Tues 24th: It's overcast and promising more rain, but the weather never quite lives up to it's promise and it stays mostly dry all day, bar a shower en route Savannah.

Leaving the forgettable Aku Tiki hotel behind we make for The World Centre of Racing, or if you're not American, Daytona International Speedway, and take a 90 minute tour. They do have a point however, as the place is immense, and has a massive history. After racing started on Daytona Beach, the raceway was formed in 19.. with the inaugural Daytona 500 race first run in 1958. It has been rebuilt several times, and is currently undergoing a $400M refurbishment called Daytona Rising, which will be ready in Jan 2016. This will reduce slightly the attendance which is usually over 250,000 for the 500. The main stand is 0.8 miles long and holds 102,000 spectators, wow! 

It's suggested we head for St. Augustine, just south of Jacksonville en route Savannah, and take the coastal A1A route. We do this and it makes a pleasant change from motorway, notwithstanding we drive through a swarm of what we learn to be "love bugs". They're big and black, and there's always two of them stuck together, doing goodness knows what, and they make one hell of a mess of the front of the car. We have time for lunch in St. Augustine, but not the bus tour of the oldest town in the US. After this it's back onto I-95, across the state line and into Georgia. We arrive at our destination on the waterfront in Savannah after a few changes of driver, and a couple of loops of Bay Street. The hotel is great, an old converted cotton warehouse, and in walking distance of restaurants, shops and of course souvenir shops.

Spend today: petrol (card), Daytona hotel (card), Daytona tour (card)