ENDEAVOR COMES "HOME"

Space shuttle Endeavoour was scheduled to return home to Kennedy Space Center today so Bill and I drove to Lori Wilson Park just south of Cocoa Beach to watch the event.

This is the entrance from the park to the beach. There are lots of wooden walkways and benches to sit on and enjoy the afternoon sun.

Bill on the beach waiting for Endeavour to return. The launch was on Nov. 14. It was a little chilly today so we had on our jackets.

There were a lot of spectators waiting for the return. Endeavour had to land in California on Nov 30 because of poor weather conditions at KSC. She left Edwards AFB in California on Wednesday, Dec. 10 on a 2225 mile journey with overnight stops at Forth Worth Naval Air Station in Texas and Barksdale AFB in Louisiana before leaving this morning for KSC.

This picture was taken through binoculars of Kennedy Space Center.

Here is Endeavour, weighing over 110 tons riding piggy-back on a 747 jet. Although the flight and it's $1.8 million cost is never NASA's preference, it does generate public enthusium at each of its stops. Once back at KSC technicians were expected to work overnight to detach Endeavour from its carrier aircraft before the orbiter was to be towed to a hangar early Saturday.

Endeavour's next mission is targeted for mid-May and it also serves as the rescue shuttle of the Hubble mission, in the unlikely event that one was needed.

Christmas Decorations and Mom's birthday 12-08

Here's mom relaxing (or exhausted!) after putting over 200 ornaments on her tree. And she can tell you where each one came from or a story about it.

Bill spent 2 days putting up the outside decorations. Mom has the most colorful house in the development!

We even found a few lights and a mom bought a Santa to put on the RV. You can see our "Charlie Brown" tree with the white lights through the RV window.

On Thursday, Dec. 11, Jim and Laura had a birthday dinner for mom's __th birthday. (Can't tell her age!!) Laura has set a beautiful, festive table.

Jim worked hard in the kitchen making a delicious lamb and barley soup. Dinner included salad, rolls, Scottish meat pies, green beans, mashed potatoes and gravey. Everything was wonderful!

Mom with her birthday cake. Don't you just love her smile??
Also, notice the Scottish plaid dinnerware.

Jim, Laura, Jeanette, Jon, Mom, Bill, and Gail.

BACKPACKING IN OCALA NATIONAL FOREST - DEC. '08

Bill's brother Jon and Jeanette are backpacking enthusiasts and invited us to join them on an overnight trip to Ocala National forest. Since I (Barb) have never been backpacking, this sounded like a great adventure and we had "guides" and equipment provided. What else could you want?? Then I got to thinking about the snakes and bears and who knows what else is out there. But hey, Jon and Jeanette do it so why can't Bill and I? So the date was set for Dec. 6 and 7.

Jon picked us up (niece Katie decided to join us) on Saturday morning and we were off to Ocala. Sure enough, as we got close to the trailhead I started seeing bear crossing signs.......Too late now to turn back! Our trail head was in the Juniper Prarie Wilderness area of the Ocala National Forest.

We parked Jon's truck on a pulloff beside the road and filled our hydration bags with water before we started out on the trail.

Here's Jeanette and John ready for the hike and loving it!
The weather is perfect for hiking, slightly overcast and about 65 degrees.

Here we are, eagerly anticipating a great adventure. The packs were loaded with our tent, sleeping bags, air mattress, change of clothes, water bag and food. I had the important job of carrying the "stove" to heat the water for the dehydrated food! I also had my camera, of course, and a new hiking stick that Bill had made for me out of wormy chestnut! I was ready.

After hiking about 2 hours and 3-4 miles we found a serene spot by a small pond where we set up camp for the night. It was about 100 yards off of the trail and quite secluded. By now the sun had come out-it was a beautiful afternoon.

We purified water from a nearby pond to use for cooking.

Time for a rest after all that walking and setting up camp.
That's a view of our pond.

Guess we got bored so what did we do, we went for a walk!

That's Katie, wading in a beautiful lake. I asked if the water was cold and she said her feet were numb. Not my kind of wading water! If we had hiked another 20 minutes we would have come to this area but are happy with our spot. This must be a popular spot as there were already other campers here.

Jon and Bill built a fire even though we have nothing to cook over it. Everything we eat will be dehydrated or instant. The food was surprisingly good: lasagna, beef and rice, chicken and noodles, and chili. We even had dehydrated ice cream for a snack this evening along with hot chocolate. I did carry in a box of Emma's Girl Scout Cookies!!




That's Bill checking out the pond that supplied us with our cooking water. It was along the trail not far from our campsite.

A picture of the pond at sunset.

This is a view of the trail near our campsite. It was so quiet, so far from anything. Just miles and miles of national forest land.

Sunday Morning

Katie, Jeanette, and Barb. It was little chilly in the morning and we were huddled around the fire. Actually it was in the high 50's but the wind was blowing across the pond making it seem much colder.

A picture of our pond with the morning sun rising over it.

I found this cactus along the trail. This area had been burned out a few years ago and there weren't many trees, just a lot of scrub plants and grass.






Most of our hike was through terrain like this. You can see the skeletons of the burned trees and the undergrowth returning to the area.

Here we are, back at the trailhead, none the worse for wear!

