Shuttle Launch

Well we made it to the launch.  Even though we were only a little over an hour away,  we got up early and left the rv around 8:30.  We arrived there about 10:30.  The toll road had 3 toll booths.  That slows you down and there was some traffic.  About 3 miles from where we were going the traffic was already back up and hardly moving.  People were already getting their places.  There were cars and also motor homes lined along the road.            

                                  Don't pay attention to the dates on my pictures, the camera was set wrong





We also passed the Disney Cruise Liner.  It was huge.

We were meeting my sister, Inez and her husband Rick and granddaughter Leara, at the launch.  This was the 4th launch for Rick, so he had told us where to go.  We were going to Canaveral Air Force Station, but they wouldn't let you on their property until 2 o'clock.

 We found a place just outside their fence and decided to stay there.  We were there at 10:30 and the launch wasn't scheduled until 4:50.  We had a little bit of a wait.

People kept coming in as the day went on

We had a beautiful day.  I thought it would be hot, but there was a nice breeze.  We just sat around and talked and the day went very fast.

About the last 20 minutes there seemed to be a problem but it was corrected and the launch went off.  I think it was about 5 minutes pass the time.  Rick said they only have a 9 minute window.  If they don't get it corrected they would have to cancel it.  One of the ones he had come to was canceled 3 times and finally went off on the 4th day.

This is what we saw.

 There was a cloud cover, so we loss sight of it pretty fast.  The most interesting thing to me was after you see it go off, than about a minute later you hear the sound.  I had read this on the Internet.  This happens because sound travels slower than light.  I was expecting more of a rumble and sound, but maybe we were too far away.

They announced that they had the largest turn out for this launch.  There were a lot of cars so we hung around about 45 minutes before we left.  I think I would have waited a little longer.  This was the traffic jam we got into. 

The GPS took us the wrong direction.  I thought it was wrong but there really wasn't any  getting in the right lane so we just went with it.   When we got to Cocoa Beach, we stopped at a gas station and the guy inside told us we were going the wrong way.  He suggested we go back the way we had came.  It had taken us 1 hour to go about 4 miles.  We had to go back 2 miles to get on the road we were suppose to be on.  When we turned around the GPS said you are going into congested traffic.  I guess that is why she was taking us the wrong way. 

It took us 6 hours to go 75 miles.  We were going 2 to 4 mph for most of 50 miles.  At one point we pulled over and took about a 15 minute nap.  Another time Ed was so tired we decided to switch drivers.  The traffic was stopped so we just got out and switched places.  It was a long night.

Ed said if he knew the traffic was going to be like this he is not sure he would have went.  I am not sure, but I hope I am never in a traffic jam like that again.

Happy Trails     Ed and Lyn