The Wetter Side of the Sunshine State

Clermont, Fla., April 5 -- Today I have some down time as Jeff drove into Kissimmee to visit an old friend so have been busy cleaning the Mo -- a much needed project. It’s even being cleaned on the outside as I found a company who will come to the park and wash it. It won’t be cheap but it’s really the first time I’ve had it washed since my brother-in-law washed it for me in Yakima last May. It definitely needs a bath! Of course, wouldn't you know it, shortly after they finished, the skies opened up and it's been pouring off and on, accompanied by loud claps of thunder and flashes of lightening and wild gusty winds. Is this a hurricane coming???

Imagine my surprise when, shortly after parking at this Thousand Trails park, I looked out the window and saw my friends from Maine, Russ and Carol, parked just across the field behind us. I went over to visit. I knew they would be here but didn’t know exactly where their space was and there are something like 850 full hookups here so it was unlikely they would be so close. We have had some great visits, catching up with what’s been happening. They know many of the people who stay here in the winter as they’ve been coming down for many years. Our neighbor, Saul, was a vaudeville comedian according to Russ and Carol. I have only spoken with him briefly but he is very friendly. People generally seem to be friendlier at Thousand Trails parks.

On Wednesday we went to lunch at a lovely restaurant in Celebration, a Disney-created community. Columbia is a Spanish/Cuban restaurant and I had great food. Carol especially likes their flan and it was very good. Then they took me to Downtown Disney and a brief tour of the area. Probably the only taste I’ll get of Disney World, but frankly it was quite enough. Yesterday Russ took Charlie for a long walk while we were away most of the day at the Kennedy Space Center.

The Kennedy Space Center was very interesting and fascinating. The tickets for the tour were $40 apiece but included a two-hour bus tour with video and many sights showing the U.S.’ 50 years of space exploration. Included were a visit to the Apollo/Saturn V Center which contains the computer and communications equipment used in the command center when the Apollo missions were launched. This brought back memories for me of being in high school and college during many of the Apollo missions, the space race, the moon walk, and seeing satellites in space as a child, such an exciting novelty. Now you can hardly look without seeing a satellite and how could we possibly function without them?

At one point we could see the launch pads used in the space shuttle program and the huge crawlers that transport the orbiter (shuttle) and its boosters to the launch site, as well as the building where the orbiters are built and reassembled after flight.

We also toured the International Space Station Center which provides information on the ongoing space station project. The orbiters are integral in carrying astronauts, equipment and materials back and forth. The Space Station is scheduled for completion in 2010 and will be the size of two football fields when it is finished.

I believe there are -- or were -- six orbiters: the Challenger and Columbia were both lost (1986 and 2003), two of the three U.S. space accidents that have taken the life of the astronauts on board. The other was Apollo 1. Other ships include Enterprise, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour. The Enterprise was used primarily for experimentation and never went into orbit. A total of 122 Shuttle missioned have been flown, if I counted right, starting in 1981. The latest landed here at Cape Canaveral in February; they hope to send another, STS-124, later this month.

A great place to learn more about the U.S. space program, the shuttle missions and the new program, Orion, scheduled to being in 2010, is the NASA web page: www.NASA.gov. Fascinating stuff.

The final thing we did was experience the shuttle launch simulator. This supposedly gives participants the feelings, sounds, sights that the astronauts experience when they launch into space on the orbiters. It was interesting but I thought a bit over-hyped. There was plenty more to do -- with IMAX theaters showing two different programs about space --walking on the moon and life in the space station -- but we didn’t have time to see them as the Center was a good 90 minutes from the rv park and we left a bit later than planned.

The Kennedy Space Center is surrounded by the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. We explored a little bit here -- mostly because we took a wrong turn. During the Space Center tour we saw a huge bald eagle’s nest, a flock of roseated spoonbills -- gorgeous birds with deep rose coloring on their wings, a blur of pink when they fly -- as well as many other birds. There is apparently a very healthy manatee population as many of the waters are closed to boats which are very hazardous to the manatees. But we still haven’t sent one, dang it all. Don’t know if they have manatees in Georgia, our next destination but am thinking probably not.

Charlie has had his own close encounters with wildlife. There is a very large turtle that lives in a hole maybe 100 feet from our door. He loves to go explore to see if his friend, Mr. Turtle, is at home. I’m thinking Mr. Turtle might be a snapper and could injure him if he puts his head too deeply into the hole. A couple of times Charlie has darted out the door before I could grab him and gone to investigate the hole. He’s also, for the first time, showing signs of discomfort when we have thunder and lightening -- which we're having a lot of. He crawls under the dinette and seeks what comfort (i.e., petting and food) he can find.

Here’s hoping the thunder and lightening and humidity aren’t as bad in Georgia, but I’m thinking we probably won’t really escape it now until we get back to the Rockies: Colorado, Utah, Arizona -- and that’s probably at least a month away.

TravelinLady