Drove to the Kennedy Space Center today (only about 50 miles from Disney, but it took almost 2 hours to get there). It was interesting to compare KSC to JSC at Houston. Because Houston is Mission Control, the campus is much smaller than at the Cape where they put the rockets together and launch them. They mentioned that the danger zone around a Saturn V launch was 3 miles, so they have to have a lot of working space. I am again reminded of how much larger the Saturn V rockets were than the Mercury 7 rockets. Four times larger to be precise -- where you could stand two Mercury 7 rockets up next to the Statue of Liberty and they would be about even ... you can stand two Statues of Liberty up to a Saturn V rocket.
The size of the rockets and the size of the safety zones is why it takes a lot longer to tour Kennedy. A minimum of 6 hours. No one should attempt it in less time than that. They have to bus everyone to the two main launch sites, and both have their own exhibits and presentations. There are also exhibits and presentations at the entry. My favorite was the simulated launch of the Apollo VIII which uses many of the original consoles and equipment that were used for that launch.
Funniest sign of the day was a billboard I passed about half way to St Augustine. Picture a plain white billboard with a fiberglass cow standing on the edge and bracing herself against the display area. Standing on that cow's shoulders is another cow with a paint brush. This second cow is painting the following words (in childish lettering with lots of blots and drips ... this is a cow after all) "Chikin on a bun .... pure Geeenius." (I thought the misspelling was particularly funny, can't expect cows to spell well, of course, but then I realized that given the problem they have here with the difference between "is" and "are," maybe that's considered correct spelling in this state.)
The architecture here is nothing short of amazing. Because the city is so old and has gone from the Spanish to the British and back to the Spanish and then the US, it's got Spanish Colonial buildings, Spanish and Italian Renaissance Revival buildings, Victorian buildings. I am in architectural heaven.
It does bother me that such a lovely city was founded at the site of a mass murder. It seems the city's founder took about 100 French civilians down to the bay 10 at a time and butchered them (they were Huguenots after all -- not Catholic -- therefore not worthy of life). The city didn't even have a Protestant cemetery until the yellow fever epidemic of the 1800s at which time they built one outside the city gates.
Lots to see too. There is Flagler College (which used to be a hotel), the Lightner Museum (another Flagler hotel originally), the churches (Mr. Flagler built most of those too, some in trade for land he wanted and one as a memorial to his daughter), the Castillo de San Marcos, the first Ripley's, and lots of the "oldest" this and that, including "The Senator", a 600 year old oak tree.
I walked the shops on Georges Street (shopped ... did much damage), explored the Castillo and made some decisions as to what I would see tomorrow (I have to push on to Savannah, so I don't have a lot of time). I think it will be Ripley's and the Lightner. The KOA is actually on Anastasia Island, (where they quarried all the stone to build the Castillo), but not too far from the city, which is just down the island and over the Bridge of Lions.
I took a few photos I like, and will post them as soon as I can. Sometimes it's hard to post because of the location and hours of the modem ports at the various KOAs. Here the modem is closed after 7pm.
Then it was off to Ripley's which is a hoot, and after that the Lightner Museum. In some ways the two are much the same, they are both the products of men who were insatiable collectors, just that the Lightner is a bit more "classy." Of course, me (being me), well, I found a few errors in the textual material that was with some of the displays, and had to find the museum manager in order to report the errors (I can be such an insufferable know it all). But, hey, someone had to tell them. Can't have a nice place like the Lightner screwing up on their Greek mythology.
So, later in the day I was back on the tour train when I met a real sister under the skin. The tour guide on that particular train (what they call the trams) was one Jennifer Johnson, who has the same passion I do for uncovering the history behind words, phrases and sayings that we all use without thinking, but that make so much more sense when you know the stories behind them. I stayed to talk to her after the tram stopped and we swapped a few phrase histories. She clarified for me exactly where the bed bugs in "Sleep tight and don't let the bed bugs bite" originated (from the Spanish Moss used to stuff the mattresses -- that is, before they learned to boil it before using it), and I outlined the history and full meaning behind "Ring Around the Rosie". I tell you, it was FUN! I could have stood there and talked to her forever, but I had to get to Savannah, and wanted to get there before the KOA office closed.
On the way back to the car, I walked into an art gallery. They sell and display the work of Georg Williams (not a typo ... that's how he spells it, although it's pronounced "George") who paints the most hilarious cat and dog "portraits" ... they are recognizable depictions of each animal, but capture aspects of his or her personality that are so comic. He does work on commission (not cheap ... a portrait of my little gang would probably run about $4,000), but I recommend him if you've got a pet, the money, and a good sense of humor.
I could have happily stayed in St. Augustine for a month and probably not have seen the same thing twice. However, I did need to get going eventually and wound up driving through one heck of a rain and lightning storm to Savannah late this evening. Nothing quite like hooking up in a downpour. Even though it was 87 degrees out, I got so soaked, I had to turn the heat on in the rig to keep from shivering and to dry out. Ironic, no??
Pinky
Most of what I took today were texture and surface photos, intended for use as mapping on some of my 3D artwork. It was the perfect day for that sort of thing since it was overcast. (Shadows on mapping materials is a bad thing ... especially if they don't agree with the shadows generated by the computer in the finished artwork.) It was only about 76 degrees today, such a nice break after all that heat and humidity.
I had a marvelous lunch at Mrs. Wilkes' Boarding House. They have four large tables in the dining room and they seat you in groups of eight. So, I had lunch with seven strangers. However, we all sat around the table and passed big serving bowls of fried chicken, okra, grits, mashed potatoes, green beans, macaroni and cheese, and biscuits. There was peaches and cream for dessert. It was yummy. Only problem was that, and mind you I found this out after I ate, they didn't take credit cards, and I don't carry much of anything else. I scrounged up what I could, and my table mates kindly donated the shortfall.
