We left Orlando heading north today. Along the way we stopped for a brief visit to the coastal town of St Augustine. This was a bit of a surprise, or maybe it is our poor understanding of American history. Founded by the Spanish over 50 years before the pilgrims landed in the Mayflower, its original purpose was as a base from which the Spanish could attack a French settlement a little farther north. There is an old fort, some remnants of a colonial town which has been turned into a sort of mini theme park, and some older colonial churches. In all, a nice little town. For us it simply served to underscore the profound influence the Spanish had on the new world, here is yet another place in the Americas that was being visited by the Spanish as early as 1513. Simply amazing.

From St Augustine we simply followed the freeways. Late in the day we ran into a heavy rain storm that dropped the temperatures down into the 70's, a nice relief from the 90+F weather of Florida.