Very interesting, Thanks! I've never been to Jacksonville. I spent some time around Beaverton/Portland when I was in the semiconductor industry, working with Intel and their suppliers, and I spent some time at Fort Stevens at the mouth of the Columbia. A favorite town was Astoria, a nice little town with a great maritime museum and very nice people. I also went across the river to Fort Columbia and out to Fort Canby.
A funny story about Fort Stevens:
I drove out to visit the fort on the only free day I had while working at Beaverton. It was pouring rain, but I wasn't going to let that deter me. I had done some work with W.L. Gore and Associates and bought some good GORE-TEX rain gear while working with them. I put on my rain suit and spent a couple of hours climbing around the batteries. I ended up at the Visitor Center, and pulled off my jacket. I was completely dry except for two thin lines of water coming down my chest to my belt line. I found that curious, and as an engineer I had to figure out what was going on
. After analyzing the situation, I realized that the source of the water was where the temples of my glasses held my hood out about 1/8 of an inch, and that allowed water in that ran down my beard, onto my shoulders, then down my chest. I couldn't help but laugh, but also thought that I was a walking advertisement for the quality of GORE-TEX rain gear!