Lites
My next stop was to visit the Brumos Auto Collection located in the Jacksonville Beach, FL area. This large collection consists of many vintage open cockpit racers (oldest; 1894 Peugeot) that competed over the years, and Porsche race cars that were raced in many major racing events from 1953-2017. There is also detailed information on each of the race cars on display in this marvelous collection.
Photo Credit: Bill Lites
After passing over the St. Johns River and crossing the border into Georgia, I stopped for a photo at the Florida-Georgia Railway Museum located in Kingsland, GA. This museum is housed in the renovated 1915 former sawmill building and is also the home of the Kingsland Station Players who perform there on a regular basis. It is also the central train station where one can buy a ride on an 80-minute open-air sight-seeing train ride or have dinner in their famous Silver Tureen Dining car train ride. I didn’t have time for any of those options, so just took this photo and was on my way.
Photo Credit: Bill Lites
It was another hour drive north on I-95 to where I stopped to visit the Mighty 8th Air Force Museum located in Pooler, GA. I had visited this museum a few years ago, and wanted to see how they were doing on the restoration of their B-17G (City of Savannah). Representing the 5000th airplane processed thru Hunter Field, Ga in 1944, it took some 60,000 man-hours (7.6 years) of dedicated volunteer work, but the City of Savannah has now been beautifully restored to its 1945 war-time configuration and is open to the public for review. My hat is off to the fine effort this museum has expended to restore this WWII warbird.
Photo Credit: https://yahoo.com/Mighty+8th+Air+Force+Museum
Now it was another hour or so north on I-95 passing over the Savannah River and crossed the border into South Carolina before I arrived at the North Charlston Fire Museum. This was another fine museum I had visited on another road trip and wanted to see their great collection of antique fire trucks and firefighting equipment again. Sadly, they were closed by the time I got there, so I just took this photo and set out to find my motel for the night.
Photo Credit: Bill Lites
As I was heading for the motel, I passed a Waffle House, and since it was late, I decided to just stop and have one of their 2-egg breakfast meals that comes with hashbrowns, sausage links, and toast. Yuuum! I can enjoy a breakfast meal any time of the day, and this one hit the spot with a hot cup of Earl Gray tea. After that delicious meal, I found my motel, got checked in and recorded my days activities.
Photo Credit: https://yahoo.com/2-egg+with+hashbrowns+%26+link+sausage+Waffle+House&
—–To Be Continued—–
Bill is a retired Mechanical engineer living with his wonderful artist/writer wife, DiVoran, of 65 years in Titusville, Florida. He was born and raised in the Southwest, did a tour of duty with the U.S. Navy, attended Northrop University in Southern California and ended up working on America’s Manned Space Program for 35 years. He currently is retired and spends most of his time building and flying R/C model airplanes, traveling, writing blogs about his travels for Word Press and supporting his wife’s hobbies with framing, editing and marketing. He also volunteers with a local church Car Care Ministry and as a tour guide at the Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum there in Titusville. Bill has two wonderful children, two outstanding grandchildren, and a loving sister and her husband, all of whom also live in Central Florida, so he and DiVoran are rewarded by having family close to spend lots of quality time with.
One of Bill’s favorite Scriptures is: John 10:10
Old Things R New 
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