Today culminated one of the biggest achievements yet of Jeep Beach 2014: Completing the scavenger hunt.

We drove around between A1A and US 1, checking off an interesting list of hidden secrets such as the “mysterious” ruins of New Smyrna, a lighthouse in Ponce Inlet, and a manatee named “Cookie.”

But perhaps the most interesting thing we encountered was the “Tomb in the road.”  According to the site “Weird Florida,”

“[Douglas] Dummett sent his son to school in the North and in 1860 when Charles was home from school, he was killed while on a hunting trip when his gun accidentally discharged. Douglas Dummett buried his son on the spot where he was killed. For the past century this area has been developed into a residential neighborhood, but Charles Dummett’s tomb still sits on a little island in the middle of Canova Drive.”

Pretty cool history off the beaten path.

After we completed all the items on the list, we headed back to the condo for some sun and some R&R before cruising out to the first “meet n greet” of the week.

The highlight of the meet n greet was roaming around the parking lot, checking out all the amazing rigs from around the country.

Here are some of my favorites:

After the drool-fest was over outside, we headed inside for some mingling, dinner, and drinks (the hotel made me a special vegan dinner of penne, fresh garlic marinara and garlic bread – super good!) but the drinks we pretty meh.

I was able to chat with Bond, the founder of Rebel Offroad and also the Editor of CRAWL magazine (who is also a Northwesterner).

Tomorrow I am looking forward to heading to Daytona Raceway for some Jeeping and to roam around the various vendors. Then it’s the VIP tiky party!

Day 3 is here.