We stayed several days in Key
West, first at an RV park, then when rooms became available, we stayed
at a bed and breakfast. When we had our fill of KW, we headed
back to the mainland and then north to Orlando to hook up with a work
mate and another mogger.
The photos below are what we saw.
Kayaking was a popular pastime in the Key West area.
The whole area was dotted with
small islands, some had piers like the one above.
One of our camping spots was right
on the beach. The beach area was actually man-made, but once you
get into the water, it was quite mucky. We walked out for several
hundred yards, but never got into water deep enough to actually swim
in. But, the water was warm and it was very pretty, muck
notwithstanding.
To get between the mainland and
Key West, you must cross the Seven Mile Bridge.
The old bridge has sections
removed to allow passage of boats.
From our campsite in Key West, I
spotted this poster child for Corona beer.
At the campsite, we crossed paths
with Simon and Wendi. She is from Chicago, he is visiting from
France.
After the weekend, rooms became
available in Key West, so we left the RV park and went civilized.
The photo above shows the pool area of the Knowles House B&B that
we stayed at.
I never did get the story on the
ducks.
Key West has some colorful folks
including this fellow who was selling seafood out of his truck.
More of the old bridge that connected the end of the Keys with the mainland.
This fellow had a long ride,
something on the order of 150 miles with some pretty heavy traffic
whizzing by at high speed.
We passed many small islands along
the path back to the mainland.
The color of the shallow water was
almost indescribable.
Once we got back on the mainland,
we headed to Ft. Lauderdale to meet up with a family friend of
Kathleen's. He lives near the intercoastal waterway and
drawbridges are a fact of life in the area. Sometimes, traffic
gets backed up for quite a distance.
Kathleen with long-time friend of
the family, George Lowe.
From Ft. Lauderdale, we headed
north through the center of the state to Orlando. We were
surprised, if not disappointed, to discover that they have L.A. style
traffic issues. There were several factors, not the least of
which was the car that spun out in the median during a traffic accident.
When we got to Orlando, we hooked
up with a fellow mogger. Bill has several 404 unimogs, both of
which are used as promotional vehicles for his headliner business.
This radio box was in very nice
shape and had a fancy vinyl wrap coating.
Not a unimog, but rather a unimog
wannabe. This truck was lifted so high that you would have to use
a ladder to get in and out.
Orlando is close to Cape
Canaveral. We found out that the space shuttle Atlantis was due
to be launched the next day, so we positioned ourselves to be able to
see it. Plenty of folks went to the viewing area that was close
to the cape, but the locals told us that the traffic there would be
legendary, so we opted for viewing from the parking lot of our
motel. We were watching CNN on our laptops via cell phone modems
when we heard the liftoff signal. Within 1 second, the shuttle
was shooting over the trees. The shot above is somewhat blurry
since the camera focused on the power lines, but I was amazed that we
could see it at all.
Once the shuttle cleared the power
lines, we could get a good view of the exhaust flames. We were
20+ miles away, so we did not hear anything over the traffic noise.
The smoke trail was very
persistent due to the calm winds.
The trajectory was flattening out
as it rose higher.
Just moments after liftoff, I
spotted this jet leaving Orlando airport that was crossing the smoke
plume. Look carefully, you will see that the shuttle is
jettisoning it's solid rocket boosters. What a lucky shot!!
Within about 15 seconds, the
shuttle was too far to see.
The smoke plume was very
persistent.
A smaller jet that was crossing
the smoke plume.
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Copyright Bill Caid 2009, all rights reserved.
For your enjoyment only, not for commercial use.