Dave visits the Kennedy Space Center

The next day, Sunday, I decide to visit the Kennedy Space Center. Jan was "spaced out" from visiting the Houston Space Center and the air museums in Tuscon and Pensacola, so I didn't blame her for not wanting to come along. We were only a 10 minute drive from the visitor's center, so I drove over there in the truck. Little did I know at the time, but there was a disaster riding in the truck with me that was about to be unleashed! More on that later.

Those darn rocket launches

The next day, a rocket was scheduled to launch from the Kennedy Space Center that afternoon. The Space Center WEB site had a countdown clock, so when it got to T -30 minutes, I walked over to the edge of the river and waited, peering across the river with my binoculars in hand and camera running. The countdown clock went to zero and said "launched", but nothing happened. I waited another hour to see if it would launch, but all was quiet. What a dud! Later that night, we read that there was a technical problem and the launch was rescheduled for the same time the next day.

So the next day, the WEB site said that the launch window was from 2:45 P.M. to 4:45 P.M., but the countdown clock indicated that the launch was going to happen at 3:45 P.M. I was a bit tired, so I took a nap thinking I would walk out to the river to view the launch about 1/2 hour early. At 2:42 P.M., I was awakened from my slumber by this horrific roar and Jan shouting, " The rocket, the rocket!" I grabbed my glasses, fumbled to put on my sandles, but to no avail. I looked up at the sky and only saw a vapor trail twisting up into the heavens. Darn!!

This is all I saw of the rocket. Big deal!!

Wednesday, May 2nd - Manatee Hammock CG

After a quick stay at the Walmart in Live Oak, Florida, we drove on for another 4 hours to Titusville, Florida. We decided to take a slightly longer route and complete our I10 journey, following its full length all the way from L.A. to Jacksonville, Florida. We then headed south along I95 to Manatee Hammock Campground in Titusville, across the Indian River from the Kennedy Space Center from where Apollo 11 and the Space Shuttle were launched. I was excited to see one of those big rockets take off as one was scheduled for the next day. The campground is in a big grove of pine, palm, and oak trees with tons of squirrels running everywhere.

Our Trailer at Manatee Hammock

We walked out onto a grassy area which juts out into the river and onto a wooden pier to see if we could see any Manatees, but only saw schools of fish. They later told us that is was not the right time of year for Manatees and that's why we didn't see any.

Wooden pier with Space Center in the Distance