3:15 - Golf Lession #1 and back to Daytona

Here's a quick summary we used to use at work called a "3:15 Report" - it's supposed to take 15 minutes to write and 3 minutes to read. The outline is always the same - what happened, who helped, what were the challenges and what's up for next week. They don't usually come with a photo but there's one below of Daytona Beach for you to drool over!

What we did:
* Wednesday - took in some sun at Cocoa Beach.
* Thursday - took the first of 3 golf lessons with the Turtle Creek Golf Club pro and then golfed 9 holes with our friend, Judi Kirkpatrick, who has improved 100-fold since I golfed with her last!
* Saturday - did a day-trip into Daytona to experience pre-Bike Week. Enjoyed a few refreshments at the Boothill Saloon famous for any number of events.  We certainly agreed with their motto, "it's better than the place across the street" which is the cemetery.  The beach remains our fav place and Daytona definitely has one of the best walking/driving beaches we've ever been on. 

* Sunday - will spend the late aft with Jimmi and Judi Kirkpatrick at the docks at Cape Canaveral where the cruise ships load and un-load  -  fully expect to enjoy great music, fun times and super people-watching opps!

Who helped:
* Keith Williams, the golf pro, who is a REALLY good and patient teacher
* the bikers who have already arrived in Daytona for the 'annual event'.

Challenges:
* none that we can recall other than we were 'pooched' Thursday after our golf lesson and 9 holes  - haven't used those muscles in a few years!

What's up for next week:
* buddy Dalton Charlebois visiting for an overnite from Lake Placid, Fla.
* golf lesson #2 on Tuesday
* return day-tip to Daytona to see Bike Week in full gear!

Oh! and did I mention it is has been around 85 degrees all week? 

The Beach and the Daytona 500

Together with our friends Dan and Anne Farley, we spent a very busy and exciting week and we enjoyed it immensely! Besides going to Kennedy Space Centre (earlier blog post), we went to the Indialantic Beach and boardwalk where this crab guy/gal joined for part of the afternoon. He looks pretty cute, don't you think?

The big event of the week was Sunday, February 17 when we celebrated the 50th anniversary of "The Great Race" at the Daytona 500! There were 167,996 other people there with us to watch 43 cars travelling at 180-200 mph with unrestricted exhaust for 3+ hours! The crowd, the noise (we wore ear protectors), the speed of the cars, the history - it was an amazing experience - and a completely civilized bunch of fans! The weather was good to us at 85 degrees and, despite the fact it was a long day and we were 'pooched' when we got home, it was a super to participate in this particular NASCAR event. Dan is a long-time NASCAR-guy so it was nice having a play-by-play! Dan was a month old when the first Daytona race was run!




We drove Dan and Anne to Orlando this morning to catch their flight home to Kingston - thanx to both for a great week!

"To the moon Alice, to the moon!"

We spent Valentine's Day at Kennedy Space Center. It was amazing! We never expected to learn so much or experience the history of the space race (when it all began in 1958-59) through to today (when a shuttle lifted off just last week to return February 20/08).

They have a tour that takes you around the Merritt Island location to the 3 major sites: the observation tower, the Apollo/Saturn V Center (where we saw the Saturn V rocket and manned space module), and the international space station (where you could walk through where the astronauts live and work in space). At this last facility, we saw the Canadarm and a short video by Marc Garneau. We also visited the memorial to commemorate those 'test pilots' who lost their lives. It was not a busy day nor a hot day so the touring around was easy.

We attended a IMAX 3-D movie narrated by Tom Hanks called the "Magnificent Desolation" that was about those who had walked on the moon - and there are many more astronauts who have done that than we ever knew or remembered. Last but not least, we went into a simulator for a shuttle rocket launch and felt the 'twang' and the acceleration and pressure of T-10, 9, 8, etc... it was a blast!

Cocoa Beach - Orientation and Initiation

Since arriving in Cocoa Beach on Friday, we have been orienting ourselves to the area. We spent our first evening with our friends Jimmy and Judi Kirkpatrick who live here 1/2 the year in Melbourne - just south of here. It was Jimmy who helped us locate the RV Space Coast campground where we are staying for the next month.

We spent most of Saturday and Sunday cleaning up the RV and Jeep after traveling for a week from the north. John cleaned the Jeep up so beautiful that he drew a crowd - like crows drawn to a shiny object! He took out the windows and we are now on the search for a place to buy a bikini top (just to be clear - the top is for the Jeep)!

