Kissimmee, FL

Kennedy Space Center Visitors Center, FL

Yesterday (Sunday) was a lovely day, doing some chores, some reading and later in the day, I headed over to join Mary Jo and Ed at Tina and Johnny’s for a lovely casual afternoon of exotic beverages and munchies (some were our leftover edamame and fried pickles from the night before). Later Tina treated us to a lovely barbecued dinner on the patio. I could get used to the lifestyle. Of course we rehashed every detail of our parade adventure the night before. While we were all together, we Facetimed with Phil and Gill to catch-up on their news. And since I don’t have a TV I was a hanger on to watch the Academy Awards, which I wanted to do since I’ve seen most of the movies that were up for Best Picture. I’m personally very glad that Spotlight won.

Today I didn’t get a really good jump on the day given my previous late night. In fact, I didn’t get rolling until 10:00am. But it was the kind of day that didn’t really matter because I decided to head to the Kennedy Space Centre (KSC) on the Atlantic Coast. It was a great day adding to my experience at the Johnson Space Centre in Houston, TX.

I started with an add-on bus tour which took us out to circle the huge Vehicle Assembly Building, the launch pads where the Apollo and Shuttle launches were all done, Launch Pad 39a and 39b. We had an excellent guide who was knowledgable, had a great resonating voice and a fantastic sense of humour. The Vehicle Assembly Building is huge and at the time it was built in 1966 it was the largest building in the world. To give you context, the US Flag on the side of the VAB is 21 stories high. It would hold 3 and a half Empire State Buildings inside. We saw the path that the “creeper” took to move the 18 million pound shuttle from the Vehicle Assembly Building out to the launch site. As you can see from the picture, the creeper has tracks like a tractor, each of the sections of the track, weighing a tonne.

The next generation of deep space explorers and the shuttles to take supplies and American astronauts to the International Space Station is under development by commercial entities. The only way NASA can currently get astronauts to the ISS is by hitching a ride from the Russians and as our guide pointed out, they’ve learned the meaning of capitalism because the cost to the US government to send up one astronaut is $70-80 million. So they are anxious to get the new program up and running.

One of the things that isn’t immediately apparent is that in addition to being NASA’s space program site, the KSC is also designated as a nature preserve. It’s an ideal spot because for security reasons, they don’t allow motorized boats around the barrier islands and there is a limited amount of development on the land. We saw all sorts of exotic birds, a couple of alligators and a turtle, while not really looking for them.

While we were at one of the photo op sites, someone asked the guide why Mars was so important to explore. Our guide did a great job of explaining both the motivation behind the moon landing and their continuing interest in Mars. I’ll try to paraphrase what he said much more eloquently and factually, I’m sure. He started by explaining that the Apollo program and the moon landing, was part of the cold war propaganda. The American population was nervous about Russia having a satellite circling the earth and their advances in the space race. Kennedy pushed NASA to leapfrog Russia by being the first to put a man on the moon, after their earlier attempts to keep up with Russia failed. The reason for Mars exploration is to try and figure out why Mars’ magnetic field has been compromised and it is no longer functioning in keep in the atmosphere around the planet as it once did. And there is evidence of a huge canyon on Mars that scientists theorize might have been caused by an asteroid hitting Mars and believe this might have caused the breaking down of Mars magnetic field. So, the study of Mars and other experiments they are conducting to try and move the trajectory of an asteroid are areas of research for the purpose of self-preservation.

After the bus tour I headed over to what is clearly the most popular exhibit, the Atlantis Shuttle. It’s in an impressive, huge building with displays along the way as we wound our way up a ramp to take us to the top of the building. Two audio visual presentations, each in their own room, gave background on the Apollo and Shuttle programs, and are very well done. Both were leading up to the climatic moment when the big screen ahead of the audience in the second presentation room is lifted and you can move right into the upper level where Atlantis is suspended from the ceiling in all her glory. The presentation and lighting, etc. was very well done.

