Nov 25-29 - Daytona Speedway

We travelled on Thanksgiving day and found the highways quite empty -good choice on our part. We checked into the Racetrack RV just across from the speedway. Had little cornish game hens with stuffing, etc for our Thanksgiving. Spent 2 full days at the Eastern US largest classic car show with 5000+ rods and 2000 vendors. Needless to say it was non-stop noise and throngs of people. We went out to the "strip" at Daytona Beach where every shopping mall and hotel parking lot was filled with old cars. Quite a spectacle -and we thought that Midnight at the Oasis in Yuma was too big with 800 cars !! Weather has been perfect for this event.

Nov 22 - 25 - Kissimi,FL (Orlando)

We checked into Ponderosa RV in Kissimi. We went on the Dragonfly, an Airboat Adventure on Lake Toho with Sean. This was opening day for duck hunting on the lake so lots of camoflage and painted faces. This is the north end of the Everglades and a mesmorizing place. Had hoped to see alligators but only saw one tail. Lots of waterfowl and a bald eagle but no gators !!! The trees are cypress and the little stumps beside them are cypress knees, roots that grow up to absorb oxygen. The gators stash their dead prey under the roots of the water plants - phantom islands.

We went back up to Blue Springs, but once again missed the 6 manatee that were there in the AM.

Spent a full day at Disney's Epcot Center. Really disappointing because of the Thanksgiving crowds. Fast Pass tickets were "sold out" by 11:00 so we couldn't get into many of the main attractions. What we did see was great. We can't believe the stroller/wheel chair over-abundance which tended to clog the traffic flow. To top off the day it rained so we missed the fireworks :( Did however, have a great BBQ rib dinner special at Applebee's.

Nov 15-21 - Mims/Titusville

We have spent a very exciting week in this wonderful Seasons in the Sun RV Park in Mims, FL.

As well as the shuttle launch, we visited the Kennedy Space Center for 2 days experiencing hands on exhibits. We took a bus tour out to the launch site and the NASA business area. We saw our first live in the wild alligator while on the tour. We have since seen 3 more on our own. We got to do a live simulated shuttle launch, watched 2 3-D space movies at the Imax theatre (one about life in the Int'l Space Station, the other about walking on the moon). We also visited the Astronauts Hall of Fame, a truly wonderful exhibit of the Space history from day 1. along with other noteable news and music from the corresponding dates. Can't believe how 40 years has passed so quickly since Neil Armstrong left his footprints on the Moon.

Side trips took us to Sanford, where we met the Vantare (coach conversion) team. Then 10 miles up the freeway to Blue Springs State Park in search of the elusive manatee. None to be found in the springs that day but had been 11 the day before!! All was not in vane however as we did see several species of fish and as many waterbirds. The springwater is absolutely crystal clear so is incredible looking at life near the bottom from platforms above. Another day we drove out to the Merritt Island Nature Preserve, again looking for manatee and once again disappointed but we will NOT give up :)

We drove down to Cocoa Beach, where we had our Jeep serviced and the brakes done, then off to the beachfront Captain J's Bar & Grill deck overlooking the coastal surf for Scampi shrimp and huge battered scallops and a cold beer.

All in all, this has been an exciting (and busy) week.

Nov 16 - 10,9,8......3,2,1 Liftoff

We went to our viewing spot in a little park on the edge of the water at Titusville across from the launchsite at 11:30. Chatted with other spectators from all over the continent while waiting for the launch of STS-129 Atlantis which happened with precision at 2:28 PM (there was a 30% chance that it might not go because of cloud cover). They don't launch in clouds because they can't see where the fuel tanks go when released. What a truly life-altering experience to be standing so close to hear, see and feel the liftoff, especially when this wasn't even on our list of to-dos !! What looks like smoke is actually steam, created from 300,000 gallons of water released from a water tank adjacent to the lanch pad to lessen the concussion of blastoff.

Nov 15 - Daytona International Speedway

We spent half a day at the Daytona 500 Experience. We took the narrated track tour. The track is 2.5 miles with a 32 acre man-made lake in the center - the excavated material was used to make the banked curves of the track, which have a 31 degree slope.

There is an RV park at the edge of the lake and there is fishing and water-skiing on the lake. The facility is booked 80% of the time for various races and other functions. We were fortunate to see a race in progress -European sports cars, Porche, Ferrari, etc. WOW - ARE THEY LOUD !!!

We checked into Seasons in the Sun RV Park in Mims, FL just a few miles north of Titusville and Cape Canavarel. Spent the remainder of the afternoon (78F) poolside then went out in search of the perfect viewing site for the shuttle launch tomorrow.

Nov 14 - St Augustine, FL

We were only 7 miles from the Florida border so crossed early. Stopped at the Info Center to load up on info for the next leg of the trip. We went into St Augustine and took a narrated trolley tour through the old part of town. This is a beautiful city with so much interesting history.It is the oldest European city in the USA. First visited by Ponce de Leon in 1513, but it was Juan Menendez de Aviles who established the first settlement almost half a century before the first English settlers landed in Jamestown. Incidently, Ponce de Leon was only 4'8" when he met the local native Indians who were almost 7' tall (he always wore his tall Spanish hat in order to look taller !!) St A grew to become the Spanish center of power in North America for almost 200 years. In 1672 they built Castillo de San Marcos. The Spanish sold Florida to America in 1821 and left the city. In 1883, Henry Flagler (oil tycoon) came to the city -he invested in the restoration and developmentof the city as a winter resort.He contributed some of the cities grandest architecture -Alcazar Hotel (now the Lightner Museum), the Cordova and the Ponce de Leon (now Flagler College). St A retains the distinctive plan of a 16th century Spanish colonial walled town with buildings from 1703-1898 (Gov't House -1825, Basilica Cathedral of St A which incorporates the 1797 parish church -one of the oldest Catholic religious buildings in the US, the Oldest House -1706). Whisked south in their private cars on Flagler's Florida East Coast Railroad, noteables such as Vanderbilts, Rockerfellers & Morgans made St A their winter homes. This was a great stop.