Yesterday, we started to explore the area and drove over the intercoastal Pineda causeway to Merritt Island past Patrick Air Force Base and out to the ocean. We stopped at one of the many boardwalks and walked out to the beach. The tide was out so the sand was great for a lond walk. We also noticed the many signs that cautioned about the rip tide. This time of year, there were not many swimmers anyway. Alas, my (old) lifeguard skills were not tested!

On our way back, we managed to find a wee beachside tiki-type bar called the Conch House. There were about 15-20 motorcycles in the parking lot. We had one of their scallop 'appies' for a treat and they were absolutely great! At the tiki-bar, John was sure he recognized a guy (wearing a Sturgis 2006 Harley t-shirt). John shared his memory of being in Florida in 1965 and two things immediately happened:

1. one gal said, "1965! Holy CRAP! That's when I was born!"; and,

2. the guy in the Sturgis shirt quietly added that he was only 10 in 1965.

It wasn't long after that we left.

More next week after we've been to the Daytona 500 Nascar race. Our friends from Kingston, Dan and Anne Farley, are flying in today and will be with us over the next week. We are headed to the race Saturday. It's the 50th anniversary so it should be quite an experience.

Mud Yachts - spinnakers and zaps!

Today is our first down-time day so here's two stories for you re the Florida adventure between St. Augustine and Cocoa Beach: 

Not long after we left St. Augustine, the mechanism that holds the largest awning in place for travel broke loose and the awning itself commenced to flail in the wind like a spinnaker in full sail.  This is not an event that happens when you are nicely docked in your spot in an RV park - oh no! This is only an event that could happen when you're traveling 63 mph on I-95 in a construction zone. Johnnie immediately manoevered onto the right shoulder between the Dr. Seuss construction (highway) cones and we somehow arrived at a stop.

Luckily, the awning 'in play' was on the passenger side instead of the drivers side where everyone (except us) was doing 75 mph. We looked at each other and realized we had packed the ladder into the compartment on the drivers side.  Alas, from the passenger (safe) side, we pulled out the golf clubs and a # of other items, yanked and retrieved the ladder. With traffic whizzing by us non-stop, Johnnie shinnied up the ladder, made an adjustment, re-set the awning in place and started the bus only to wonder out loud, "how the hell are we going to get out of here?" - from a dead stop into racing traffic. 

Well, you'd be surprised (I was) how light those Dr. Seuss cones are! I rolled one completely away into the ditch and, when a wee opening in the traffic arrived, off we zoomed.  I must say though that for the next 50 miles, we looked, checked, listened, re-checked and wondered if that adjustment would hold! it did! and now, at RV Space Coast Resort, it is proudly in it proper place displaying Christmas 2007 LED lights!

But this was not all that happened yesterday morn... not so long after the awning incident, we unknowningly drove over some debris from a transport tire and it punctured a good-sized hole in the electrical junction box for the tail lights. Also unknown to us was the next phase - when an electrical short occured within that junction box. All of this led to a 'smokin' arrival at our campground! As I casually returned from checking in at the park office, I saw John with the fire extinguisher in hand and hurrying to the back of the bus! Several buckets of water later produced a reasonable amount of steam to attract even more of a crowd. Sorry, no time for pictures! There is no question though that we were noted as the 'attraction for the day'!

Today, John discussed the matter with the local RV parts and service guy who said, 'oh yeah, these kind of electrical shorts are pretty common." He added. "the the worst one was when the tow vehicle caught on fire!" All to say, it sounds like we were lucky on two fronts - to have it happen with just the tail lights plus amongst our 'new' friends... more stories later.    

Our First 5 Days on the Road

We had hoped to depart on Friday, February 1st. However, Old Man Winter moved in and stayed the ENTIRE day and night. On Saturday, John woke early and, with the help of our buddy Craig Higgs, the driveway was cleared and we managed to move out around 0830. The drive through the states of NY and PA had been our worst fear and the day turned out just fine - weather was cloudy but no snow and no freezing rain. We were 'good to go' once we got into MD and West VA.  We stayed that first night in a Flying J just inside VA. Sunday we moved onto Florence, SC and booked in at a KOA. This gave John a chance to fill and and re-fill water tanks and get the RV equipment into full operation. This also gave us a short-hop to Savannah, GA where were spent the afternoon and all of the next day touring around this charming city full of southern history and commercial marine life at the wharf. Weather was in the 80's.     Today we ran about 3 hours into Florida and we are now on Anastasia Island about 3/4 mile from the St. Augustine Beach. We walked the beach this afternoon at low tide so it was an easy walk on the sand. Tomorrow we'll take the Jeep about 50 miles south to Flagler Beach to see where John's parents used to live in the 70's.  More later after that trip down memory lane. Pics to follow.