Tuesday, Mar. 29
We drove to the Breezy Palms RV Park in Palm Bay, FL this morning.  It was about a 3 hour drive almost entirely on I-95.  We are now about 45 miles from Cape Canaveral, where we plan to go tomorrow.

After a bit of a nap this afternoon, we all got in the car and went exploring   We looked at Palm Bay and Melbourne and their beach areas.  These beaches have far fewer high-rise buildings than did Daytona Beach, but it is still hard to see the ocean from the road.  As we were driving, Betty said "There's a Friendly's".  This is a coffee shop and ice cream parlor that quickly became one of our favorite eating places the year we lived in New Jersey.  They are located only along the east coast.

We completed our drive and arrived back at the park.  After we dropped Fred and Judy at their motorhome, a few RV's from ours, Betty and I decided to go back to Friendly's.  We called F & J and invited them along and we all had very delicious sandwiches for dinner, all of which just happened to be from the page that included a special offer of a $2.49 sundae free!  We each brought home about half the dinner, but ate all the sundaes.  That was fun!  That was also the first ice cream we have bought this trip, unless you count the ala-mode on our Cracker Barrel apple dumpling before we got to Fred and Judy's.

We decided to stay here for 3 nights.  That means we will leave from here Friday morning heading south and Fred and Judy will leave heading north.  They have a Holiday Rambler rally to get to near New Orleans and don't want to push the driving too much.  It will be a sad morning! 

Wednesday, Mar. 30
Today was a long, but enjoyable day!  We went to the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral.

We left about 8 and spent about an hour driving there.  There was so much to do!  Our first challenge was to decide which ticket to buy - there were 4 or 5 options.  We decided on the "maximum" ticket, which is really the 2nd maximum.  Ours included the bus tour, all museums, both Imax movies, the Astronaut Hall of Fame and admission to the simulators there.  We could have bought an additional personalized tour, but declined that one.

We started with an Imax movie, "The Dream is Alive", in one of the side-by-side theaters.  After studying the paperwork we received we started to grasp what all there was to do and formulated a sequence plan.

The bus tour was next.  They say to allow 2 to 2 1/2 hours for this (we spent well over 3). Everything in the complex is handicap accessible.  I went to gate 1 of the bus loading area and got betty a "lift ticket".  This allowed us to load at a special area where the driver would stack 3 rows of seats on one side of the bus, open a large side door, and using a wheelchair lift put Betty into the bus where the seats had been.  The driver and I then connected 4 seat belt type straps to the chair and 1 around Betty to secure her.  The three of the rest of us boarded and the bus drove off.  The total passenger load was the four of us!
 

Betty is all secured for our bus ride.

We drove past many areas of the installation.  At one point we passed one of the "crawlers".  These are huge diesel electric vehicles which carry the various missiles and equipment around the center.  The crawler we saw was carrying a gantry base and was still moving.  You had to really look closely at the tracks to see the movement, as it appeared to be moving only a few inches a minute.  It was several feet from the final location.  We could see huge steel corner posts with a couple of men at each.  The crawler was manipulating into the exact final location.
 

The crawler is very slowly moving its humungous load into final position.  If you look very carefully you can see the two sets of tracks that it travels on.  They are behind the cars parked in the foreground.

The bus tour is in 3 parts, with 2 stops.  This bus took us to an area near launch complex 39 where all the Shuttle launches take place.  There was an observation gantry with 4 levels.  We had a clear view of the launch complex about a mile away.  There was a Shuttle engine on display at the gantry.  The view from the upper levels was outstanding!
 

	Looking out from the top of the gantry, we can see Launch Complex 39 in the distance.  This is where all the Shuttle launches occur.
Looking closer we can see many of the details of the equipment at LC39.
	You can see some of the network of crawler roads that cover the area.  These are very specially engineeried to carry the million pound plus loads.  On the top of many special layers is a layer of Arkansas river rock.  This holds the load and will not create sparks.  That is important when you are transporting solid fueled rockets!
There was an actual Shuttle main engine on display at the observation gantry.
	The Vehicle Assembly Building used to be the largest building in the world, but now is only #3. Last season's hurricanes ripped siding from the building and damaged the roof.  Repairs are being made, but the missing siding still shows clearly.

