When we toured Cape Canaveral earlier this month, our tour guide mentioned the launch of Themis and how we could contact our senator to try and get VIP tickets. We didn’t think we would be here that long, but as we got closer to the launch date and realized we were still going to be in Florida, we decided to give it a try. I talked to Mark Pendleton at Senator Elizabeth Dole’s office. He wasn’t aware of any VIP tickets nor was he sure how to go about finding out, but he promised to check into it and let us know. We figured that was the end of it, but he called me the next day with all the information. Mark called on the 13th and said we had the VIP tickets to the launch and also tickets to a cocktail reception where we could mingle with all the people who had built, designed, and were responsible for the launch.
The night before the launch we feasted on jumbo shrimp, free drinks and appetizers while we mingled with the engineers and scientists from Berkeley. This was actually interesting. You could feel their excitement and nervousness as Themis was originally supposed to have launched in October 2006 but was cancelled due to workmanship problems. There was a lot riding on the launch the next day.
The launch itself was amazing. They took us on a bus from the main center to the launch site. It was windy and cold (of course), but they had a tent set up for us, free drinks and hamburgers and hotdogs for a dollar. We endured the wind and cold for about and hour. Then six minutes before launch it was called off due to high wind. It was rescheduled for the next day. The next day, we again drove to Cape Canaveral, got on the bus to the launch site, again had hamburgers and drinks, AGAIN it was cold but less windy. This time we had a launch. It was amazing. As the rocket goes up, these 6 fuel tanks burned through their fuel and then dropped off where presumably they would land harmlessly in the ocean. The very ocean we would be crossing to the Bahamas. I am sure the odds of being on a sailboat and being hit by falling fuel tanks is miniscule, but still, they do land somewhere. If you are ever in Florida and have a chance to see a launch it is well worth it. And do call your senator for tickets. We are very grateful Mark Pendleton for really helping us out. It is something none of us will forget.
Another week of boat projects. This time it was repairing both heads (bathrooms) and the refrigerator. The cars are still full. We found a note on Dan’s car the other morning. It said “marina parking only.” There’s construction going on here and apparently when they saw all the stuff in our car they assumed it was a construction guy living out of his car. Nice. I guess we’re considered transient now.
It is starting to get frustrating and a little depressing. The kids are having fun though. Tristan has become an unofficial dockhand at the marina. Don, on the beautiful trawler Overindulgence, has taken Tristan under his wing and has been teaching him how to handle the lines and different sailing knots. Now every time Tristan sees a boat come into the marina he is on the dock ready to help. He has been earning some tips too. It’s great to see this sometimes shy boy really become outgoing and confident.
We are getting to know more of the people here too. Dottie and Ritchie on the boat Mercedes invited us to a cookout. They have a great dog Buddy which Tessa is crazy about. Aubrey, their daughter has a used bookstore in Flagler Beach. We were able to unload some of our over abundance of reading material to her for her store.
That will free up a few more inches!
Thursday was going to be one of the first good days weather-wise and we needed a change of pace. We decided to take the kids to Cape Canaveral space center. The weather was warm for the first time, although it was still very windy. During our tour we saw a rocket on the launch pad. Our tour guide told us a launch was scheduled for February 15th. The rocket was going to launch Themis, a research project containing 5 different satellites. Its purpose was to study energy releases from the Earth’s magnetosphere. She told us that we could call our Senator and try to get VIP tickets to view the launching from Cape Canaveral. We would love to see a launch but thought surely we would be gone by then.
We drove back to Palm Coast that evening in a torrential downpour and the weather deteriorated. Our area was under a tornado warning until 1 am. On TV we could see the line of severe storms heading right toward us. Being from Illinois originally, when a tornado is coming your way, you head for the basement. On a catamaran there is no basement, (and believe me if there was one it would be full of stuff), so we decided to take the kids into the marina showers.
It wasn’t too hard waking up Tristan and getting him into a raincoat, but Tessa was another story. When we started getting them ready the wind was really blowing and then it started to lessen. This is usually the calm before the tornado. Getting no cooperation from Tessa, (it was like trying to put a cat in bathwater!), I finally wrapped a blanket around her, grabbed her and went out into the cockpit. Now we had to negotiate getting off the boat at low tide, with the rain and the lightning. At this point we realized that this could be more dangerous than simply staying on the boat, but we forged ahead. We made it to the showers where we stayed for about 30 minutes, long enough that the worse should have passed over us.
When we got back on the boat, we heard on the news that the tornado watch was extended for another hour. We were done though. The kids went back to bed and we stayed up until about 3 am until things settled down. That morning when we saw on the news all the damage in the towns around us, we considered ourselves very lucky.
