October 16, 2021

October 16, 2021

We booked a room in Cocoa Beach, FL because I have a bucket list item of seeing a space launch. One was scheduled for 5:34 AM this morning. Since the Kennedy Space Center is closed that early, our backup plan is just watching from the beach. I hope it goes off on schedule. The Atlas V rocket is sending a probe into deep space on a 12-year mission to study the Trojan asteroids that lie in the same orbit as Jupiter.

We set our alarms and make our way in the dark to the beach. Humorously a family all decked out in NASA t-shirts follows us. On the beach I am shocked to see dozens of people (with lit-up cell phones) already waiting. I don't know why I thought I was the only nerd. As we look north anticipating the launch, a brightly lit Cruise Ship pulls into Port Canaveral. Soon after it passes a section of the sky lights up and we see a fireball slowly rise up and travel across the sky. Aimee thinks it is cool, but I am underwhelmed. I think I need to come back to see a day launch and be closer. I am very thankful that the launch wasn’t delayed.

Since we now have a free day, we take it as a vacation within our vacation. Aimee takes me clothes shopping and then I take her RV shopping. It is mostly wistful. We want another motorhome but some overseas adventures are going to take precedence.

From Cocoa Beach we travelled across Florida to the Tampa area. It takes longer than we anticipated because of several accidents. Aimee and I both think Florida is way too crowded for our likes.

In Tampa, we went to the theater to see another movie, The Rescue. It is a National Geographic documentary about the Thai soccer team trapped in a flooded cave. It was excellent. Aimee and I knew few details about this harrowing and risky operation. To be rescued the twelve kids had to be drugged, handcuffed, and scuba’ed out individually by a small group of experienced cave-divers on a dangerous route that took five hours each way. All the while a Herculean engineering effort was underway above ground diverting streams to prevent further flooding.

We were travelling overseas when it happened so we missed these details. It had special meaning to us, because we had visited that area of far northern Thailand just six months prior to the event. To celebrate the miraculous rescue we had dinner at a Thai restaurant. It was delicious.