We visited St Augustine last year.  Very old historic city but was very hot in August.  We frequent Marriott hotels and really enjoyed the historic Marriott Casa Monica at 95 Cordova St.  (It's in their autograph collection so a step above). Its a historic building in center of the old city. Don't miss the Lightner Museum, the Fort Matanzas and old St Augustine City.  Walk around Flagler College. Avoid the smelly Alligator farm.  We didn't make it to the lighthouse.  Found a great craft beer place near bridge to lighthouse - sat and had a few (they have 6 beer sampler) on second floor balcony overlooking harbor and bridge.  

 

Thanks Greg, we are Marriott card holders so that would be great. .......Edit, Just booked for Sat night.  Boy that place is pricey! Luckily I had Marriott points to use.

Marty

Love Asheville.

If you are going to be with your wife your should stay at the Biltmore Village Inn.  Very romantic

 

info@biltmorevillageinn.com

 

Its walking distance from a fantastic Mediterranean restaurant called Rezaz.

 

If you get the time go to the art district.  Old warehouses down by the river taken over by hundreds of artists.  You view and shop art in their studios while they work.  There is a fantastic taco place in the art district.  Can't remember the name.  If you haven't explored Asheville before you should stay for a few days.  Very Bohemian, if you like that kind of stuff.  Its a great place.

 

Phil 

 

Marty at this time of year the humidity is not my favourite in Florida but then it is still very warm. Enjoy yourself. 

There are many good places to eat and drink in St. Augustine. For casual food, booze and entertainment ( great happy hour ) but not on the beach...check out the World Famous Oasis. For more upscale and waterfront dining etc. The Conch house is usually pretty good. Saltwater Cowboys is good too. Ask the locals.

 

When heading South out of St. Augustine, consider taking the beach road ( A!A) down to Flagler Beach. It's a nice typical beach route. If you like Conch Chowder, some of the best can be found in Crescent Beach's South Beach Grill right along that route.

 

If you get into Flagler Beach, you might want to check out High Tides Snack Jack. Right on the water for seafood and drinks.  Flagler Beach is where we hang out when not in Cocaa Beach.

 

Have fun....and do try to do that run down the beach from Aug to Flager. It's nice.

 

If you have the time and energy, ascend the stairs at the Lighthouse in St. Aug. We did it once and it's worthwhile. St. Augustine itself is rich in history perhaps being Americas oldest City. Google some stuff.

 Dang...in my first sentence above I said St. Augustine but most of what I wrote about was around St. Augustine Beach and South of. Everything is close anyway.

Haywood Park Hotel - Good place at a reasonable price and close  to a lot of good things in Asheville.  Asheville has the most craft breweries per capita in US (or so they claim) and there is a lot of good craft beer available if you are into that.  A great lunch or dinner at Fig or Rhubarb is always an enjoyable experience.  George

Ray, Yes it is HOT!!! but its very hot here too, 93 today and the Trees and Grass hold Humidity worse IMHO.  I don't mind the Florida steam if I am on the beach:-) Only going to be there for a few days anyways.

 

Check out Capps on the water in st August...great seafood and beautiful views.  Not crazy expensive.  I can't recommend any hotels in st August because I lived there and never stayed in one.  Was just in Asheville last weekend.  But didnt stay.  There is a beautiful hotel right at the entrance to the biltmore...not sure of the name but looks like some tyoe of hotel you would see in the Swiss alps or something...might be worth doing some digging online for it.

Great photo!

> On Sep 3, 2015, at 9:46 AM, SpeedsterOwners.com <alerts@hoop.la> wrote:
>

Marty told me to tell you guys "warning! Indiana is a minefield of tire treads!"
Sandy��

When I drove from Chicago to see Carey at Bremen Indiana I was shocked at how industrial and desolate northern Indiana appears.  Not a very pretty place.

Ditto what David posted, also "HiJackers" at the Flagler airport !

