Tickets for Kennedy Space Center

We spent part of today running errands - a trip up to Walmart Supercenter on Merritt Island and we stopped at a Sunoco (you don't see many of these stations anymore) station on Merritt Island for gas - $2.619 gal.

Before returning to the RV, we stopped at the Information, Tickets & Travel office on post to purchase tickets for the Kennedy Space Center. We paid $34 for each ticket and the tickets are good for a second day visit within a week. The price for the tickets at the Kennedy Space Center are $39 plus 6% tax, so we saved a little over $7 a ticket.

Space Shuttle Atlantis Landing

This morning we watched the Atlantis Space Shuttle begin its return from orbit to the Earth on TV. Then just before it approached the Kennedy Space Center we went outside to stand on the Banana River beach here at the campground to watch for it.

From Patrick AFB

Sorry - no photos - we just couldn't see it, but we did hear & feel the sonic boom as it entered the atmosphere. Soooo - we went back inside to watch the landing on TV in the replays.

Visit with Lynn & Brian

We drove up to Titusville this afternoon to visit with Mike's cousin, Lyn, and her husband Brian.

From Patrick AFB

From Patrick AFB

Lyn is a math teacher at Titusville High School. Brian is retired and volunteers at the Brevard Zoo in Melbourne and enjoys playing golf. Their children, Nick & Katie, are both away in college, so we missed seeing them.

We had a great dinner and spent our time catching up. Lyn & Brian recommended going to the Brevard Museum of History & Natural Science in Cocoa and to the Brevard Zoo in Melbourne.

We're looking forward to Lyn & Brian coming down to Patrick AFB for a visit before we leave.

Ron Jon Surf Shop, Cocoa Beach, FL

The wifi card for our old Dell computer died this morning and we need to replace it. Our first stop was at the BX on base and we found a Netgear USB wifi adaptor that will work.

Then we drove up to the Ron Jon Surf Shop in Cocoa Beach (their flagship store) to do a little shopping. Afterwards we stopped at the Walmart Supercenter on Merritt Island to buy some groceries. On the way back to Patrick AFB we bought gas on Merritt Island - $2.719 gal.

This afternoon I did a few loads of laundry at the laundromat here in the campground.

Mike made online reservations this afternoon for Lake Louisa State Park near Clermont, FL for the week of June 8-15.

STS-132 Space Shuttle Launch

Today is the launch of the space shuttle Atlantis. Since the space shuttle program is winding down, this will be one of the few remaining launches. When we planned our Florida trip for the year, one of our main goals was to be here to watch a shuttle launch.

We did see a shuttle launch several years ago when we were driving down the Florida Turnpike heading south to Lake Worth. A lot of cars had pulled off to the side of the road to watch the launch. It was quite impressive to view the shuttle lifting off even from that distance.


We ate an early lunch this morning and packed a cooler with water and snacks. A little before noon we drove over to the beach just across from the Main Gate at Patrick AFB . When we got to the beach we had no trouble finding a place to set up our chairs since only a few people were there ahead of us. We checked on ticket prices to watch the launch from the Space Center and the tickets cost from $41 to $59 a person, so we decided to watch from the beach.

We spent the time waiting for the launch just relaxing & enjoying the ocean view. The closer it got to launch time more and more people started coming to the beach and putting out their chairs or blankets. A young mother came with her 2 daughters & and an infant and set up her blanket near us. She was having a little trouble setting up her beach umbrella in the wind and Mike went over to help her. We enjoyed watching her daughters play in the sand and the ocean.

From Patrick AFB

Since this was our first time to see a launch we weren't quite sure the exact location where the shuttle would launch from - we're about 24 miles south of Kennedy Space Center. We just watched the same area everyone was looking & at 2:20 p.m. ----

From Patrick AFB

From Patrick AFB

We were too far away to hear the sound of the launch - the wind was blowing from the east so any sound was carried away from us. But the launch was still very impressive and it was thrilling to be even this close.

Looking forward to Space Shuttle Launch

The space shuttle Atlantis is scheduled to launch this Friday and we've started seeing more RVs arrive here. Lorrie says that the campground will probably be full by Friday.

Yesterday we went shopping at the BX and today we got groceries at the Commissary. Both facilities are large and have a good selection.

I also did laundry yesterday at the laundromat here in the campground. They have 5 washers and dryers at a $1.00 a load.

We've really been enjoying the weather here. We've checked the temps in other parts of Florida (especially central Florida) and we are 5 - 10 degrees cooler. We usually have a good breeze which helps keep it feel cooler.

