Sunday, April 5, 2009. We have been camped on the banks of Tampa Bay at the entrance to the Skyway Bridge Fishing Pier. Last year we were able to camp on the pier itself, but due to weight restrictions and some problems with safety, they have eliminated all camping on the pier. One can still drive out there to fish, the the entire east side of the pier is closed and we hear they are going to tear that side down in the future.

So, here we are, amidst the "no RV parking or overnight camping" signs and enjoying ourselves. Since we met John and Fran here on Wednesday, the guys have gone out everyday and picked up trash. So far, they have filled 10 bags. Today the Florida State Trooper who is the one that gets to tell everyone they have to leave, stopped and talked to Ken this morning. He first told him that we were reported as having been here more than 3 nights and that overnight stays weren't allowed. When Ken told him about picking up the trash and asked where we should put it, he relented and said we are doing something constructive to help the community and said we could do what we wanted to and that we didn't have to leave. I suppose though to be fair to others we will leave by the middle of the week and move on in a northerly direction. We came here to fish, but the winds have been very strong and the water has been breaking on the sea wall and getting the entire side of our trailer wet. Yesterday it wasn't too bad, but this morning the winds picked up again. According to our weather radio, there is a cold front moving in with the chance of severe thunderstorms this evening and overnight. This area does need the rain, but the rain since we got here has moved them out of the drought condition - which is good for Florida - not so good for us campers. We have seen some freighter traffic and today saw our third cruise ship come through the bridge. Boy they are big - floating cities - and beautiful as they sail into the sunset!! Maybe tomorrow we can fish! If not we will enjoy the sunshine.

Recap: With the exception of about 2 days, the weather was far from desirable. It wasn’t cold, but it certainly was windy. With us being parked broadside to the winds, the RV’s rocked and rolled for the better part of the week we were there. One night, I almost passed out three times sitting in the rig watching the waves. They were incredible – undulating like a snake, horizontal to the sea wall. They looked liked one huge wave that just kept coming and coming. After watching for a while, I stood up and oops – really dizzy to the point I saw stars and the blackness coming. Well, that happened two more times and I thought it was heart related but everything checked out ok. The next day, we went to the grocery store and as I was going around the corner and looking up at a shelf, I had the same problem and realized that I had a bad case of vertigo. When we got back to the truck I dug out the anti-motion bracelets we carry and put them on and voila! The problem disappeared. What a horrible experience – being sea-sick on dry land. During the week we stayed there John, Fran and Ken cleaned up the litter around the area. They filled 15 large trash bags and about 4 smaller ones.

March 30, 2009 - Today we are sitting on the bank of the Otona Locks in the Otona Lock South Campground. The locks are on the Okeechobee waterway that runs from the Gulf Coast to Lake Okeechobee and then to International Coastal Waterway on the Atlantic side of Florida. This is a very nice park with a nice variety of wildlife. Last night we walked down to the fishing pier and watched a turtle, an Otter with 2 babies, 2 women fishing and catching Redfish - more commonly known as Red Drum. They had 4 good size fish in their bucket and were going to take them home for dinner. I checked online for regulations later and Redfish must be between 18 and 27 inches and the bag limit is 1 per person per day. Oops - they are lucky the game warden wasn't around. We also saw whooping cranes on the way down here from Daytona - they are magnificent birds and huge!! Spotted a hawk swooping down on something but couldn't see what it caught. Today Ken went for a walk to watch a beautiful yacht go through the locks and saw a bald eagle across the canal on a tree. A person that volunteers to count manatees in the waterway said there is a pair of eagles with eglets in a nest not too far from here. Also, according to the volunteer person, there are usually 20 plus manatees that go through the canal daily but the counts have been down this year. I will be happy to see just one! We are off to visit with friends later today and tomorrow but while we are here we will be watching the watercraft go by and enjoying the sunshine.

March 20, 2009 - Today we head south to Titusville once again, only this time to go to the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral. What a place to spend the day. So much to see and so much to marvel at. The first thing you see as you get near is the Rocket Garden. There are several rockets on display. We had free admission to the Space Center through the Daytona Beach KOA. Not a bad perk as standard admission is $38.00 each. We had been here years ago but there were many changes and many new exhibitions that were new to us. There were two things we wanted to do today, first the bus tour and the Space Shuttle Experience Ride. First the bus tour. It lasted about 3 hours and there were three stops - the first being the Observation Gantry. This gantry is where the shuttle we watched the last 4 times was launched from. It is massive. And there are two of them!! One of the buildings we saw as we went past was where the shuttle is actually mounted to the fuel tank and rockets and then lifted by crane into a verticle position onto the "crawler". The crawler with the shuttle attached comes out of the gray doors on the building on the left. This is a huge building and the doors are 16 stories high. To the right is a replica of the shuttle fuel tanks with the rockets attached. This is the view we have across the river waiting for the launch to happen.

The second stop on the bus tour was the Apollo Saturn V Center. This is the program that put man on the moon. Below are a couple of pictures of the rocket, booster, command module.

Rocket Engines

Command Module

The third stop was the International Space Center Display. They have the actual "rooms" on display and you can walk through them. It is quite interesting as you can see how they live. There is a bathroom that is very unique, and on display is the wardrobe where they sleep and several other compartments where they set up their experiments - plant life, human, and animal.

Bathroom Shower

Wardrobe - they snap themselves into the gray wrap and "hang" in space to sleep.

After the bus tour we went to the Space Shuttle Experience. What a ride. I kept my eyes closed most of the time because the shaking was so great during "lift off" that I needed to try to keep myself calm so my heart wouldn't do one of its' flippy things and send me into A-Fib. It really does give you a feeling of lifting off, rotating, and becoming air born. Once into space the top opens up and you see earth and stars and it is incredible. Not as good as the real thing, but close. I would do it again, only I would keep my eyes open the next time!!

We finished the day at the IMAX 3D movie "Space Station". Great movie, and very informative about how they live and work in outer space.

The shuttle and the fuel tank and rocket boosters - incredible!!

We are going back on Saturday to visit the Astranauts Hall of Fame. That will be the first stop on our way south to visit with friends.

March 15, 2009

Today we headed to Titusville, FL to see the shuttle lift off. We left the Daytona Beach KOA around 1:15 pm and arrived there around 2:00 pm. The park we have been trying to get into was full but as we were backing out, someone jumped in their car and left - so we had a parking spot. Great!!! We dragged our chairs, cooler, bag of goodies, camera and binoculars over to a spot that was shaded by the palm trees thinking this would be a good spot because it was out of the sun. Oops! It was a nice spot with the exception of no sun - it was actually cold in the palms with the brisk breeze that was blowing. But the vantage spot was wonderful to view the launch so we stayed there. We had a little over 5 hours to wait but entertained ourselves with our books, watching people and talking to the people around us. We enjoyed cookies with our neighbors from Toronto and enjoyed talking about Alaska from the family behind us. Got some good tips about our upcoming trip. Finally - lift off at 7:43 pm. The sight of the smoke/water vapor is always thrilling to see and as it ascends the light gets brighter and brighter. With this being a sunset launch, the plume picked up the sun's rays and it was incredible. You could audibly hear the gasps and prayers of the onlookers - including ours - as the shuttle and crew lifted higher and higher. It was a great experience again and we can now chalk up 2 night launches, 1 day launch and 1 sunset launch. Please don't ask me which is the favorite - they are each incredible and special in their own way. This will be the last opportunity while we are in Florida to see one as the next one isn't scheduled until May. Hopefully the next time we come south for the winter they will still be doing them. More news as we get on the road.