Sandy is showing me some fancy footwork:-)

If you haven't already passed by it, try to stop by the Walt Disney Resort in Vero Beach (east of A1A).  Hang out at the "Green Cabin Room" on the upper level.  A favorite hangout of Kathy and me (and the Gallos, too!) when we used to get down there a lot.  

 

Great road trip you guys!  Enjoy it for all it's worth!!

 

gn

We did 700 miles today it's was 104 in Kentucky and the 1.6 was put to work with the air running.  The Miata killed it in the mountains; a Z4 and me were  shredding it. It was awesome!

$1.89 gas somewhere in SC

Marty:

 

I hate to admit it, but I once owned a Miata - a modified 1991.  With some suspension upgrades and wheels, that thing handled better than any other sports car I had ever owned.

 

Don't get too attached to that car, or we'll have to start typing your name as MARTY.

 

Made it to St Augustine Fl.  Greg, thanks again  The hotel is beautiful!

That's a pretty sweet hotel there, Marty. 

 

Do they allow Miatas in their parking lot?

 

 

Glad the trip went well, and both of you are fine.

I was suprised that the valet drove stick.  The town is defiantly haunted.  Sandy took a pic of this ghost this morning.

Is the ghost wearing gloves and fine shoes?

looks like he is wearing....wait...yes...driving gloves

David Stroud.   Sandy said thanks for the advice to run A1A from St. Augustine down to Flagler Beach.  We did not know FL had any open space(anymore) like that along the coast:-)

While I wouldn't exactly call that "open space", I'm very glad that you took the hint.  That's a very pretty drive along there.  I have in-laws in Palm Coast, halfway between those two towns and have been down there a lot.  Love it there.  Summertime, it's pure hell (heat index up around 110F all the time) but in the winter it's glorious.

 

So wonderful that you're having a great road trip!!

Storage question.   Can't trickle should I disconnect the negative cable.  I was thinking positive at first but that may be dangerous for Sandy if she's by herself.  Car will sit for almost 2 months at a time.

Thanks

Or just do nothing and take our chances?

If you can't trickle charge it, how about a battery cut-off switch that Sandy could just turn and go?

 

Remember, though, that there are a few computers in there (not to mention the radio) that depend on constant power so you may want to reconsider the trickle charger.  I had one on the car on each end of our winter commute and never had a problem.  I used a few of these:

 

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Schu...2-Volt-Each/21642124

Why no trickle charge - assume can't run extension cord or no electrical service nearby?

 

How about a Harbor Freight solar charger?  A cut off switch would be good idea as added theft protection and phantom battery drain like clock/radio.  

Like this?
http://m.harborfreight.com/15-...y-charger-68692.html

Marty

 

Can't you get Manuel's cousin to look after your car down there?

 

I had a solar trickle charger on my little sailboat - it looked just like that one.

 

Worked great.  Til the seagulls pooped on it.  Mount it on an angle so the bird poop runs off.....

Yes,  The maintenance guys name is Manuel here, LOL.   But the car has low miles and I'd like to keep it that way :-)

Why does the Solar charger have the plug for the car?  What does that do?

YES - that would work.  If the cigaret lighter is always on - the plug for lighter will charge the battery.  Most cigaret lighters don't work unless key is in accessory mode.  You could add a cigaret lighter that is always on if that is case or use the wires that clip to battery terminals.

Marty, if you can plug into an AC outlet, I would use a battery conditioner which is way better than a trickle charger. Ctek smart battery comes to mind. I have one of their models installed permanently on my roadster and you can forget it on for 6 months with no battery damage and your protected from deads ville . ...  If no AC available,  a sun light via the lighter would do the trick but not sure if it knows when to turn off so it does not blow the battery. IN either case a CTEK is a gem you can recondition your battery in about a day with AC. and some can even recover a totally dead battery... great stuff. Ray 

+1 on what Ray said.

 

For long term storage you want a charger that doesn't just charge the battery constantly.  You want one that charges the battery and turns itself off when the battery reaches a certain level, then monitors the battery for drain, and comes back on until the battery reaches the right level.

 

The CTEK comes in an AC and a solar version.  Very nice, not cheap, but very nice.