By Robin

We're continuing our slow drift up the Atlantic coast taking the short trip from San Fernandina Beach up to Georgia's Crooked River State Park near the small town of St. Marys. Our first stop leaving Fernandina Beach was a coffee roaster we’d heard about called Nuanz. We pulled up to a very unassuming house and walked in the front door expecting a meth lab, but instead we were treated to a very cool space filled with roasting equipment, bags of coffee recently delivered from parts unknown, containers of fresh roasted coffee, and Gill Johnston, the owner and master roaster. Gill was a medium height stocky grey haired fellow with an enthusiastic and maybe jocular personality. He gave us the inside and outs of the coffee roasting business while he brewed us complementary cups of coffee. These encounters are the little gifts you receive when you travel and explore.

Crooked River State Park turned out to be a little gem. The campground overlooks Crooked River and hiking and biking trails cut through the park's land. The trails were flat and fun with a mix of dirt and sand terrain.

I dropped Ross and his bike off at the ferry in St Marys for his day trip to Cumberland Island National Seashore, a barrier island off Georgia’s southeast coast, with protected beaches, feral horses, and maritime forest.

Here’s Ross’ telling of his day trip: The island has had a variety of inhabitants from the Spanish to native Americans to plantations with slaves to rich families. The remains of the "Dungeness" mansion built by Thomas Carnegie, brother and partner of steel tycoon Andrew Carnegie, reflects a time when the island was a winter getaway for the wealthy. And while the history is somewhat interesting, I was particularly taken by the sheer number of old moss-covered oak trees and the wild horses roaming the island that lent a magical, but sleepy quality to the island. And then there were the tons of armadillos. I would ride up within feet of these creature until they'd finally notice me and scurry off. Me thinks they are hard of hearing. What's that...you say?

I rode 30 miles up and down Cumberland Island, often under the canopy of the aforementioned oak trees, and enjoyed a nice packed lunch (including a packed beer) in the shadow of Dungeness mansion with wild horses milling about. As I rode the ferry back to St. Marys where Robin was waiting for me, I felt good about my day.

We moved on early from Crooked River State Park on the day they began a prescribed burn, and boy, are we glad we did. As we were pulling out a thick layer of smoke blanketed the campground. We are off to Jekyll Island.

St. Marys and Cumberland Island, Georgia

The Strange Case of Jekyll Island, Georgia (Part 1)

Fernandina and Friends