Kennedy Space Center

In the time we have owned SUMMERTIME, we have passed by NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex four times. Hanging on a mooring ball in Titusville, we could see the buildings across the Intracoastal Waterway on Merritt Island. We could only imagine what it must be like. With time for side trips built in to our Great Loop Tour, this fifth visit to the Space Coast was perfect for a visit. Thanks to our beloved Enterprise rental car, we were able to get the 18 miles from the city marina to the space center and back. You no doubt remember that our car is tucked away in Largo until next November. Since we are travelers, not tourists, this leap into a Disney-like atmosphere was monumental... starting with the price of the ticket. Adults $50.00 each! The Senior Discount offered $4.00 off per ticket, so our admission fee was reduced to $92.00 dollars. Whew. We began in the Rocket Garden with the actual rockets from the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs towering above us. A docent led us through the stories of early spaceflight. Next we boarded a bus that whisked us off to the Apollo/SaturnV Center with a drive-by of an operational launch pad and the Vehicle Assembly Building. This building is the largest one-story building in the world for height and volume, tall enough and wide enough to hold the Empire State Building. When the doors opened to reveal the mighty Saturn V rocket, she cleared with 13 1/2 inches to spare... the largest rocket ever flown! Our favorite dramatic moment was when the IMAX-like movie of the shuttle/orbiter Atlantis paused... a hazy impression of Atlantis appeared... and as the gauzy curtain lifted, there was the legendary treasure floating gracefully in midair with every scar and scratch from her 126 million miles of space travel exposed. This moment alone was worth the price of the ticket!

City of Ft Myers Yacht Basin ---Feb 2016

Our 35 year old nephew Kyle back in Maine messeged us today asking, “How many miles do you go in a day?” After reading our reply of “50 miles”, he promptly wrote back, “Where will you be in June?” Today is March 4 and we are Lake Okeechobee’s South Bay. Our intention is to be cruising into New York Harbor by early June. After having that conversation, it occurred to us that timing is everything. In our younger years we expected to cover hundreds of miles in a day as we crisscrossed the U.S., Mexico and Canada in our various RV’s. Now we are more than contented to report the gain of 50 miles in the same 7 hour travel day. After all, that’s moving along at our top speed of 7 mph! It may be providential that our 50’s and early 60’s were spent traveling in RV’s and our later 60’s (and beyond, we hope) have been spent in a trawler. As our cruising friend Dottie likes to say, “ The 60’s are your GO years, The 70’s are your SLOW years and the 80’s are your NO years.” At 68 and 69 years old, we have nearly reached the half-way point. We’ll have to see how that all plays out.

We spent this past month as residents of The City Of Fort Myers Yacht Basin located in the beautiful historic downtown. It was delightful! Along with re-uniting with cruising friends from last year’s stay, we also treasure the new friendships created up and down the docks and the mooring fields. It sure did feel strange to be in Oric O’Brien’s winter stomping grounds without him. Dad never failed to steer us down some great out-of-the-way places that he had discovered over the 30 years that he lived in Old Bridge Village in N. Ft. Myers. We visited with his neighbors and closest friends. They sure do miss him as much as we do. February has been Parade Month. The Parade of Dogs was followed by the Parade of Children building up to the much touted Edison Festival of Lights Parade. Our trawler was on C Dock backed up to the parade route so we were front and center for each event.

Larger-than-life iron scuptures, visiting from January- March, meet you face to face up and down the streets near the waterfront. Created by Edgardo Carmona of Cartagena, Columbia, each piece shows delightful details of personality. Most of February was spent preparing SUMMERTIME for our upcoming continuous 7,000 mile Great Circle Tour... upgrading, repairing, replacing and stockpiling of crucial parts. When the reverse gear failed in Ortona Lock on DAY 1 of our expedition, it was heartening to discover that the previous owners Ray and Linda had sent us off with the replacement part that we needed...a spare vibration dampener...genuine Volvo...still in the package. TowBoat US delivered us to the nearby River Forest Yachting Center, recommended by our new Maine friends Tricia and Rob, where the capable staff put us back shipshape. God is so good! It’s been very convenient to have our car with us in Brunswick, GA , Ft. Pierce and Ft. Myers, FL. After about a week of cruising, it takes about 7 hrs to return to where we last stayed (in a rental car) and bring both cars back to the new location. Now our car is tucked away at Wally’s mother’s condo in Largo, FL, awaiting out return next November when we cross our wake in St. Petersburg Harbor and complete the Great Loop. Long-time friends Marian and Billy MacIntosh from Nova Scotia brought us back to Ft. Myers this time. They loved their first look at our fair city.