From here we headed south to Daytona and checked into International RV Park.

Nov 13 - South Carolina & Georgia

Today we crossed South Carolina. Drove the Basket Weavers Hwy, north of Charleston (20+ miles of little roadside shanties selling sweetgrass baskets of all shapes & sizes). Charleston is connected by a maze of bridges over Wando and Cooper Bays and low ground (bayoo country). There are large paper mills, tank farms, freighters along the waterways.
We checked into King George RV Resort in Woodbine, GA at 5:00 in beautiful sunshine - 70F

Nov 11-12 - Myrtle Beach

We extended our stay for two extra days to let Hurricane Ida pass through. We ended up with about 5" of rain overall but had no significant wind. We drove down to Murell Inlet and checked out some shopping malls. We stopped for lunch at Hooters -even ended up with a waitress with brains as well as boobs !!

Nov 6-11 - Myrtle Beach, SC

Checked into Briarcliffe RV in North Myrtle Beach mid-afternoon. This is a mega golf/mini-golf community, supposedly over 100 courses. This park is centrally located for all activities. We are now in good weather so had our first BBQ steak dinner. We are adjascent to the Barefoot Landing shopping center, a unique mall made up of individual little house/shops (mostly boutiques) connected by foot bridges over the Intercoastal Waterway, which connects Florida to North Carolina. There are many interesting eating spots, including Greg Norman's Australian Grill on the water where we enjoyed a great seafood lunch while watching the personal yachts coming and going.

We played 18 holes of golf at Azalea Sands ($30 each with cart plus a sleeve of balls). There were Fox squirrels everywhere, some black, some grey, with masks and foot long+ tails, about the size of small cats.

We drove south down Hwy 17 to Myrtle Beach then along the coastal road - many seaside mansions and big hotel chains (all advertising cheap rooms & golf packages). Off season presumably. Huge discount beachwear dept stores on almost every block.

Golfed 18 holes at Palmetto Greens ($35 each with cart & lunch)

Today we are in the tail end of Hurricane Ida - no wind but expecting 6-9 inches of rain over the next few days. YUCKKKKK !!

Nov 5 - Wilson, NC

Mostly freeway driving today. We passed miles of cotton fields, soya beans, and peanut farms.

We checked into Kampers Lodges of America in Wilson, NC

Nov 1-4 - Virginia Beach, VI

Checked into Indian Cove RV Park in Virginia City, VI (CCC). This is a beautiful community just a few miles from Norfolk. Spent part of 2 days at Western Branch Diesel in Portsmouth, another neighbouring community, getting some solinoids replaced in the transmission of the bus. The weather was fantastic and we were able to get in 18 holes of golf at Hell's Point GC ($35 per person with cart). We took a drive out to the beach -large sand dunes with wooden boardwalks, large breakers, huge oceanfront homes, mostly on stilts.

Nov 1 - Terrible Day !!!!!

Isn't technology wonderful - NOT !! I set the GPS to take us to Salisbury, Maine INSTEAD of Salisbury, Maryland (MAvsMD).Needless to say we drove half way to New York through tunnels, bridges and toll roads before finally recognizing the problem and getting ourselves re-oriented. We finally arrived at Indian Cove Park in Virginia Beach after dark and $65 in Tolls !! That is one long tunnel-bridge-tunnel-bridge series entering Norfolk -can imagine it is a beautiful view during the daylight.

Wash, DC - Air & Space Museum

The boys particularly enjoyed this one, but was a place we all could have spent a lot more time. Everything from the beginning of flight through the Space Program of today. We actually got to touch a piece of moon rock brought back on one of the moon missions. It was amazing to be standing next to a command capsule of an Appollo mission and to go inside of the living space of the next stage. The "Rover" buggies were also on display. The whole experience seemed a bit surreal after seeing the flights on TV for over 30 yeaqrs !!

Charles Lindbergh's plane, The Spirit of St Lious, was hanging in the gallery.

Amelia Earhart set 2 of her many aviation records - May 20/21, 1932 flew solo across the Atlantic then Aug 24/25 she flew non-stop across the United States - 2 firsts for a woman.(red Lockhead 5B Vega in picture)

There was a whole area of US Military Aircraft (hanging) including several unmanned surveilance crafts.

Wash, DC - cont'd

Day 2 on our bus tour took us past the Washington Monument, the Smithsonian Mall, the Capitol Buildings, the Jefferson Memorial and Tidal Basin, the F.D.Roosevelt Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial.

We went to the National Gallery of Art and

were awed by the ages and beauty of so many "old" (some 400 years) paintings, including one by Leonardo di Vinci. Also a wonderful array of sculptures. Even the boys showed some interest in this exhibit.

Oct 29 - 31 - Washington, DC

En route to Washington, DC we went through Harrisburg and Baltimore.We checked into Cherry Hill RV at College Park (suburb of DC) at 3:30. Had a problem with the coach (solinoid in the transmission) so Norm on the phone trying to get an analysis and a solution to this problem, which eventually corrected itself (temporarily).

We caught bus 83 from the park to the Metro Station, then took the subway to Union Station. From there we took an all-day Tourmobile Sightseeing hop on/hop off bus. We decided to do the complete circuit to see what would be our interesting choices for later. This trip included the Arlington National Cemetery and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier complete with changing of the guard, the Arlington House (Robt.E Lee Memorial), and the Kennedy graves with the Eternal Flame which Jacquie lit when John F. was buried.