The shuttle cargo bay is open and as you can see from the pictures, the Canadian logo is displayed on two very visible points on the shuttle. There are displays and information all around the upper level and then you continue down a ramp to the lower level where the Atlantis Experience is located. They have set up a shuttle take-off simulator that visitors can experience what it might be like to be an astronaut during take off. The astronauts, from the beginning of the shuttle program in particular, said this simulator is more real than anything they trained on. It was certainly a blast! It was like a Universal or Disney ride, where about 50 people are let into the room in rows of 6 people, strapped in to high back seats and they experience the movement, sound and feel of the take-off. The noise, shaking and force pushing you back against the seat were pretty real feeling for sure, and then once the fuel rockets are ejected the sensation is very smooth and calm.

It was a great day, and I was glad to have had the opportunity to bookend KSC with JSC.

Kissimmee, FL

Yesterday completed the circle of my Mardi Gras experience and will go down as one of those experiences of a lifetime that you tell your grandchildren about. (No pressure intended G&P :-)).
My next stop was only a couple of hours south of Lake Panasoffkee, at a KOA in Kissimmee, a suburb of Orlando, near the Magic Kingdom. Since I had lots of time, I travelled down small country roads, following my nose instead of the GPS (til I got close), and it was a lovely drive through some beautiful countryside. My opinion of Florida has improved on this trip as I’ve been through some of the rural, small town areas that tourists don’t usually see. Rolling hills, orange orchards, pine forests, small lakes, horse ranches, (do you call them ranches?), and friendly little towns, some of them with quite a lot of history.

The KOA in Kissimmee is outstanding. It’s small, newish, and well maintained. The staff are incredibly helpful and they have the best pancakes of any I’ve had at the traditional weekend pancakes and sausage breakfast. ($3 for that, juice and coffee – can’t beat the price!). They have a pavilion beside the pool and it is a beautiful morning for sitting in the sun enjoying the company of my fellow travellers and this lovely breakfast.

But let me back up a little. When I started planning this NANFA Tour, I thought about all the people I could visit along the way and my friends and family made suggestions too. And I’ve been so lucky to connect with so many people along the way.

When it came to Florida I thought of my cousin Ken who you met a couple of days ago, but I also though of my son-in-law, Phil’s grandmother and aunt and her family that live in Florida. I had met both when Gill and Phil got married, but didn’t really get to spend much time with them then so I was keen to make those stops. Unfortunately I’m not getting to the area where Phil’s grandmother lives, but I was planning on stopping in Orlando where Aunt Tina and her family live, so that stop worked. Through Phil, I started communicating with Tina to set up a day and time, etc.

Then coincidently, Phil’s parents, Ed and Mary Jo, planned a road trip to Florida and so we managed to all end up in Orlando at the same time. I was looking forward to seeing everyone but never did I expect to have the interesting experience I did last evening. You see, Tina works for NBC/Universal here in Orlando and she was able to get spots for Mary Jo, herself and I on as “riders” on one of the floats in the weekly Mardi Gras parade! How special is that!

We spent the afternoon at Tina and Johnny’s home enjoying the Florida sun by the pool and catching up. Then we were off to Universal, which is only a 5 minute drive from their place. After a walk through the Universal site and checking in with our team captain, we were provided with costumes, briefed on our job, told how to throw the beads so as not to inflict damage, and we climbed aboard our float, “Octoberfest”. The floats are designed by the same team that designs the floats in New Orleans and they were absolutely spectacular – even better than the NO ones I think. We were the 4th float out of 13 and the excitement mounted as we waited for the parade to begin. As the gates opened and the floats began to move, we were able to see the group of theme-costumed stilt walkers for each of the floats waiting for their float to arrive to join in the parade.

Mary Jo, Tina and I had the whole front of the float to cover and so as soon as we were out of the gate, we got to work. Of course it wasn’t work, it was so much fun. After being in the crowd trying to catch the beads in Galveston and New Orleans, I could empathize with every one of the hopeful faces in the crowd and so I wanted to throw some to all of them. At times our captain told us to slow down or we’d run out of beads and then he said to speed up as we got nearer the end and still had some left. So we went into overdrive. I have to admit that I may have beaned a few people along the way, because you can’t always be accurate throwing something as unwieldy as beads.

After that exhilarating experience we certainly weren’t ready to head for home so we headed for the restaurant and entertainment area of Universal called City Walk. It’s full of the most amazing restaurants with various kinds of food. We’re not talking hot dogs and churros (although they have those too, of course). We went to one of the newer and certainly most unique restaurants called Cowfish. It’s the first and only sushi burger bar, where we tried their signature creation called the “Burgushi”. It’s a bento box with sushi, a mini-cheese burger with pickle, sweet potato fries, Thai cucumbers, and edamame. I chose spicy tuna as my sushi and it was fabulous. It was all fabulous.

