Kennedy Space Center

Thursday - Saturday.  Thursday morning we picked up the RV from Doug and Barbara's and began the loading process.  Since Tyler abandoned us, Joe and I had to do it all by ourselves, which requires several trips in and out of the house, up and down the stairs.  But we got it done, and left about 4:30 to hook up with Bridgette and Tyler at a truck stop on I-4.  They got there about 5:50 and we ate a quick meal in the RV, then took off to the East Coast.  We saw one alligator in a pond alongside the road, and just as we arrived at Cape Canaveral, Joe pointed out a dolphin in a bay right beside the road.  We took I-4 over to Kissimmee, then took toll roads over to the coast, trying to get there as early as we could.   But the tolls were $2.25 and $3.25, and I think we hit 4 of them, one about every 8-10 miles, so Joe said we would not be coming home this way.  It was 144 miles over there.  We got to the RV park about 8:30, and our campsite was along the back fence, just over the wooden walkway from the ocean.  We got the RV set up, AND THEN we walked over to walk on the beach.  It was just about dusk, but we could see well enough to walk the beach.  And it was a beautiful sight.

There was a dead sea turtle that had washed up on the beach, and it was huge.  It was gone the next morning, and they were cleaning the beach with a tractor, so we don't know if it was picked up, or washed back out with the tide.  Bridgette got up early to run 4 miles on the beach, so I walked over with her and enjoyed a short walk by myself.  She ran down to Cocoa Beach and back, and loved every minute of it (yes, we know she's nuts).

We went back to the RV and got the rest of our crew out of bed, then headed to Kennedy Space Center.  Along the way, we saw another alligator -- I got a picture of the pond it was in, but I think I missed the gator.

Throughout the day at the space center, we saw a few more alligators in ponds.  The space center is in a wildlife refuge area so the gators cannot be hunted (it is also a bird sanctuary, and there were all kinds of sea birds around). 

We bought tickets for a bus tour, but we had a little time so we joined a tour guide at the Rocket Garden.

The bus tour took us past several of the buildings and we could see some of the launch pads in the distance, but we did not get to actually walk into the buildings or onto the launch pads.  Here's one of the launch pads in the distance, and Tyler wearing his new cap and sunglasses.  He decided on a University of Tampa cap instead of one from Tillie's since he thinks he will be a student here in a couple of years.

On our way to to another stop, we crossed the runway used by the crawler transporter to move the rocket from the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) to the launch pad.

The crawler, on its return from the launch pad when it was empty, moves at 0.9 mph, but none of us remember what its speed was when it was loaded with the rocket (something like 0.5). 

From the bus and also from one of our stops, we could see the Atlantis already on the launch pad for the July 8 launch.  It was quite a sight.  All of the spectator positions are at least 3.4 miles away from the launch pads because of the force of the lift-off.  So when the astronauts are out there for the final countdown, they are truly all by themselves, with not another single person within the 3.4 miles radius.

Joe loves this space stuff, so I knew he would like to be in a photo with the rocket in the background.  I'm not sure we won't have to come back here for the July 8 launch, if that date holds and if we can find a campsite (the one we stayed at this time is already full).  That campground, Jetty Park, was really nice, and I think it is the closest campground, at least the closest beach campground, to the Space Center.

The VAB is where the rockets are assembled.  When Joe and I were here, in 1974 or 1975, we actually got to walk inside this building, but this time we could only see it from a distance.  The dark gray panels on the right side are actually seven doors that roll up so they can bring the fully-assembled rocket out.

After the bus tour, we took in a couple of video presentations, including one really neat one about landing on the moon, then Joe and Tyler got in line for the Shuttle Launch Experience, a ride that simulates the last 8 minutes of pre-launch.  Bridgette and I opted out of this adventure, but the boys survived.  We walked through some of the exhibits and, of course, the gift shop.  This is the Command Module from Apollo 14.

We finally left the space center AND THEN headed to Cocoa Beach -- her co-workers had told her to check out the pier and Ron Jon's Surf Shop, so we did that.  The pier has shops and restaurants (one with live music), then ends with a fishing pier. 

The beach right here was very busy, looked like a fun place for the younger crowd.  And a Disney cruise ship passed by on its way to wonderful places -- it really made me wish I saw another cruise in my future.  The campground we are at is just past the cruise terminal, so we are seeing lots of cruise ships.

 

We left the pier and drove over to the Ron Jon Surf Shop, which encompasses about 2 blocks.  Joe and I were getting tired by then, but we walked into one of the buildings and waited for Tyler to make his purchases.  Then we headed back to camp to fix some dinner.  AND THEN (we've learned that the day is not over when we think it is, there always seems to be an "AND THEN") we walked back over to the beach for a while.  There were a lot of "man of war" type jellyfish on this beach this morning so we had decided not to get in, although at the campground office we were told that these sea jellies were supposed to be moving north.  There didn't seem to be as many washed up on the beach this evening, but we still decided to play it safe and stay out of the water.  Finally, we called it a night.

Saturday morning, we went out for breakfast at a restaurant right on the bay, then checked out of our campsite and headed back to Tampa.  There was a hot rod show just down from the campground, so we got to drive among some of the hot rods on our way to and from breakfast. We saw some pretty cool wheels.  And a Carnival cruise ship was in port this morning.

We stayed off the interstate and avoided the toll roads, but it was 12 miles further coming home and it took us probably an extra half-hour.  Joe did spot a "huge" alligator in a stream along the road, but the rest of us were looking at a convention of big black birds along the highway, so we missed it.  He "said" it was probably 9 foot long and had its mouth open, but we have no way of verifying that.

As soon as we got home, we unloaded the RV and had lunch.  But our day was not over!  We dropped the RV off again at Doug and Barbara's AND THEN headed to Dade City, about 25 miles north of Tampa, to the weekly motocross races (by now, it's about 4:15).  I thought my days of watching motocross races were long over, but I did learn that it was much easier to watch them when I didn't have a son out there racing.  This was a very nice track, and John certainly never got to race on one with such nice, soft dirt to land on, but he has never gotten over his love of the sport, and he and Bridgette come up here pretty often to watch.  

On the way to Dade City, we had to go by John's office to get his computer cord since he is out of town all next week.  This was his second trip to his office today; he drove in this morning to get that cord but forgot to take his office keys with him, so that trip was unsuccessful.  Joe used the travel time to and from to continue educating Tyler in the ways of the world.  He covered English (enunciation), biology (big breasted girls), history (all the wisdom of his years), geography (Arabs and Arabian horses) and social studies (he kept encouraging Tyler to introduce himself to the girls walking by in front of our seats in the bleachers).  (I'm sure Tyler's mother will be waiting on our  doorstep when we get back to Phoenix!)  Since we have a grandson Tyler's age, Joe just knows he is right in tune with the world of a 15-year-old boy.  

We stayed at the races until the big sponsorship race was over, about 10:15, and finally got to come home and crawl into bed.  Although pro-racer Chad Reed lives here in Dade City, he did not show up at the race track, much to Bridgette's disappointment.  

We had put in a lot of miles and hours today.  John has to leave in the morning for Key West for his Gulf Council meetings all week, but I don't imagine Bridgette will let up on us any.  I'm thinking we will need a vacation from this vacation!