Compounding our joy at being in FLORIDA (I'd never been farther south than Baltimore!) was the realization that we'd FINALLY gotten past the looooong drive through the Carolinas & Georgia, what felt like an endless stretch of bor-ing interstate.
We were in Florida, driving down its famous coast. Family back home were slogging through November ick while we were in the aptly named Sunshine State, cruisin' through some mega famous towns.
Mim being Mim made sure we checked out the sights in St. Augustine (oldest city in North America), that we drove the van down Daytona Beach.
If DisneyWorld had been opened, am sure she would have darted over the Beeline Highway for a quick zip around the Magic Kingdom. Alas, Mickey wouldn't call Florida home for another two years.
It was almost as if we were delaying our arrival in Titusville, across from the Cape. Delicious waiting.
But arrive we finally did. And for the first time, I discovered something pretty darn amazing - Mim hadn't a clue where we should go once we arrived. She'd expected that there would be signs - none. She'd assumed the folks who lived there could tell us the best spots - ha!
We headed to a nearby convenience store to ask best viewing spots for the next day's launch. The girl behind the counter told us, "Gee, I never saw a rocket launch. Hey, does anyone in here know where these folks can park to watch tomorrow's launch?"
Not a soul answered.
Mim assessed our situation, drove to a nearby Taco Bell (Wow! Mexican food!), got us burritos, described - as we were eating them - that they bore NO resemblance to what she'd had with the Ripley out in California, drove around & we talked about what to do next.
There was the ocean, there we were - down range from the launch site. So, Mim drove to where a road ended at the beach & parked the van. To the right of us was a small apartment complex, to the left was tall beach grass. It was late afternoon by now, night was beginning to fall, so we settled down on the mattress in the back of the van, in the dark (didn't think to bring flashlights) & waited for the sun to rise on Launch Day.
It was the start of possibly the longest, most boring night of my life - stark contrast to what lay ahead the next day!
No comments:
Post a Comment