TerBarb South

Part 8

The continuation of the non-working air conditioner/heating system, have to use a ceramic heater as temperatures drop into the 40-50 degree range overnight. Keep needing to repeat - We are in the south and they just don’t work at the same speed that we are use to in the northeast. The parts are ordered and should be in on the 11^th of Feb. Called on Wed (1/13) and were informed that the parts did not show up yet. Finally, they called late Thurs and said he would be here on Fri to fix the system. While the weather has been warm during the days, it gets chilly overnight. Yea, it is finally working late Friday afternoon.

We have been riding our bikes all over the place. There is a park about 1 mile away that is dedicated to the original seven Mercury Astronauts. There are plaques with statistics on each of their flights and their signature and hand prints. We were surprised; Mary’s hand is about the same size as the astronauts. We ride about 5 miles down a street that runs along the Indian River. What a beautiful sight. It is a tree lines street with homes on one side and a small grassy section bordering the river, with docks protruding for each of the homes. It is so peaceful looking. Wonder what it is like when a hurricane is coming on shore. Yikes!!

On Thursday, Jan 7 we, along with about 500 others, watched the space shuttle Atlantis go off into space. I can’t explain the feelings that you experience when you see this event. To see the rockets propelling the shuttle upward, and 30 seconds later hearing the roar of the engines and then the Indian River reacts to the sound waves from the blast off with waves crashing onto the beach. The roar is quite loud and the calm waters of the river now have 1 foot waves coming into shore. At first everyone was quite and then everyone started to clap their hands and begin yelling to each other and high 5’s all over the place. It is an impressive event and one we will long remember.

Bob’s brother, Butch, is spending the week with us. We have a rental car for the week and, this means we can get to places like a real food store, Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Merritt Island Wild Life Refuge and the beaches. The three of us did the Wildlife Refuge on Monday. This area has been left in its natural state although roads have been cut through the park to afford viewing areas along the lakes and swamp areas. Actually, we were looking for alligators and we saw all kinds of birds and even some wild pigs. We also went over to the Canaveral Beaches (which is a gated area and closed during the launch of the shuttle). There are quite a few people on the beaches and several brave souls are even in the water. However, the water is a little on the chilly side. We also took Butch over to the Kennedy Space Center. This is a two day event to do justice to Kennedy Space Center. It is impossible to see everything in one day and if you ever get the opportunity to visit the Space Center it is well worth the time and investment. Tours provide a close-up view of the Space Shuttle Launch Pads, the massive Vehicle Assembly Building and the 365 foot Saturn V moon rockets. They have twin IMAX theaters showing two space movies on the 5 ½ story big screens. . At the Space Shuttle Station Center they have the science module (the size of a room) being prepared for the next space shuttle launch which is scheduled for March 13 along with some other components being readied for future space launches. They have Rocket Park which has all of the rockets used since the beginning of United States entering the space race, along with the capsules used by Alan Sheppard, John Glenn, etc. The next building is the Astronaut Hall of Fame. This building is dedicated to each of the astronauts that have gone into space, including the ones gave their all. This is an interesting place to visit, especially if you like history of the space program. There were also quite a few students on class trips from area schools. On Sat. said our goodbyes to Bob’s brother as he is heading home.

Well, it is just the two of us again and we still have the rental car for one more day so it is off to the food store to re-stock the cabinets. Then did further exploring of the area as our adventure lead us to the Canaveral Barge Canal. This is across the Indian River onto Merritt Island, then across the Banana River to the Canaveral beaches. There are two marinas on Merritt Island and two on the beach side. If you go through by boat, you need to go through a lock after crossing the Banana River before getting to the beach area. This beach area is where the cruise ships depart and the marinas are mainly off-shore fishing boats. The beach area is similar to being on Long Beach Island, as you drive south the island narrows and in some places you can see the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the Banana River on the other side. Cocoa Beach, Satellite Beach, Indian Harbour Beach, Melbourne Beach are along this stretch of land and there are 5 bridges that connect the beaches to the main land. It was an interesting ride.

As a special note – the manatees are swimming (floating) around the boat. The go under the boat, bumping into the hull and bottom, coming up with green paint on their bodies when they re surface on the opposite side of the boat. While they are under the boat, they blow bubbles (exhaling air); sounds like a diver in scuba gear is under the boat.

We returned the rental car and are back to our original mode of transportation – walking or riding our bikes. The space shuttle that we saw take off on Feb 7 is suppose to land on Wed at 9 am and we hope to be able to see this happen.

Wednesday was a great day!!! First thing in the morning (9 am) we saw the space shuttle come in it’s landing – and it was a picture perfect landing. Ter-Barb is moved out of her cocoon slip and put on a T-dock in preparation for tomorrow’s move. The last thing before bed was the viewing of a lunar eclipse. The moon is gradually covered and then it has an orange glow around the perimeter before gradually showing the full moon. What a sight to see.

We are headed NORTH!!, back to Halifax River Yacht Club.