The Ray Adventures: April 28 - May 8 Cocoa Beach Florida

We've had a laid back week, partly because of the weather and just feeling comfortable here on base. We will be here until the 15th waiting for a part.

Friday and Saturday we literally didn't do anything but take it easy.

Sunday, April 30, "I Dream of Jeannie" was part of Cocoa Beach when the television show ran from '65 - '70. Barbara Eden as a 2,000 year old genie and Larry Hagman was an astronaut, the television series was set in and around Cocoa Beach. Barbara came to town when they named a street "I Dream Of Jeannie Lane" and still shows up occasionally. Definitely a tourist town, it's economy has had it's ups and downs, located so close to Cape Canaveral the area "boomed" (pardon the pun) bringing tourists in, plus the beautiful Atlantic beaches bring year around visitors. We drove across one of the many causeways to Merritt Island, taking the scenic tour where saw beautiful homes, located on prime real estate on the Banana and Indian Rivers. We drove up to Titusville, another area that grew during the Space Age. We ate a lunch at Dixie Crossroads,(the sign said world famous) the food was good but a tourist trap for sure. The place was packed, to make matters worse our reservation got lost in the shuffle, so after an hour we were finally seated. On our way back to Patrick Air Force Base we stopped to purchase a new sewer hose at Camping World. Wahoo!

Monday, May 1, Gary asked our neighbor Mike if he would be able to help him pull the washer and dryer out of the cabinet. Yes, again! Within a few days of the 2nd brand new washer installment I noticed a "musty" smell. Oh no! Not another leak! No leak was found but the smell was coming from the back of the washer. Crazy. It's a very long story, Gary called Whirlpool (again), to have them send out a repairman. I'm not sure what a dead body smells like but the smell was that bad. A team of K-9's and their handlers spent the afternoon exercising with explosive sounds in the area next to Fam Camp, beautiful Shepherds. It has been warm, mid 80's but quite windy, it either blows off the Atlantic or across from the Gulf. Florida is on fire in many areas because of their drought, the wind is making people very nervous.

Tuesday, May 2, The wind died down, Gary and I rode our bikes around the base, he rode a lot farther than me. I took a quick trip to the Commissary, on the way back the sky was noticeably darker. A thunderstorm was forecast for the afternoon, it came right on schedule. An announcement was made over the PA that a lightning storm was coming and to cease outside activities. It rained pretty hard for about an hour, I didn't see any lightning but I did hear thunder. When the storm passed the all clear was announced. We drove to Cocoa on Merritt Island about 20 miles away to pick up our mail. Our neighbor Mike came over later for happy hour outside.

Wednesday, May 3, Lucky Mike got to come over again to help Gary take the dryer off the washer. We needed to track down the "smell". The repairman came in the afternoon. He was truly baffled by the smell. He recommended Whirlpool replace our washer (again). We went to dinner at Squid Lips on the the edge of the Banana River. We sat outside on the deck, a beautiful evening after the storm.

Thursday, May 4, Gary had an epiphany at 5am about the smell in the washer. When we replaced the washer (both times) we used the same lid that attaches the dryer. We had left it outside both times between new washers in all kinds of weather. He took the top off, sure enough ,STINKY!! The material lining on the top appears to not be water resistant. Gary called the repairman to just order a new top and of course it will take 3-5 business days. We were able to extend our time here until the 15th. That's okay, it's a pretty nice to hang out. About 7 am Space X launched a rocket with a secret satellite aboard, I missed it, still in bed but I woke up in time for the sonic boom when the first stage separated and fell back to earth. I took a Yoga class in the morning, the first since we left Rockport. OW!

Friday, May 5 It was stormy and windy all day. we've had 3 cold fronts pass through in a couple of days. The rain made a small dent in the drought situation. I went to the laundromat here at Fam Camp and for some crazy reason I cleaned like we had company coming for the weekend. We got new neighbors today, they are from the Seattle area and go to the same church as Russell Wilson.

Saturday, May 6 , I had a hair appointment at 12:30 over on Merritt Island, I asked a neighbor here at Fam Camp if she could recommend a hair dresser, they spent the winter here. Cindy did a good job, it's pretty scary having a total stranger cut your hair. She told me about a fun area with restaurants and shopping across the Indian River, Cocoa Villages, the historic part of Cocoa. We ate at Ryan's Pizza and Pub across from River Edge Park and next to the river. The restaurant served a wide variety of food, I had fish and chips and Gary had Stromboli both were delish!. After we walked the river front and around the park we headed back to Cocoa Beach for a re-match of mini golf. The last time we played I got a hole in one earning us a free game. I won by 1 but I'm still behind.

Sunday, May 7, We left Luci in the coach while we spent the day at Kennedy Space Center about 50 minutes north. A little pricey, $46.00 pp for seniors, $50.00 for adults, but everything was included. In 1959 144,000 acres was set aside for Kennedy Space Center for missle launches,   starting with project Mercury, and ultimately Apollo, Space Shuttle, International Space Station and Hubble telescope projects. An area surrounding the launch pads is a National Wildlife Refuge, poor animals are probably deaf from the sounds of launches. Kennedy Space Center Complex is organized into missions where attractions and tours are grouped by chronological order We decided to take the bus tour first, after standing in line for about 15 minutes an announcement was made that there was a wide load in the road and no tours would take place until 1:00 (it was 11:30) so we went to the Space Ship Atlantis exhibit, the story of the space shuttles. The entrance to Atlantis is a full scale stack of 2 solid boosters with the orange external tank in between. You start with the Atlantis theater presentation, when the doors open you see the actual space shuttle presented like the astronauts would see in space with pay load doors open and the Canadarm extended. Then you can visit 60 additional exhibits in the building. We went back to the bus tour, if memory serves me right, back in1989 we could walk all around the launch pads. Post 9/11 is different. The tour usually takes you to launch pad 39 but not this time, we found out why later. We passed the Space X facility, the vehicle assembly building, the "road" the crawler took the shuttles to the launch pad and the bus driver/tour guide pointed out wildlife along the way, we saw an alligator and an eagles nest. (The eagles have already headed north). On the way back, our driver told us what really caused the hold up of bus tours for 2 hours. It seems a secret spacecraft, the X37B landed, it had spent 718 days in orbit, they are reusable mini versions of the Space Shuttles built by Boeing. According to the bus driver the landing was a surprise. Not too sure how secret, it was on the local and national news later. After a quick bite we visited the Rocket Garden and a the Heroes and Legends, the newest exhibit at KSC.
I guess it's a sign of the times, we recognized the earlier astronauts names and pictures in the hall but none of the later.    We had to get home, poor Luci had been alone for hours, a long day for her and us too.

Monday May 8, We decided to take in the shops and restaurants on Cocoa Beach Pier, built in the 60's it costs $150,000 a year to maintain. Not too sure who pays for it. The pier extends 800 feet out over the Atlantic. We took a long walk along the beach, we could see KSC to the north. Afterwards we rewarded ourselves with "froo-froo" drinks at Rikki Tiki on the very end of the pier.

That's it for this week, enjoy the pic's.

TTFN

Gary and Pam