Mike did get a better photo of the Blue Herons today. Everyone here stops to check on them and watch the birds and take photos. The chicks really keep their parents busy feeding them. They make a "clacking" type noise - that's the only way I know to describe it - when their parents are feeding them. I've even heard them at 1 a.m. when I've been sitting up reading.

From Patrick AFB

Manatee Cove FamCamp

This morning Mike went to the FamCamp office and paid for us to stay here a month - $440. The campground accepts mail, so we called American Home Base this morning to have our mail sent here.

The post firing range is right behind the FamCamp and our RV, so we woke up this morning to gunfire. It was startling, but we knew to expect it from the various blogs and comments we've seen about the campground. The 747 that is parked at the airfield has been running its engines since we arrived yesterday. Mike says they are probably running some kind of test on the engines.

Here are some photos that we took of the campground today.

From Patrick AFB

From Patrick AFB

From Patrick AFB

Here is a photo of the Blue Herons that are nesting in the Australian pines across from us.

From Patrick AFB

Since we are close to the airfield, Mike was able to get some photos of the Huey that was practicing touch 'n go this afternoon.

From Patrick AFB

St. Augustine to Patrick AFB

We left St. Johns RV Park this morning at 9:15 and headed south on I-95 to the Flying J at Exit 305 to get gas ($2.889 gal - after our discount). Then it was back south on I-95 to CR-509 at Melbourne and down to SR-404. We went east on SR-404 and crossed the Indian River on the Pineda Causeway to A1A.

From Patrick AFB

We drove north on A1A about a mile to the commercial truck gate at Patrick Air Force Base. After showing our IDs to the gate guard and getting directions to the FamCamp, the guard lowered the security barriers for us to enter.

From Patrick AFB

The campground is located on the western side of the airfield, so we drove around the airfield to the Manatee Cove FamCamp.

We saw a 747 over by one of the hangars at the airfield and I was able to get a photo of it.

From Patrick AFB

We arrived at the campground at 12:30 - 150 miles from St. Johns RV Park. We met Lorrie, one of the camp hosts, and she took Mike around to look at some of the site. Manatee Cove FamCamp only accepts reservations for active duty personnel and first come, first served for everyone else; but right now there are a lot of empty sites.

While they were doing that, I started unhitching the car. Mike & I then drove around to look at the sites that were available and we settled on #30. There was a site open right on the water, but it is a back-in and looks to be too short for us.

Site #30 is a pull through with full hookups (50 amp). We have a fairly good view of the Indian River. After Mike hooked up the electric and we leveled the RV and put the slides out, we stopped to fix lunch. After lunch we finished setting up camp and spent the rest of the afternoon just enjoying the view of the river. There are pelicans diving and fishing in the river and a family of blue herons in one of the Australian pine trees near our site.

Since the FamCamp office is closed on Sunday, Mike will go over tomorrow morning and pay. We had planned on staying here for 2 weeks, but this evening we decided to stay for a month.

Tallahassee to St. Augustine

We left Tallahassee RV Park this morning at 10:00 and headed east on I-10 where we crossed over the Suwannee River again.

From Patrick AFB

We stopped at the WalMart Supercenter in Live Oak about 11:30 for a lunch break and to do a little shopping and were back on the road by 12:30. Just west of Jacksonville we got on I-295 and crossed the St Johns River on the Buckman Bridge. There were a lot of boats out on the river today and I managed to get a photo of one.

From Patrick AFB

We exited I-295 south of Jacksonville and headed south on I-95 to St. Augustine. We got off I-95 at Exit 311 and went east on SR-207 to St. Johns RV Park which is just off the exit (197 mi from Tallahassee).

We're spending the night at St. Johns RV Park. We are in site #A8 with full hookups (50 amp). Its a Passport America campground and we're paying $15.77 for the night. We are parked on a grass field and it's very level.

From Patrick AFB

The campground also operates a Flea Market which is nearby. There is also a free shuttle to the beach and the Old Town Trolley stops here. Something to keep in mind whenever we come back to St. Augustine.

Tallahassee

We met Mike's brother and wife (Chris & Carole) at their hotel for a late breakfast, before attending the funeral for Mike's cousin, Dick, who died earlier this week. We saw cousins that we hadn't seen in years - it's a shame that it takes a death to get the family together.

After the services for Dick the 4 of us went to TGI Friday's for lunch, before going back to the Residence Inn. This afternoon Mike's cousins, Voncile and Denise (her daughter), met us at the hotel for a visit and to catch up on each other's news.

From Tallahassee

Since we had had a large meal for lunch, Chris & Carole suggested eating at McDonald's and getting their Angus burgers which they told us were very good. We've had Angus burgers at Hardee's and like those and now we have added McDonald's to our list.

