26 February

Today I awoke in my motel to find that it was a different car next door and it was to leave before I went out. Fortunately the motel operator didn’t have to go up to see his mother in a house up the hill behind, nor did he have to wash blood out of the shower, but I was tempted to ask what the room rate was by the hour. (Just in case you are wondering, the room had a mirror behind the bed and at the foot, so there was an image which receded into the distance with size diminishing with each frame.)
However, just to show that you can have the good with the bad, this has been the first place I have stayed in where I had two taps for the shower and could adjust the water flow. Every other place ahs had a fixed water flow and only the temperature could be adjusted. Also, the towel actually dried me completely without having to resort to using another to finish drying my feet (a cause for concern as I can’t afford to have anything go wrong with my feet while I am travelling).
After making my toast (the cheap toaster has already paid for itself) and knowing the smoke alarm wouldn’t go off because I was in a smoking room) and getting ready, I was off. It was a relatively quick and straight run up to the Kennedy Space Centre. I arrived and parked before 8:40 and was amazed to see a fleet of over fifty buses waiting on the other side of the (very large) car park. In line I was talking with a couple from New Mexico and compared my view of Carlsbad Caverns with what I may being seeing soon. The organization was quite good and ticket sales had already started (even though the building didn’t open until 9). I got the extra tour of the launch sites.
Then it was a queue through detectors. This time one person got you through the metal detectors and then another person checked the goods in the tray – and you had to exit past them, not go back. These people had obviously had far better training than the ones at the Johnson Space Centre.
I had a quick look around to orient myself as the tour was to start at 9:50. There is certainly a lot to see and do, so I photographed some parts and then headed off for the tour. Again it was well organised, with only the correct number assigned to the bus, and we were soon off. At the same time, the included tour (which didn’t go out to the launch sites, etc.) was already starting but that was on a “first come, first served” basis – and then I knew why they had all those buses.
We went out to the public viewing site for the launches. The price is very reasonable, but with limited tickets, they are difficult to get. I won’t be back on March 11 to see the launch! Then we went to a site to view both shuttle launch pads. Then it was off to Vehicle Assembly Building, the shuttle landing strip and then to the Saturn V rocket (where I had lunch and the trays were the outline of the Apollo capsules) and the International Space Station facility. This was the end of our separate tour, after just under two hours (and I wonder where the time went). Back at the centre I went on the Shuttle simulation (included, not an extra in the price, and the lockers where you HAD to store what may drop (as you tilt through at least ninety degrees and shake quite a lot) were also included – you used a quarter, but it was refunded). Here, while waiting (surprise, in a queue!) I was chatting with a fisherman from Canada – Prince Edward Island – who was also on the simulator with his daughter, but his wife declined.
The Shuttle simulation was dramatic – the buzz was nearly the same as driving very quickly in the NT before limits came in, because around 240 km is as quick on roads as the simulated 17 500 miles per hour is in space. But the acceleration and the vibration was another thing.
After that, things came to a halt as a torrential downpour stopped any movement outside. The time was spent in conversation with a chap from New England, who lives around here for half the year, and was showing his grandson and his friend around. After that, I went through a few exhibitions and finished up at the “Meet an Astronaut” theatre where Al Worden, a member of the Apollo 15 crew, spoke to us. That is him with me in the photo at the end of today’s collection.
I finally left at 5:45 and could have cheerfully come back for another day, but time is running out. I decided to head over west a little and then work out whether to go north (to Ohio and Iowa) or further west (to Missouri), After dark the rain poured down again and by 7:50 I started to look for somewhere to stay. As usual, when you want something it can’t be found, so I put the SatNav to work and suddenly motels popped up everywhere. I decided to try another Howard Johnson and found a room at a reasonable price in Clermont FA (you have to add the state as there are the same names in a lot of states). I got in, found the room, unpacked a little, did my photos and blog, then checked emails and went off to bed, later that I would have liked but after an exciting day.