Space Cadets

We raced back into Key West on our bikes the morning of our departure to see the Mel Fischer treasure collection. The museum contained a diverse collection of artifacts and treasure including gold, silver and emeralds recovered from some of the numerous ships that ran aground in the Keys. The collection was very impressive but reality has meant a large number of the items recovered are for sale. 

Jewelry from the past...

Impressive silver bars

After stopping for a coffee and Key Lime Pie we then had to peddle like crazy to get back to Leo's RV Park and arrived just after our checkout time of 12 noon.

Somehow our drive along the Overseas Highway seemed a lot longer on our drive out.....maybe it was my reluctance to say farewell.

Wildlife traffic on the back roads on our way to Biscayne NP

On leaving the Keys we stopped at Biscayne National Park for a quick visit. With ferry rides to the Islands, camping, snorkeling and much more.....we decided that we'd leave exploring the islands for next time.

Biscayne NP

As we sat having a relaxing coffee we could see numerous groups of large buildings across the bay...Miami.

Miami skyline through the haze

We did not want to leave the serenity so we prolonged our stay and had lunch. We then bit the bullet and gathered courage for the drive up the east coast through Miami and Fort Lauderdale. Our bravery was at an all time high as we ventured over the causeway into Miami Beach.

Miami Beach

Talk about chaos, with a dual lane road and people everywhere the traffic was a nightmare. Not the place to take an RV so after only 1 mile and 15 minutes down the strip we were ready to leave. This was easier said than done as none of the traffic lights had left turn arrows and all intersections were congested. In the end we just hit the horn and went for it, letting others get out of our way. Needless to say we did not venture into Fort Lauderdale and spent the night at an Interstate rest area.

We left the Interstate at Melbourne and ventured back to the coastal strip. It was amazing the difference a hundred miles had made. For a work day the place was practically deserted so we followed the spit all the way to Cape Canaveral.

I remember as a kid sitting in front of a rented B&W TV watching as man first stepped on the moon. So it was with great anticipation that I was now visiting the Kennedy Space Center. On our bus tour we were fortunate to drive past the absolutely huge VAB – Vehicle Assembly Building and out to the viewing platform at LC39 – Launch Complex 39. This is where all the Space Shuttle launches took place and is now being remodeled for the next generation of spacecraft.

VAB - Vehicle Assembly Building. You can just make
out 4 regular sized "people entry" doors
 at the bottom in the center...!

Launch Complex 39

The Crawler travels at  1 mile per hour when fully loaded
Here is one of the Crawler links.

Next stop was the complex housing the unused Saturn V rocket from the abandoned Apollo 14 mission.

Appollo/Saturn V 

Wow this thing was huge, over 360 ft long. And to see how tiny the 3 man CM – Command Module and the 2 man LM – Lunar Module sections were when it was attached to the rockets made it even more remarkable. Step inside the Centre for a few minutes and, you too, will sound like a space cadet.

You can just make out the Astronaut's in the CM 

It was only now that I fully understood how it all worked

Lunar Module

Iconic moon walk

The entire space complex sits on a vast wildlife reserve. It was nice to see technology and nature existing together. As we toured around on the B-U-S bus we saw alligators and a 40 year old 11ft x 6ft Bald Eagles nest that is still in use.

Space Cadet McPherson

I don’t know where the time went but we spent the entire day gazing into space and once again being awestruck at just what a huge achievement this was.

Command Module

We had now come full circle after having visited the USS Hornet in San Francisco where we walked in the same footsteps of the Apollo II Astronauts when they made their first steps back on earth.