The next bus took us to the Apollo/Saturn Visitor Center.  This was a huge building with many displays and museums throughout, but the most awesome item was a 362 foot long Saturn/Apollo "moon rocket" mounted well above the floor where you could walk around and under each of the stages, which were slightly separated from each other.  This building also contained the "Moon Rock Cafe" with a genuine moon rock on display.  Across the building was another moon rock mounted in a housing which allowed you to contort your hand through a slot and touch the rock.  I have touched a piece of the moon! 
 

One of the displays was a movie of the moon landing.  At the end, a simulated Lunar Lander came down and touched down in front of us.  Later, the top portion "blasted off" and returned the astronauts to the waiting capsule. This is the Lander after it came down.
	The Apollo/Saturn is a very eye catching display!
This is the Launch Control Center for the Apollo flights.  After launch, control was turned over to Mission Control at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. During a simulated launch, all the consoles were active, just as if they were really manned and controling the launch.
	This is the cockpit of the Space Shuttle "Explorer", which we were allowed to tour.
Here is the moon rock we were able to touch.  It took some contortions, but by putting your hand in the slot at the bottom and flexing your wrist up and fingers down, you could touch it. Betty didn't even try.

We finally saw all the exhibits here and caught the bus again back to the main visitor center.

The last two bus rides were filled after we got loaded.  The only problem with this was trying to unbuckle Betty while people were crowding past to get off the bus.  Obviously the driver was in a hurry to get her off so he could re-configure the bus and continue on.

Back at the main area we attended the 2nd Imax movie, "Space Station".  This was a 3D movie, mostly  filmed by the astronauts themselves in space.  It depicted the creation and initial manning of the International Space Station.  This movie was worth the price of admission by itself!  There were spectacular shots from the space station of the astronauts on board, working in space assembling various portions of the station, and awesome shots of the earth from the station.  If you ever get the chance to see this movie at a "local" Imax theater, I strongly suggest you see it!

I was somewhat shocked during this movie.  I could actually see the 3D effect!  All my life my right eye has been very dominant and the doctors have told me that I have no real depth perception, but that I have accommodated for it well.  I could actually see the various depths, some of which were obviously exaggerated for effect.

We finished seeing the remaining exhibits at this facility then went back over the causeway to the mainland where the Astronauts Hall of Fame is located.  Our ticket included admission here also.  There were a number of additional exhibits here, aimed at honoring the astronauts themselves.  Also there were a number of active exhibits and simulators.  There was a centrifuge which allowed you to experience a 4 g loading.  I decided to skip this one when I noticed the end of the line was at a sign stating there was a 1 hour wait from that point.  Fred and I did ride on the moving simulator.  Watching it from the outside we could see it raise, pitch forward and back, tilt quickly sideways, etc.  It tuned out that we were "riding" on a small large wheeled vehicle on Mars.  We were bouncing over the rough terrain, dropping down steep valleys and up the other side.  We then approached a group of vertical takeoff aircraft where we were quickly linked under the cockpit of one and lifted into the air.   The plane then did some low level terrain following flying as we went through all the gyrations involved.  The ride ended after we were again deposited on the ground and did some more high speed rough terrain driving and boulder dodging.  It was quite a (rough) ride!

Around 7 we left to return to the RV park and to complete our 12 hour excursion!  It was a fun, but exhausting day!

I think I will wrap up this report here and try to get it out tonight.  I am not sure how much connectivity I will have in the southern part of Florida.

You can see this and my other reports along with a number of photos at:
http://myweb.cableone.net/rsmason

Till next time,

Dick and Betty
 
 

Friday, April 1
It's April Fool's Day!

Today was a sad day!  We said our farewells to Fred and Judy as they pulled out starting a 3 day drive tor a Holiday Rambler rally in Louisiana.  It's been a lot of fun spending the last 3-plus weeks with them!

