Trains, Planes, Rockets, Kites, Trees and even Manatee and
Tortoise – I’ve got to cover them all this time! I’d better hurry, eh?!
Trains and Trees: Manatee Hammock is a Brevard County
Campground that sprawls between St Rt 1 and the vast expanse of the Indian
River Lagoon, just south of Titusville.
On the west side of the road are the multiple railroad tracks and the
north and southbound trains do not allow the tracks to get rusty! Two long, one short and another LONG blast
on the trumpeting horn announce each train.
Good thing that once past the first day – you don’t “hear” them anymore
- - unless it’s 6:30 in the morning!
Our campsite on this visit was less than great – short and narrow. The only way H could get the “train” into
the site was to pull into the (thankfully) empty site across the way. He backed into our site as far as he could
and still leave room to get the slide out.
That tall pine tree was maybe 6 inches from the back of the slide! A cluster of palm trees was almost as close
on the other side!
Planes and Rockets:
When I was a kid (a long, long time ago!)
there was a Ford Tri-motor
Airplane that flew out of Pt Clinton Ohio to Put in Bay Island out in Lake
Erie. The number of these 1920’s rumbling planes has dwindled down to just a
handful that are restored and on display in aircraft museums throughout the
states. Several years ago H and I got
to fly in one of the restored and still flying “Tin Goose” aircraft and flew
out over the same areas that it flew in years past! What a thrill! That same
plane is on tour again and was flying out of the War Bird Museum and Airport in
Titusville. For $77 you could take a
15-minute ride. Every half hour the low
rumble could be heard and the plane would soon appear up over the trees that sheltered
the campground! Memories!
Right across the wide Indian River is the Kennedy Space
Center.
The Space X Falcon 9 with 60
Starlink satellites inside lifted off with in a bright glow – right on time,
the Monday evening after we arrived.
Along with the rest of the campground residents, we gathered on the
rivers edge. H and I stood on the rock
walled shoreline while lots of folks filled the long fishing pier – vying for a
good spot to see the blast off, taking photos with their cell-phones – their flashes
causing twinkles in the dark night!
After a moment, came the boom that signaled the sound barrier being
broken! The rocket’s sections separated
and the golden glow got smaller as it went farther away into the dark sky.
Manatee and Tortoise: We were heading out to the fishing
pier one day and as we walked out onto it I got concerned because the little
girl from across the road from us was there and seemed to be all alone. Her 2 bigger sisters were farther out at the
end of the pier and I had not seen them!
As H and the 2 girls were looking down into the water, he spotted a
large manatee slowly lumbering along under the dock. As it appeared on the other side, heading out to the deeper
water, you could count the deep white grooves across it’s back – like rungs on
a stepladder - scars caused by someone’s powerboat prop.
Every time we’re out exploring, we search for places that
we’ve not been to before. This time we
found several wildlife parks. The
Enchanted Forest Park has several hiking paths thru the “forest”. Outside the visitor center was a small area
enclosed by long boards
forming a wall only a foot high. Several informative signs explained who and
what was inside! “Austin” is a
good-sized Gopher Tortoise who was an illegally kept pet and was given to the
park. The sign stated he could not be
released back into the wild. Read the
sign to learn about the bumps
on his back!
More parks were found the day we re-visited Port Canaveral
to see the ocean freighters in the industrial harbor and the collection of
mammoth cruise ships. Standing in the
small park in the interior of the harbor we saw them all – the pleasure boats,
the long sleek black ocean freighters and the 15-story tall cruise ships! From there we found the small well kept Dolphin
Park and the bigger Manatee Preserve Park with it’s soccer fields, ponds, play
area and elevated boardwalk. Obviously,
H
found an open spot to fly his drone and capture a good view of the port and
the harbor area. The square white dot
in the left background is the Kennedy Space Building!
Kites: Each time we
crossed over one of the high bridges that connect the islands to each other,
there were usually a collection of bright colored kites flying high and zipping
out and back across the water, just off the adjoining causeways. Each kite had a water
board and human
attached by a secure harness and long, long line to the U shaped kite soaring
above in the wind. One day the sky was
dark and threatening but no one was leaving!
The next day, we parked at another spot and several guys were skimming
across the water – just a few
feet from the shore! One skimmed across in front
of us, throwing a wake behind him. He
leaped up in the air and flew high, attached to the kite above only by that
thin line! Was that a parachute on his
back?
We got to visit with H’s brother and wife 3 times during our
2-week stay! The “boys” got to go shoot
skeet twice and we girls went shopping followed by the 4 of us eating out –
Mexican, then Seafood and then Lowland Comfort food! Good eating!
Getting the “train” out of that compact car slot
was worse than getting backed into it.
We will NOT go into details! We
had Trimble Park to look forward to and we knew what the size of the site was
and the view out the big back window was going to awesome!!!