And, I didn't see a bear (just bear poop) or any snakes, or any wildlife for that matter. Just heard the birds.

St Augustine and Flagler College Nov. 2008

Jim's wife Laura invited me to ride along with her to visit their daughter, Gail, who is attending Flagler College in St. Augustine, Florida.

Since Gail had classes until early afternoon, Laura and I visited Castillo de San Marcos. Dating from 1672, it is the oldest masonary fortification in North America. Built to protect and intimidate, it overlooks St. Augustine Inlet and the Atlantic Ocean and is now situated on a 20 acre park.





The fort has four bastions, a moat (which is just behind Laura), a drawbridge, and a shot furnace used to heat cannonballs, which would, in turn, set wooden ships ablaze.

Constsructed of coquina ( a type of local shell) and how a National Monument, the fort twice proved strong enough for its Spanish builders to hold off attacks by the British. During one such onslaught in 1702, the Castillo housed all 1200 residents of St. Augustine, along with 300 soldiers, for two full months.





Before meeting Gail, we walked around the grounds of Flagler College, its historic campus being located 4 miles from the Atlantic Ocean in the heart of St. Augustine, the oldest city in the United States. It started as a small, private liberal arts women's college in 1968, but was reorganized to a coeducational college in 1791.

A church located on campus is just one example of the magnificant architecture that abounds in St. Augustine.

The most impressive building on campus has to be the former Hotel Ponce de Leon, built in 1888 by Henry Morrison Flagler, an industrialist, railroad poineer, and oil magnate. The Ponce now serves as a residence hall and centerpiece for the college. This fine example of Spanish Renaissance architecture is on the National Register of Historic Places. Thomas Edison personally helped make the Ponce the first building in Florida wired with electricity.

Louis Comfort Tiffany decorated the building's interior with stained glass, mosaics and several commissioned murals. The Ponce holds the largest collection of Tiffany glass in the world.

It is truly a work of art. Gail has lived in this beautiful residence hall for 4 years. What a life!!

We met Gail and had lunch at a little Italian restaurant in "Old Town." Afterwards, we walked through the streets of Old Town, visiting some of the many shops. This is Laura and Gail in front of the oldest wooden schoolhouse in the United States.

Connor Construction Crew

Mom needed a new shed but first the old one had to be torn down and removed by Bill and his crew (me, myself, and I). Once that was done brothers Jim and Jon joined the project.

Jim, Jon, and Bill hard at work. They erected the new shed on the existing cement pad.

Up with the walls and roof.

Several hours later -- the job is finished!

THE TRIP SOUTH NOV. 2008

Morning came early on Tuesday, Nov. 11. We had spent the night at the Flying J Truck Stop at Wytheville, VA. It was a very chilly night, around 30 degrees. The sun was coming up a rosy pink in the eastern sky.

This was taken just outside of Chattanooga, TN. As you can see, the foliage was gorgeous. We enjoyed traveling through the hills of Tennessee.





We spent Tuesday night at Harrison Bay State Park just north of Chattenooga. There was only one loop open in the campground with about 15 rvs present.

We stretched our legs with a walk along the reservoir. That's Bill ahead of me. It must be a large body of water as there were 4 huge covered docks on the opposite side and very large boats moored there.

We found a site where we could pull in and spend the night. Didn't bother to unhitch as we had another long day ahead of us tomorrow. We had a nice chat with the park ranger. He too is interested in fulltiming for a couple of years with his wife. They are a young couple and originally from Oregon.

We spent Wednesday night in a Flying J truck stop in Alabama just south of Mongomery. The way we figure, if we stay at a Flying J we don't have to pay for a campsite, therefore saving money. With the money we save, we treat ourselves to the buffet at the Flying J. Win-win situation. We get a great meal and I don't have to cook!!



We arrived at American Home Base, where we will set up our mail forwarding address in Pensacola, FL around 10:30 am on Thursday. From there we went to Drifters RV park and set up "camp". After lunch we got our Florida drivers licenses and Friday we will get the vehicles transfered to Florida plates.

Friday afternoon, our work all completed, we went to the beach!What beautiful white sand beaches they have in Pensacola, and I suppose, most of the northern gulf coasts. What a glorious day. We spent an hour or so walking on the beach before heading back to the RV and preparing to travel to Melbourne tomorrow.





We left Pensacola on Saturday morning and spent the night at the Flying J just south of St Augustine, FL on the Atlantic coast.

We arrived at Bill's moms around 10 am. Sunday morning. Bill's brother Jim came over to help park the RV in the back yard. As you can see, there's not much clearance, about 8" on both sides. It is rather difficult to back a 39' RV in a straight line that far, sooo.....

Down came the fence! That's Laura, Jim's wife, and Bill working on the fence with Jim supervising! We were VERY glad to have them there to help out. Thanks, Jim and Laura. Bill's niece, Katie was also there, but not in the picture. It took a lot of "eyes" to make sure the RV wasn't going to hit anything.

Here we are, all set up in the back yard. We put the fence back up and now can let the dog out in the yard and not have to worry about her straying away.

"Home is where we park it" and for the next few months it will be in Melbourne, FL. Love the sunshine. Haven't seen rain since Maryland.