After dinner we went back to the hotel for a final visit, before heading back to the RV park. Chris and Carole are leaving tomorrow to go back home. We will be heading to St. Augustine on our way to Patrick Air Force Base.

Silver Springs to Tallahassee

We got up at 6 a.m. this morning and after our morning coffee and breakfast began breaking camp. We hitched up the car at our campsite and headed over to the dump station to empty our tanks. It was 9 a.m. when we left Silver River State Park and headed west to I-75.
We stopped for lunch at the rest area on I-10 just west of the junction of I-10 and I-75. We stopped for gas ($2.899 gal) at a Chevron station south of Lee, FL before continuing west on I-10 to Tallahassee.

We arrived at Tallahassee RV Park a little after 2 p.m. The campground is just a 1/2 mile south of I-10 on US-90. We drove 183 miles today.

We are in site #38 with full hookups (50 amp). Their normal daily rate is $40, but with our Good Sam discount it's $36 a day. We'll only be staying here for 2 nights.

From Tallahassee

Mike's brother, Chris and his wife Carole, drove here from their home in Texas and are staying at the Residence Inn in Tallahassee. We met Chris & Carole at their hotel and walked across the parking lot to the Outback Steakhouse next to the Residence Inn for dinner.

From Tallahassee

New cell phones

After we finished breakfast this morning, Mike called Tallahassee RV Park to get a reservation for tomorrow night and Friday night when we go to Tallahassee to attend his cousin's funeral.

We had planned on going over to the Silver River Museum and walking down one of the trails to the Silver River this morning. But the 40% chance of rain became 100%, so that was out.

I had been working on our genealogy last night on Ancestry.com and kept having problems with slow response time or having to click a link 2 or 3 times to before it would work. I found out this morning what the problem was – our Verizon broadband modem died. I tried plugging it into our other laptop and nothing – Windows kept saying the USB device had malfunctioned!

Mike called Verizon and we located a Verizon store near Silver River State Park. He also called Tech Support and explained our problem with the broadband modem. Our Verizon USB 720 modem is out of warranty (of course). Since we’re going to have to purchase something to replace it, the technician recommended getting the Verizon MiFI modem/router.

Anyway, long story short, we bought a MiFi modem/router (there was a $50 rebate) and we got new cell phones (also $50 rebate on each phone). We were entitled to an upgrade on our phones and we got 2 Samsung phones that have walky-talky capabilities.

We stopped at Walmart after leaving Verizon to get a few groceries before heading back to the RV. It was pouring rain so hard by the time we finished, that we had to wait several minutes before we could get to the car. Hopefully this rain will be over by tomorrow morning when we break camp.

Florida's Silver Springs

After lunch we drove over to Florida's Silver Springs. We had downloaded and printed a coupon from their website that was a "Buy 1, Get 1 Free" for an adult daily ticket - so it cost us $31.79 for the both of us.

We headed over to get on a glass bottom boat for a tour, but just missed one that was leaving. Since we had a little time to kill, we looked through the gift shop and the display showing all of the movies and television shows that had been filmed at Silver Springs.

From Florida's Silver Springs

Before boarding the glass bottom boat, we talked for a few minutes with the Captain of the boat, Capt. Oscar. He told us that he has been working at Silver Springs for over 40 years!

From Florida's Silver Springs

There were only 3 other couples with us on the boat tour. We saw a mother wood duck with a LOT of ducklings, we stopped over the different springs, and learned about some of the

Silver River Museum

Today after lunch we drove over to the Silver River Museum that is here in the State Park. The museum is only open to the public on weekends. During the week the museum is open for 4th & 7th grade students to visit and there are classrooms next to the museum for the students.

The admission to the museum is $2 for adults and we weren't quite sure what to expect. We were pleasantly surprised and impressed with the displays we saw in the museum.

We were first greeted by a 12,000-year-old Columbian Mammoth

From Silver River State Park

and the jaws of Carchardon Megalodon - the giant, prehistoric ancestor of the Great White Shark.

From Silver River State Park

There are displays of prehistoric animals that have been found in Florida, Spanish explorers, Indian tribes who inhabited Florida, the Seminole Indian Wars, the Civil War and up to modern times.

From Silver River State Park

After visiting the museum we walked out to the replica of a Florida Cracker Village. The buildings weren't open, so we couldn't go inside any of them. But we enjoyed walking around and looking at them. One building even had horseshoes used as handles for the shutters.

From Silver River State Park

From Silver River State Park

The original colonial pioneer settlers in Florida were referred to as "crackers" and people whose families have lived in Florida for many generations may refer to themselves as "Florida Crackers". The term may be derived from "to crack a joke" or in colonial times it sometimes meant "boastful" or "entertaining conversation".