Then I had the rare privilege of meeting a young and very sweet cat named "Pinky." I was taking photos of him through the front window of his house when his people came home. They asked if I would like to meet him in person, which I did, and I got my kitty cuddle and kiss fix in for the week.
After that, I wandered over to look at the Mercer House. As much as I love the forensic sciences, I just had to look at the most famous murder house in the area. I also wanted to see the "Bird Girl", but it's been moved to a museum where you are not allowed to photograph it, so I passed. You can't move two feet in Savannah without seeing the Bird Girl depicted in some form, most often on a copy of the book about the famous murder, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.
I met some really nice folks from Modesto (California) when I got back to camp. We sat in their rig and gabbed for about two hours. They've been on the road about the same amount of time as I have, but came across on a much more northerly route (seeing Chicago and other cities more along those latitudes.
South Carolina
As it happened, Boone Hall Plantation is right by the KOA, so I turned in there for a late tour. I was really glad I did. That place is beyond beautiful. The first house on the site burned down, and the second blew down in a hurricane, the third was torn down in 1935 and the current house was built in its place. It's been used as both backdrop and interior for several films, and the second you see it, you know why. It is the ideal of a Southern plantation. It's still a working plantation too; almost 800 acres of land. The interior of the house (which is still a private residence), is awesome. The music room/library was so lovely it was quite literally a jaw dropping experience to see it.
So, I will probably make it to Wilmington, NC tomorrow and go from there to Cape Hattaras. My route is still a little unclear at this point since there aren't any roads that go straight there. But, I want to see the Outer Banks and Kitty Hawk, so there I will go.
South Carolina
After seeing the fort, I went for a carriage tour around the Battery. A lot of lovely homes there, but almost all of them exactly the same architecturally. The most interesting element is this oddly placed doorway at the end of each open porch. The guide told us that was a door that, if closed, indicated that the occupants were on the porch but not "dressed to receive company." In other words they were out there in their under things trying to escape the heat. You would walk on and not look back at the porch (you could actually be arrested as a peeping Tom if you did). If the door was open, then you would go on up to the front door of the house and knock.
It's a pretty city, although considering how often everything has either burned down or blown away, I'm amazed there are any old buildings at all. Many of the old plantation houses were burned to the ground purely out of the vindictiveness of the wife of the Union commander in charge of the area after the fall of the Confederacy. She hated the South so much, she asked to personally torch several of the homes. Man, what a shame, such beautiful houses ... gone.
Both tours took a fair amount of time, so I didn't leave Charleston until almost 6:00 pm. It was only an hour and a half drive to Myrtle Beach, and closer to three hours if I drove on to Wilmington, so foot sore and tired, I opted to camp at Myrtle Beach. Pretty KOA, although the TV reception (even cable) sucks.
I'm off into terra incognita for the next few days, so I won't be able to post. Mostly I'll just be driving and taking ferries trying to get to the Outer Banks.
North Carolina
The highway near Myrtle Beach is packed with miniature golf courses. There is one on every block, and there are quite a few to the north and south of there as well. Between the mini-golf sites there are countless beachwear shops and restaurants. In contrast the drive through North Carolina was like an extended drive in the country. It rained off an on the whole day, including during the ferry rides. And the ferry from Swan Quarter to Ocracoke Island was an experience not to be missed. Once you are out in the Pamlico Sound you might as well be out in the open ocean ... you don't see any land. I was the last car on the ferry (and lucky I got on because you usually need reservations, but there was one spot open when I arrived about 5 minutes before the ferry departed, so I nabbed it), so I had what appeared to be a sea view for about two hours.
Funniest sign of the day had two contenders: First, a sign that read "Atheism, a non-prophet organization", and second, one that read "Never knock on death's door, ring the doorbell and run away. It really makes him mad."
Before I forget (again), there was a good one in Saint Augustine as well. It read, "Saint Augustine, a quaint little drinking problem with a fishing problem."
Also, before I forget ... I didn't mention that the Savannah KOA was haunted. It is, I swear. It was the strangest thing ... I was sitting there in the rec room checking my email when I heard very distinctly a child laughing and yelling "watch me, daddy, watch me." I could also hear some other more indistinct sounds like splashing and such. OK, so fine, the rec room is right by the pool, but when I looked out at the pool, there wasn't anyone there. I thought maybe the voices were part of one of the video games that were in the room, but I walked around to each one and they were all ninja and battle stuff ... nothing that would account for the voice I was hearing. So, I stuck my head outside, but no sounds out there. Next morning, same thing ... very distinct, a child's voice saying "watch me, daddy, watch me" over and over again. Did the same drill: checked the pool, checked the video games, checked outside. No one there, no child's voices coming from anywhere I could pin point. The voice and other less distinct background noises were just there.
Not that it bothered me. Quite the contrary actually since I lived for eight years in a haunted house (from ages 10 to 18), so I'm used to spectral goings on. However, it would have been nice to have had someone else there to confirm what I was hearing. (Lots of people saw the ghost in our house - mostly in mirrors.)
Tomorrow I will explore the cape. Lots of history here.
North Carolina
Note: we got 4 inches of rain last night. It covered the tent sites of the campground 11 inches deep in places. They had to evacuate all the tent campers to the rec room so they would have a dry place to sleep. A few of the tents blew entirely away. I was quite warm and cozy in PeeWee. No leaks whatsoever. Although, when the wind gusts would hit him, he would rock a bit. It felt a lot like being at sea in a boat. And, considering the lake that surrounded me this morning, it was a lot like being at sea.