That weekend just past, Anne and I took some days for a journey to St. Augustine. Daughter Melanie who lives in Atlanta met us there. She came south on I-75 to Macon and took I-16 to Dublin. She headed south through the countryside sliding along the east side of the Okefenokee Swamp.
She called us somewhere north of Waycross to tell us she reckoned she was in the country as she had just passed a horse plop on the road. She decided to spend the night in Waycross and meet us in St. Augustine mid-morning for breakfast.
Anne and I left hours before Melanie, skirting south around Gainesville heading towards Palatka through the middle of the state. We came up on a major traffic accident near Melrose. It appeared that a logging truck had dropped a load of logs on the road into oncoming traffic. All lanes were blocked and several fire trucks and EMS vehicles were there. Police, highway patrol and sheriff cars were arriving on the scene. We were routed about twenty miles out of the way on a detour. It was scary. Cars devoid of wheels and undercarriages were all over the road. The detour took us well back into the country. We continued our journey in silence wondering if we`d ever know exactly what had happened. We still wonder... The visit with Melanie in St. Augustine was quite enjoyable. We visited the lighthouse on the coast, went to the beach, walked the streets of the old town, watched boats and schooners in the harbor, and walked across the Bridge of Lions to get a fresh seafood meal at O`Steens.
Our base of operations was the Monterey Inn on Avenida Menendez, half way between the Bridge of Lions and the fort Castillo de San Marcos. With all the fun we had, it turns out that a real highlight was the pigeons along the Avenida Menendez on our last morning. They found some left over pizza and moved it to the roadway to try to break it up and eat it.
The pigeons stayed in the four-lane road. Cars, trucks and motorcycles went through the pigeons at a pretty good clip. The birds would fly left or right or up high as the vehicles plowed through them, returning to their breakfast undeterred. It was fascinating watching the traffic as it dealt with the pigeons. Some kept their speed as if the pigeons were not there, scattering the birds. Others slowed to near stop as they crept by and some trucks and cars drove up on the grass median to avoid hurting the creatures. As we watched from our deck vantage point we saw our friend and server at Mary`s Harbor View Cafe, Laurie, come out on the avenue. She waited until the traffic stopped at the light and she kicked the pizza out of the road and to the curb. As we all three watched, the pigeons proceeded to move the rest of the pizza back into the roadway. And the task of consuming breakfast resumed. About a half an hour later, a street cleaner carrying a bucket and a trash picker took over where Laurie had stopped. She picked up the left over pizza. A few minutes later, the pigeons had another piece of pizza back in the street picking it and flipping it around, sometimes throwing it over their heads. Then a motor powered street sweeper swept the gutter a couple of times. By then, there wasn`t enough crust to keep the pigeons interested. Those in the street joined a larger group and they all flew off.
So we finished packing the car and headed home to Cedar Key. And the highlight of that final day was watching the pigeons of Castillo de San Marcos breakfast on the avenue. | 