Betty and I had talked about heading south to the Everglades, but after some review decided to skip that.  It would be a very long trip for what there is to do.  Instead, we decided to stay here another day and do some exploring to the south, then move to the Orlando area where we have several things planned.

We drove about 40 miles down the coast to the town of Fort Pierce.  Our first stop was on the long, narrow island portion of Fort Pierce at the St. Lucie nuclear power plant.  They had a very nicely done exhibit area with many interactive displays. 

Just as we crossed the bridge to the island, we saw probably the worst hurricane damage we have seen to date.  There is a mobile home park alongside the end of the bridge.  In this park were some totally destroyed units, some units with the roof off and other damage, and a number with tarps over the roof.  We have been seeing a lot of evidence of the storm damage, but usually one house at a time.  Many, many houses and businesses have blue tarps over the entire roof, with wooden strips holding them in place.  We have also seen a lot of superficial damage such as facades of buildings destroyed, many, many signs missing the front and back plastic leaving only the frame and sometimes the interior lighting, and a lot of uprooted trees.
 

	We saw a number of uprooted trees.
This mobile home park was damaged more severely than any other area we saw.

Following our "tour" we went back to the mainland and found the Manatee Observation and Education Center.  This is a relatively small building with a number of displays and a movie about the plight of the manatee.  (quoting from a flyer) "The Florida Manatee is a large warm-blooded, aquatic marine mammal that breathes air just as humans do.  The average manatee weighs about 1000 lbs and is 10 feet long, but they can grow to 13 feet long and weigh 3000 lbs. . . . Manatees are gentle and slow-moving spending most of their time eating, resting, or traveling." (Sounds familiar!) "They are vegetarians and eat as much as 10 - 15% of their body weight daily.  Manatees are able to remain submerged for 20 minutes so they sleep in a series of naps.  When using a lot of energy, they may surface to breathe every 30 seconds."

They are facing a very serious series of problems.  They are losing habitat to development, they are being injured and killed at an alarming rate by propeller hits from power boats, and they reproduce very slowly.  It is going to be a struggle to keep the species, estimated to number as few as 2000 currently, from becoming extinct.

The center is located on the shore, across from a marina.  Manatees often come right to the back door of the center, as there is a fresh water inlet nearby where they come to drink.  Unfortunately, no manatees had been seen today. 

We did a little more exploring and returned to the Palm Bay area.  As we were already out, we decided to continue on to Friendly's again.  We had another delicious dinner there.  I ran into Walmart, right behind Friendly's, to pick up a few supplies.  This was not a Supercenter, so they did not have many of the items on my list.

Saturday, April 2
I had a pleasant surprise this morning.  I have been trying my Wifi adapter at each campsite to see if I have Internet connectivity through it.  I have had nothing this trip, except at the truck stops, where the cost is about $5 for 24 hours (or $5 for 5 minutes to get my email.) This campground, like the others has had nothing.  I tried it again this morning and got connected!  I had high speed Internet!  One of the campers down this row has a satellite Internet dish, and apparently turned on his wireless connection for us to share this morning (a number of them do).  Thanks fellow camper!

The weather for the last several days has been beautiful - warm sun, light breeze, and moderate (for FL) humidity.  That ended this morning!  It has been raining on and off this morning, and very windy.  We have delayed our departure.  It is now a little after 10, and the weather radar shows the band of yellow and red showers is just about past us, with only a little green to go.  We will leave on our 100 mile trip to north west of Orlando shortly.  We have reservations for 4 nights there.

(later)
We just arrived at the Royal RV Resort.  It was only 100 miles, but what miles!  The first 50 mile stretch was fine, then we got into heavy traffic, then city traffic with many, many signals.  For about 40 miles we went through St. Cloud, Kissimmee, and the outskirts of the Disneyworld complex.  Finally, we got back into the country and made good time to our park.

