Day 47 - Dec. 15, 2018

Just a short (4 hour) drive from Perry, FL to Kissimmee, FL. A couple quick stops along the way for some shots of a church and a few Sandhill Cranes, then a few of the new home for the week.

Florida seems to be very low and there is lots of water around, in the rivers and on both sides of the road.

Day 48 - Dec. 16, 2018

After 47 days on the road, today was a day off. We did nothing except watch TV and relax. So just this one picture.

Day 49 - Dec. 17, 2018

Across the street (OK, highway US 192) from our resort there is the first district built by Disney for residential use. Started in 1994, it is very high end and also very beautiful. So, we spent some time during the day looking around and then we went back in the evening for some Christmas light display shots.

Main street has a canal running along it and the birds and turtles seem to enjoy that. Also on the main street, at this time of the year, every hour from 6:00 to 10:00 they spray soap out onto the street in an attempt to make it "snow". Cute.

Day 50 - Dec. 18, 2018

Today Spacex was scheduled to launch a Falcon 9 rocket with a new GPS 3 satellite so we headed off to the coast to witness this. But first we were introduced to the absurdly ridiculous Florida toll roads. Pay to get on to a freeway. OK, it'll save time. Not so much. Every few miles you have to pull off and pay more, and more, and more. Then you have to pay to get off. It's a good thing we happened to have a roll of quarters with us. And we used the all just getting to Kennedy Space Center. The, unfortunately, upper level winds scratched the launch so we didn't get to see that.

Kennedy Space Center is very cool. It has changed since we were here in 2006 and is more like an amusement park than I would like, but it still has lots of amazing things to see and do.

They have the actual Apollo 14 capsule that went to the moon and the Space Shuttle Atlantis. Apollo14 is amazingly small for three men to have spent that much time together. And the space shuttle is amazing large. They also have a launch simulator that apparently is very realistic to what the Astronauts experience (no pictures in there). I rode the simulator and while it was intense it wasn't as bad as I expected.

The area around the space center also has a national park so afterwards we spent a little time there looking around.

Day 51 - Dec. 19, 2018

When I plan a journey like this there are certain things I have in mind I want to see and do. Carlsbad Caverns, White Sands National Monument, New Orleans French Quarter are a few that come to mind. And an Airboat ride (at least one, maybe more) through the Everglades. Today was the day. The weather was good and we picked a small boat with a maximum of six passengers. As it turned out, Joy and I were the only two on board (along with the guide of course).

Captain Ken knew his stuff. He saw the cameras, knew what we wanted to see and knew where to find it. And he knew the names of all the critters.

Unfortunately my memory isn't as good as it should be so I don't remember them all but I will do my best to name them. If you click on the "i" you will see what I can remember.

Day 52 - Dec. 20 2018

The weather turned nasty today. The second most rain on this date in history (3.6 inches). And I spent the entire day in an automotive shop getting new brakes put on the car. Oh the fun never stops :(.

So the only pictures are these two that Joy took of the rain from the window of our apartment.

Day 53 - dec. 21, 2018

Whaaaat? Two days in a row with virtually no pictures (and it looks like not many tomorrow either). I ended up with some unexpected work to do and spent most of the day on that. So a shot of a rainbow and one of the pool. How exciting!