A little Florida coast...

Another beautiful sunny day in Florida and Phyllis took us on a general sightseeing tour of Melbourne and points south. I'm not sure what has wiped out more trees - the hurricanes in the past few years or the seemingly unstoppable development (bets are on the development). Even so, there are still some nice parks along the way.

Bet you're thinking that's the ocean in the background. Well, it's not. It's the Indian River. I always thought Indian River fruit was just a brand name for fruit. It never occurred to me it was a real river along which there are still some citrus groves in addition to the houses. You better look quick though. They may not be here long.

We did see the ocean and it's beach as well with a few white Northerns trying for sunburns and skin cancer. The ocean was rather rough today so even though our friend Leigh might have ventured in, John & I were more than happy to stay on the boardwalk.

Every city down here seems to have its fleamarkets and Melbourne is no exception with vendors too numerous to count. John did acquire a plane (the type you use with wood) and an extension for some sort for a nut tightener. Apparently there's some belt on Rambo that's loose and John thought perhaps he should take care of it. Personally, I'm not sure this is such a good idea because... a) Rambo has been running fine and b) John can't seem to find the part in the maintenance book nor can he figure out what it is supposed to do. Who knows what will happen when we get on the road tomorrow? It could be an exciting day. Stay tuned!

Packing up then off to the moon...

Our final day at the Habitat job site –we’re all still smiling (and even more surprising, we're still moving...) Photo 2 – the “ladies’ vinyl crew” (isn’t that a pretty wall behind us?). Photo 3 – A little roof work. Photo 4 – a little hole diggin’. We hoped to find some of those old Spanish coins but no such luck. However we did leave them with a hole big enough to burn the wood scraps. Photo 5 – more roof work. The guys told us it was HOT up there. These silver metal roofs increase the energy efficiency of the homes by 20%. The men can testify they reflect at least that much heat – they were dying up there. Photo 6 – a gopher turtle (about the size of a helmet). They dig very deep holes in the sand providing great homes for other wildlife. Where was he when the ladies were digging their hole?! Photo 7 – we didn’t quite get the roof finished but the men were more than happy to leave it for the next crew coming in. Photo 8 – BBQ brought in for our farewell luncheon. Photo 9 – Lest we all forget what the site looked like when we arrived on Jan. 2nd. Another family is much closer to having a decent, affordable home of their own.

We hated to eat and run but we needed to be off to visit our friend Phyllis in Melbourne. It was wonderful to be fed dinner and tucked early into bed, a king size bed at that. The bed itself probably has more square footage than the whole inside of Rambo. And there’s definitely an increased comfort factor in sleeping in a bed without “cracks” running horizontally through it.

In the morning we were treated to a pancake breakfast, southern style. Please note if you will, the big block of fat back (laying beside the grill on the little "ledge") used to season the grill. Gives a bit of extra flavor to the pancakes.

We had hoped for a shuttle launching while we were in Florida but it is not to be. However, we did visit the Kennedy Space Center… VERY interesting. As you know, I’m always looking for things that set records. The building where the space shuttle is prepared for launch does that in spades. It’s the world’s largest single story building (equal to a 53 story building – so tall in the inside that if wasn’t for the ventilation system clouds would develop). It has the world’s largest painted flag and the world’s largest logo and the world’s tallest garage doors.

In the last photo, John is eyeballing a copy of the vehicle used on the moon (perhaps he’s thinking of converting Rambo). John later took a simulated “launch” ride complete with G-forces (there’s NO hope for Rambo on that score - more than 1 G and he'd probably crumble into a non-recognizable rust heap) and went "to the moon". He may never be the same again....