It is a very pretty park, but quite "civilized", with paved streets, a paved patio for each site, and the rest is lush grass with a few planted and native trees.  There are over 150 spaces, but at $20 a night this close to Orlando, I won't complain!  I won't even complain that the park designer did not do a very good job at laying out the utilities.  They are all well behind the parking spaces, pretty much guaranteeing that none of your utilities will reach without extensions.  My 50 amp power cable is about 6 feet short of reaching their 50 amp receptacle when I am parked in a position which allows me to level.  If I move back, I am well out of my leveling range.  My water just reaches, but I put an over-length hose on some time ago, and it takes 2 sewer hoses to stretch to the dump.  I only paid for 3 nights here so far, but we are fairly sure we will be here for 4.
 

The Royal RV Resort is a very pretty setting, and very clean.

After the first 30 or 40 minutes of our drive,the weather has been great!  There is now not a cloud in the sky and it is fairly warm, but the wind is still very high.  It is supposed to die down by tomorrow.

Sunday, Apr. 3
Well, we set our clocks ahead an hour last night for daylight savings time.  That's something we don't do back home in Arizona!

This morning we headed down to a lake south of Orlando where they give airboat rides.  Betty was undecided whether to go or not (they had assured us they were accessible on the phone).  When we got there they said we could get the wheelchair right up to the boat, but that she would have to climb into the boat.  She decided not to go.  I did go.

What a blast!  The boat is a flat bottom aluminum hull with a Ford V8 engine driving a large prop through a gearbox.  It accommodates 18 passengers plus a pilot.  The pilot and one passenger ride on high seats at the rear, just forward of the engine.  The rest of us sat on 3 bench type seats.
 

This is our boat.  The pilot and one passenger sit high in the back while the rest of us sit on benches in the hull. This picture is of our boat, but with a different load of passengers.
	Our pilot gives me a thumbs-up as I turn around to take his picture.

The ride started out blasting along some shoreline vegetation.  Our pilot liked to get the boat up to a high speed then turn quickly sideways.  The boat would continue along its original course, but would now be travelling sideways for a ways before actually changing course.  In general it was a dry ride, but there was an occasional spray.

We did only a little clear water running.  Mostly we were driving over grasses that ranged from just a few inches above the water to some about 3 feet long.  Sometimes the boat would actually clip the top off some of the grass and shower us with the debris.  I was in the front row, so supplied some blocking for those behind me.  Every once in a while the pilot would stop the boat and describe what we were seeing.  We were wearing large ear-phone type silencers to protect us against the loud noise of the propeller, and we would have to quickly remove them to hear his comments.  We saw a Bald Eagle's nest with a mature and a juvenile bird in it, Osprey's, Egrets, and a number of alligators.  The first alligator we saw was about 5 feet long and was swimming in a grassy section.  We slowly followed him while everyone took pictures.
 

The first alligator we saw was a 5 footer (about 5 years old) swimming ahead of us.
	The pilot stopped the boat and pointed out a Bald Eagle nest. The juvenile is standing on the nest in clear view, but the adult with the white head is a little harder to see to the left of the nest.

A little later we slowly drove along the sunny side of a long, narrow island.  There were 5 alligators sunning themselves along the shore.  They ranged from about 4 feet to a huge pair at about 11 feet each.  The smaller ones were interesting, but the large ones really make you think about your mortality!
 

This medium size 'gator looks at us with a grin.  I wonder what he is thinking?
	One of the 11 foot alligators gets up and starts walking our way.

About 40 minutes after departing we pulled back into the dock.  It was a totally enjoyable ride!

Betty located a road well south of the highway we took on the way over.  This one avoided all the traffic mess we ran into going through the Disney complex and all the businesses it has spawned.

Back at the motorhome, we determined our route in the morning into Ocala to the E-One Fire Engine Co. for a tour.  It is so hard to tell which roads will be loaded with traffic and which ones will not!  We'll see.

You can see this and my other reports along with a number of photos at:
http://myweb.cableone.net/rsmason

'Till next time,

Dick and Betty