Million Dollar Sunrise...For the price of a gallon of gas.

Get up and smell the coffee!

Sunrise: 7:25am. This is where you want to be. A1A, the little two lane which hugs Florida's First Coast, settled 400 years ago when Spain colonized St. Augustine, our nation's oldest city, but more on that tomorrow. You need to be up and at 'em, and on the road no later than 6:30am. Head out of Daytona on A1A. Little or no traffic this early. Point your front donut north. Pass thru little towns like Flagler Beach, Beverly Beach, Crescent Beach, all before you reach St. Auggie. At some point, you'll simply have to stop and click a pic of the sun breaking over the horizon. Something about the sun rising over the ocean that is simply awe inspiring. We've been seeing this for 30 years, and it never gets old. When you've had your fill, keep heading north, and when you get to St. Augustine, you'll find plenty of opp's for two over easy and a cup of joe.

Got a few more miles in ya?

Good. You won't be sorry. Stay on A1A out of St Augustine, hard right at the "Merry Go Round", and over the Porpoise Point skyway, then hard left, still on A1A north. After about 10 miles of beach front property, it's all park almost all the way to Ponte Vedra Beach, (lower Jacksonville Beach). Guana State Park has areas where you can put the kickstand down, but do not park on the roadside. St John's county boys love to write them 50 dollar pkg tickets. Use the rest areas clearly marked on the west side of A1A. On a weekday morning, you and the honey may be the only two people on the beach for a mile in either direction. Coquina sand, crystal clear blue surf, and for bikers with good eyes, fossilized shark's teeth. They look a little bit like a "T", with a pointed bottom.

When you've had enough, don't forget your history lesson, and a a fish sandwich that'll make burger king's "whopper" look (and taste) like cardboard on a bun! (tomorrow's post).

HAVE FUN! :}