Tuesday, July 12, 2005
The plan was to leave Monday morning at 5AM, but the thought of getting this family motivated that early in the AM was not sitting well with me. Our morning plans at the 3-D archery shoot ended early. After getting home and packing the van, we decided to start the trek south.
Sunday, 7/10, 7PM: We loaded up on Subway to go and off we went.
11:30PM: We made great time west round the DC beltway and south through Virginia.
I learned several months ago during commutes to DC to work at the Navy Research Lab that a hat covering the radar detector does not interfere with detecting radar and successfully conceals the illegal (in DC and VA) detector quite well.
We made it all the way down to Wilson, NC. We stayed the night at a crappy Comfort Inn.
Monday, 7/11, 7:38AM: Rise and shine. Got the family up and re-packed the van. Had our first and last breakfast at the Waffle House - we're a pancake family!
8:30AM: Gassed up and on the road.
1:15PM: Stopped for lunch on SC Rt. 278. This happens to be the road to Hilton Head - 20 miles off US95. Hilton Head is where the Heckle family is staying for the week. Dave Heckle is a friend and co-worker. The Heckle's invited us to take a break from the road and enjoy Hilton Head Island and its beach.
We obliged and had a wonderful time at the beach. I recovered under the beach umbrella and fretted at my wife and kids for going too deep!
I consider the stop at the Heckle's condo a turn of fate. Lunch and I didn't agree. I don't know what I would have done had we been an hour down the road when that Pepto Bismol moment came on!!!
We ordered take out and finished our short stay by eating dinner with the Heckle family - Thanks Heckle's for the stopover opportunity!!!
8:30PM: Back on the road to Melbourne, FL... Another grueling 5.5 hours on the road... Jen took the wheel at 10:30PM and drove us for 2 hours.
Tuesday, 7/12, 1:30AM:We checked in to the hurricane riddled (last year's barrage) Radisson in Canova Beach, FL. BTW, Hurricane Dennis only caused us beautiful skies for the evening ride to FL.
7:20AM: I got up to ready for a hard days work at KSC.
8:15AM: I had a limited but very expensive breakfast at the Radisson's Canova Beach Cafe - not again!
9:00AM: I headed to the lobby to meet up with co-workers. Plans skuttled when I learned that their luggage was MIA due to Hurricane Dennis - lay over in Atlanta, GA flew them into the storm...ha ha ha
9:30AM: Had a second, much better, breakfast with the family at Friendlies.
11:00AM: Headed to KSC. After getting badged. we did some work at the GSFC Resident Office.
1:45PM: I had lunch at Shuttles. The rest of the family, I learned, was enjoying a beach-side pool along with playing in the ocean.
3:00PM: We took the Rookie, Joel, out to the Launch Pad B to look at Discovery. To our delight, we were able to get all the way out and ON the pad! Pictures posted soon...
5:30PM: We finished our day at KSC and head to Happy Hour for a beer at the Irish Pub.
6:45PM: I left early and headed back to hang with the family. Tony and I watched the All-Star game while Nick, Gina, and Jennifer watched a movie until the SandMan arrived...
Sunday, 7/10, 7PM: We loaded up on Subway to go and off we went.
11:30PM: We made great time west round the DC beltway and south through Virginia.
I learned several months ago during commutes to DC to work at the Navy Research Lab that a hat covering the radar detector does not interfere with detecting radar and successfully conceals the illegal (in DC and VA) detector quite well.
We made it all the way down to Wilson, NC. We stayed the night at a crappy Comfort Inn.
Monday, 7/11, 7:38AM: Rise and shine. Got the family up and re-packed the van. Had our first and last breakfast at the Waffle House - we're a pancake family!
8:30AM: Gassed up and on the road.
1:15PM: Stopped for lunch on SC Rt. 278. This happens to be the road to Hilton Head - 20 miles off US95. Hilton Head is where the Heckle family is staying for the week. Dave Heckle is a friend and co-worker. The Heckle's invited us to take a break from the road and enjoy Hilton Head Island and its beach.
We obliged and had a wonderful time at the beach. I recovered under the beach umbrella and fretted at my wife and kids for going too deep!
I consider the stop at the Heckle's condo a turn of fate. Lunch and I didn't agree. I don't know what I would have done had we been an hour down the road when that Pepto Bismol moment came on!!!
We ordered take out and finished our short stay by eating dinner with the Heckle family - Thanks Heckle's for the stopover opportunity!!!
8:30PM: Back on the road to Melbourne, FL... Another grueling 5.5 hours on the road... Jen took the wheel at 10:30PM and drove us for 2 hours.
Tuesday, 7/12, 1:30AM:We checked in to the hurricane riddled (last year's barrage) Radisson in Canova Beach, FL. BTW, Hurricane Dennis only caused us beautiful skies for the evening ride to FL.
7:20AM: I got up to ready for a hard days work at KSC.
8:15AM: I had a limited but very expensive breakfast at the Radisson's Canova Beach Cafe - not again!
9:00AM: I headed to the lobby to meet up with co-workers. Plans skuttled when I learned that their luggage was MIA due to Hurricane Dennis - lay over in Atlanta, GA flew them into the storm...ha ha ha
9:30AM: Had a second, much better, breakfast with the family at Friendlies.
11:00AM: Headed to KSC. After getting badged. we did some work at the GSFC Resident Office.
1:45PM: I had lunch at Shuttles. The rest of the family, I learned, was enjoying a beach-side pool along with playing in the ocean.
3:00PM: We took the Rookie, Joel, out to the Launch Pad B to look at Discovery. To our delight, we were able to get all the way out and ON the pad! Pictures posted soon...
5:30PM: We finished our day at KSC and head to Happy Hour for a beer at the Irish Pub.
6:45PM: I left early and headed back to hang with the family. Tony and I watched the All-Star game while Nick, Gina, and Jennifer watched a movie until the SandMan arrived...
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OK...this ain't Hollywood, man! I was on the PAD at T-24 hours. What a thrill! I called Brian Curcio from the pad... C comes before D and he was the first one on my cell list that would have cared where I was...next time I'll call you and maybe you'll believe me... :-).
I'll check out your blog.
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I'll check out your blog.
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