It was such an amazing evening, and I was so glad to be able to spend it with Mary Jo and Tina, two amazing and inspiring women, who I’m so happy I’ve gotten to know through the coming together of our families through Gill and Phil’s marriage. I am so grateful to Tina for arranging this special evening for us and for taking her back to work on a weekend.

Lake Panasoffkee, FL

Today, I didn’t drive anywhere. However, I was thrilled to have my Cove Cousin Ken and his girlfriend, Gerry, come visit me at my “house” in Lake Panasoffkee.

After not seeing each other for many years, this is the third time Ken and I have crossed paths or almost crossed paths in the past year. The first time this year was when I stopped in Winnipeg on the Canadian leg of my North American No Fixed Address tour and Ken and Gerry and I were joined by other cousins and my brother Rae, at The Forks in Winnipeg. Ken and Gerry and I sat at opposite ends of the table though, with some chatty people (no, not Maggie) in between so I didn’t really get a chance to catch up.

Then in September, Ken and Gerry were in Croatia in Dubrovnic independently touring at the same time as I was there on a tour with my friend Nanci. We tried to get together there, but our group unexpectedly decided to charter a boat for the day so we didn’t make it happen.

And today, Ken and Gerry came over from their winter place in Homossasa to see my “house” in Lake Panasoffkee and have a visit. It was great to catch up and for Ken and I to swap some stories of when we were kids. The cousins all spent a lot of time together when we were young, often at our home at 604 Strathcona Street in Winnipeg, and with several sisters and a brother in my Mom’s family that meant a lot of kids. Mom was the last of the Cove family to pass away when she did this past summer, so that generation are all gone. Even more reason why the rest of us have to keep the family threads stitched together.

But mostly what we talked about were our travels, where we have been, our process for planning and where to travel is still on our bucket list. That was the longest list of all! Ken and Gerry are as independent minded as I am (yes, you could describe it as stubborn as well perhaps), and like to plan and travel on their own itinerary as I do.

I didn’t tell Ken, but his resemblance to our grandmother Cove is uncanny, and it’s sure easy to see where the curly/wavy hair came from. I thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon, so much in fact that we’re going to do it all again tomorrow, only at their place in Homosassa tomorrow instead.

The Villages, FL

Sorry, had problems getting into blog site last night so this is the post from last night.

Last night, after I had posted my blog, my friend Jo-Anne (from BC) wrote me to let me know that her sister, Karen, from Ontario, who I also know (yes, of course, I know both through politics and their brother) was nearby and Jo-Anne connected Karen and I. So on short notice, but with both of us motivated to make it happen, we managed to meet up today despite tornado and thunderstorm threats.

Karen and husband Graeme live for 6 months of the year in Florida, in a community called The Villages. So we met in one of the three town centres within The Villages, called Lake Sumter Landing, for coffee, then a walking tour around the town square area, then a nice lunch at Panera and then I joined them back at their place to continue to catch up. Their home is beautiful with all sorts of shades of green and high ceilings making it feel very airy and serene. Graeme is a professional photographer and he has several of his photographs on the walls of their place. One in particular, of Wormsloe Plantation, I just loved. It was such a lovely day and so glad we could make it work.

The Villages is an interesting community just 45 minutes or so north of Orlando in the middle of the Floridian peninsula. It’s a planned (by the developer), age restricted retirement community (55+) that started as grazing land in the 1970s and in 2014 ranked as the fastest-growing US city for the second year in a row. It more than doubled in size from 2010 with a population of about 115,000 people by the end of 2014.

All phases of construction and development are tightly controlled by the developer creating a similar look and feel throughout the neighbourhoods, and infrastructure (signage, landscaping, etc). There are dozens of golf courses, including ones designed by Arnold Palmer and Nancy Lopez. Many of them are executive length or 9 holes which the owners can use free for life. It has 3 town centres that includes activities in the town square (free music every evening), shopping, restaurants, movie theatres, bowling, recreational facilities, etc.

