A Brief Glimpse of Jacksonville

My short but sweet stay here.

So I’m heading back north as I write this. I’m going through the adventure, and heading back up to Canada. No phone, and trying to save my locker. Pictures will resume soon. In the meantime, here’s a brief read of Jacksonville

So I should say that even though my bad time through Florida was tough, Jacksonville was okay. I ended up in town early morning from Atlanta, and I was amazed at how clean Jacksonville was. Jacksonville is a wild combination of beaches and business. The city is pieced together by bridges between lands. It’s a long, overall pleasant drive down the city. My hotel ended up being right near a mall. I overshot it accidentally and ended up going to a mall. That mall had a church called Impact Church, and I found myself compelled to go into it.

Getting in was a slight bit of a challenge. Let’s face it, I’m unique most places I go. I’m carrying a giant backpack with a tent, and lugging some luggage along, so I kind of stand out. Impact doesn’t allow suitcases or anything like that normally. But at the time it was raining decently out there. I didn’t want to leave my stuff outside in the rain where it’d be soaked.

The security saw my plight. One of them escorted me to the office where they let me put my stuff in there so I could go to worship. The sermon has seemed to be the message of the journey as it talked about people being divided up, and how we have to stand together.

This message has come across me over and over again throughout this whole journey. Walking through a city I can see how things are divided to pit people against each other. In the first world, it’s all about parties and politics right now, which is far more religious than the sermon I listened to, which was quite nice and reaffirming about what I’ve learned in the world.

After, me and the security guard hung out. The dude was chill and very down to earth. We talked a little about God, but we just talked about life too. I love hearing all the different conversations. It’s amazing how great people are face to face. There’s a genuine connection I love.

I wish I could say more about Jacksonville, but all the running from the deep freeze caught up to me. I got back in my hotel and my immune system crashed. I caught some kind of cold, whether it was the ride from Atlanta through Georgia, or it was when I got in, my system was hit. I was and my body ached. I ended up crashing hard and doing it over the next day. I just chilled in my room and only got out to grab some food from the vending machine. I kept it nice and chill.

My last day in Jacksonville I felt a bit better. There was a nagging cough that would haunt me for a bit. Otherwise I felt a lot better, and went about to explore what little of the city i did. I ended up just taking a bus to see parts of the city. I got to see some of the older Jacksonville. I ended up talking to a gentleman about what I’m doing and how I’m doing it. After, that was it. I wish I could say cool things about restaurants or anything, but this was my experience here.

I didn’t get the best of Jacksonville, but what I got was great. Good people, and it seemed like a great place. I’d go back to visit it.