One thing that is immediately striking is that it’s also planned around the use of golf carts. There is even a golf cart “dealership” like a car dealership that includes new golf cart sales (with a show room just like in a car dealership), service department, storage facilities, gas, accessories, etc. It’s got everything, except it’s all in miniature. There are cart ways throughout the communities, allowing the residents to head to the town centre and do much of their shopping, etc using the golf carts rather than cars. Around town you see several that have modifications that demonstrate their owner’s personalities. Nearby, on the county roads, where you need to use regular vehicles, there are also the usual big box and chain stores and restaurants.

It’s a hopping place with a real buzz in the town centre where you can see people know each other and stop to chat along the sidewalks or at the local Starbucks. (Of course, there is a Starbucks on the main drag in the centre of the action). There is lots to do, or nothing should that be your choice.

Unfortunately, I completely spaced out and didn’t take my camera and even forgot to take a picture of Karen and Graeme and I! Next time.

Lake Panasoffkee, FL

Today I continued south along Highway 98 down into the Florida peninsula, east on Highway 27 to Interstate 75 for a short bit and south to my stop for tonight at Lake Panasoffkee. It’s just a short distance north of Orlando. I’m here for a few days to enjoy this part of Florida and to visit with my cousin Ken and Gerry who winter in Homosassa, on the Gulf coast.

Today’s drive was really pleasant, starting out in forested areas and then transitioning into ranch lands, and into some serious equine territory and some serious money. All along Highway 98 and 27 were rolling hills with impressive gates leading on to ranches with white fences breaking up different pastures, and red barns dotting the landscape. There were horse trailers travelling hither and yon, hay for sale, tack shops and western wear stores. The odd golf course showed up from time to time as well.

This KOA is once again off the beaten path and away from the tourist areas, but still close enough to make it convenient. I love the southern hospitality and I thought maybe by the time I got into this part of Florida I’d have lost that, but no, it’s alive and well, and even stronger perhaps here. The folks at the KOA are lovely and couldn’t do enough to help. It’s facilities are relatively new, and despite having mostly permanent residents or at very least snow birds, everyone is really friendly.

Just after getting out of my car to see whether I was on a level patch at my site, I turned around and there was a sandbill crane standing behind me. After my peacock scare in Ventura, I wondered if it was going to be Hitchcock, The Birds, part 2. But seems that this one crane is being fed by one of my neighbours and it was alone. Phew.

After setting up I went to walk the grounds to check it out. The campground is along a tributary of Lake Kanasoffkee and includes a fishing pier and places for campers to leave their boats. This lake is apparently home to a great variety and number of fish, as well as birds, being the southern terminus of some of the migratory birds. And as I found out, it is also home to a lot of good size alligators.

As I was on the fishing pier I wondered what the loud sound coming from down river was and I soon discovered it was an airboat. Turns out there is an airboat tour company just a couple doors down from the campground. So I went to check out if they still had trips planned for the rest of the day and got on one at 3 pm.

While waiting for the appointed time, they brought out a 2 or so foot juvenile alligator which we could hold if we wanted. I bravely volunteered to go first. You can tell by my expression I was a little less than comfortable.

Then out I went, with 12 others, into the bayou and around the lake on an air boat. It was my first experience on an air boat and it was so much fun. After the safety drill, the captain took us out for a spin. We saw about a dozen alligators, (a couple of monster sized ones) many different bird species, and one turtle that the captain says is in the same place every day. I asked the obvious, was he sure it was alive, just as it popped its head out to see what the commotion was.

I loved the twists and turns and quietness of the bayou as we slowly made our way into some of the tributaries, with the cypress that are hundreds of years old, and the Spanish moss. And I loved the speed and manoeuvrability of the airboat. It was loud, but exhilarating at times. The hour flew by and it was certainly an experience I would recommend. Some of the others on the boat were up from Orlando, having grown tired of the pace of the Park experience there (Disney, Universal, Epcot), and glad to have had this different kind of park experience.

After a nap, I headed down the road to a restaurant recommended by the campground, and was glad again at being off the beaten track. This restaurant was clearly full of locals and I loved the southern hospitality and entertainment of the people-watching as I enjoyed my catfish, scallops, shrimp, hush puppies and corn fritters. Can’t you just hear my arteries clogging from there. It was fabulous. A great end to a great day.

Ocala, FL

Williston, FL

Bronson, FL

Chiefland, FL