Miami bound

We had intended to stay in Okeechobee last night, our strategy being to approach Miami from the west, thereby minimising the distance we would have to travel through suburbia. Instead, we stayed overnight in Sebastian, one of a contiguous string of towns stretching hundreds of miles down the Atlantic coast of Florida all seeming to overlap with the next.

We set out a bit earlier than usual, but the day was already hot. The forecast maximum was reached by about 10 am, and it just stayed at that temperature all day. While we were moving it seemed OK, but as soon as we stopped at traffic lights we could feel the heat building up immediately, The stretch of road we were on (US 1) seemed an endless line of strip malls, car dealers, service stations, derelict buildings, and assorted businesses.

Every now and again we would find a bit of suburbia to provide relief,

For the first 60 miles or so our path was obstructed by traffic lights. We don't think there was ever more than half a mile between sets of lights, and often much less. Every set that was green was a blessing, but we often copped two or three in a row that were red.

We stopped in one of these towns for breakfast. A local diner had good coffee, friendly service and unique décor.

Wanda had grits again to give it a second opinion. It's flavour is between porridge and sago and has the texture of baby food. She was disappointed not to be able to chew on it.

Continuing on we sweltered in the stop-start conditions. Traffic was relatively light considering it was the Saturday of the Labor Day Weekend.

We stopped for petrol and chugged down a couple of soft drinks from a vending machine just to cool off a bit and keep hydrated.

Further down the road we stopped for more soft drinks. We indulged in an ice cream each, ordering a medium cone with 2 scoops rather than 3. Both of us found it excessive.

As we rode further south through the suburban sprawl we passed more and more “gated communities”. These are best described as prisons for the rich, where the blue rinse set can retreat from the mad, bad world and hide behind walls in a community in which all traffic coming in is controlled by guard houses, This paranoia is one bit of American culture we hope never catches on in Australia, although we suspect it may already have reached Queensland (the “Deep North”).

By the time we reached Miami Beach we were exhausted and seriously dehydrated. After some difficulty in finding a park, we sat down for a while in a busy pedestrian plaza and sucked on iced drinks for half an hour to regain our senses. Chris was drenched in perspiration. A search on the GPS revealed dozens of places to stay, but the first few we phoned were all booked out. We weren't surprised.

There were people everywhere dressed in their summer finery.

Our only option seemed to be to get away from the epicentre of trendy Miami Beach, so we continued south on A1A. It was wall to wall restaurants and glamorous, expensive, brand name shopping. The traffic was heavy, and it was a relief to finally break free and build some speed on a freeway that looped around water and over some fast, fabulous bridges that let you view the whole city; the river, the motor yachts with ladies in their latest swimwear, the wealthy houses on the water with their own piers. In the distance the huge high rise condominiums.

After a few miles we passed through Miami and took an arbitrary exit from the freeway.

Our GPS took us to the nearest motel. The sign said vacancy, but the owner (who hardly spoke a word of English) told us it was full. We phoned the nearest motel where the owner had only slightly better English, and found they had one room left. We made a beeline to their door and booked in. they don't have internet, but who cares? It was $55, cash only, and we weren't offered a receipt. The owner came with us to the room and set the TV going with much fiddling of the two remote controls. When Chris went to change the channel, he found an interesting and educational program, but let's just say it wasn't the Discovery channel...

Fortunately there was a grocery store and laundromat just down the road, which took care of our needs for dinner and clean clothes for the next few days. As usual, we bought way too much food, and having bitten off more than we could chew so to speak, proceeded to chew like crazy.

What a blast!

The reason for our staying in Titusville last night was that it is the closest town to the John F Kennedy Space Centre at Cape Canaveral. No self-respecting rocket scientist could pass up this opportunity!

The Visitors Centre was about 12 miles from our motel and we were there around 10 am. As we rode out across the causeway we passed a couple of sleeping alligators floating in the watrer, but they weren't snappy enough to get a picture of them. (To be fair, we were going past them as 60 mph, and Chris wasn't keen to stop)

The entry fee of $41 per person (plus tax) seemed steep, but basically included everything except for fhe two special escorted tours on offer. It was good value. The infrastructure there is incredible.

The first thing we did was take the bus tour out to tthe the viewing area that overlooks the two shuttle launch pads. We use the term "overlooks" advisedly: the launch pads were both sevral miles distant. The bus is a hop on, hop of, look at your leisure arrangement and pick up the next bus. They ran every 15mins.

However the shuttle engine they had on display there was almost close enough to touch.

On the way to the second stop on the bustrip we had a really good view of the Vehicle Assemblt Building where the rockets are assembled ready for launch. The shuttle for the penultimate mission was being assembled behind the door on the right.

Next stop on the bus trip was the Saturn V display in a building adjacent to the VIP launch viewing area. Along the way we saw some of the abundant bird life that coexists with the space centre - more than 230 species we were told.

As you enter they show a film of the Apollo VIII mission in the old control room which is now a theatrette.

Inside the building there is a complete Saturn V missile laid out horizontally on display stands, along with all sorts of other interesting displays: the Apollo XIV command module, space suits, moon rocks (including one you can touch) and a theatre with a documentary about the launch of Apollo VIII which orbited the moon in December 1968. Chris remembers well sitting up with friends listening to the launch on the Voice of America short wave radio broadcast.

We spent quite a lot of time here, and not just because we stopped for lunch. Rather, it is simply an awesome museum. For anyone who doesn't remeber or is too young to know, the moon rocket is 363 feet long - more tham 100 metres - and 33 feet in diameter.

The next stop on the bus trip was the payload integration building for the International Space Station. Here we could watch modules being assembled and tested prior to launch. Despite the enormous scientific vaiue being derived from the space station, it is hard to get excited about it like we did with the Apollo moon program.

Back at the Visitors Centre, we had a walk through a "boilerplate" space shuttle before taking the Shuttle Launch Experience ride. This was a simulation of a shuttle launch which was fun. It was more like a theme park ride really. When they can build in the sensation of 4g acceleration it could be almost as exciting as riding a BMW R1200RT.

We took in an IMAX 3D film about the Hubble Space Telescope that was simply brilliant, before wandering through the "Rocket Garden" where (we presume) they grow rockets.

We had thought we would spend just a few hours at the centre, but by this stage it was 5:30 pm. Any plans we had to ride some scenic roads to Okeechobee tonight were shelved. Instead, we rode straight down US 1 towards Miami. At about 7:15 pm we pulled into the Sanddrift Moyel, Sebastiana, Florida, changed into something more comfortable and walked into the diner next door for dinner. Their food was quite good. It was still 93 F at 7:30 pm.

Our third motorcycle service.

Our motorbike was booked in for a service today at 9 am in Daytona Beach, about 80 miles due east from Ocala. We woke early and were on the road before 8 am. The first part of the journey was in fog, which was helful since we were riding directly into the rising sun. It was remarkably flat. The vegetation was not very tall offering little or no shade during the day.

We had a quick trip down to Daytona Beach arriving about 9:15 am.

We left our bike with the service people and walked down Beach Road towards the Harley-Davidson dealers. Next to it was the Daytona Diner, "Home of the Piss and Moan About Everything Club"" - according to their T-shirts.

Wanda got to have her first serve of grits, but Chris had no interest in it. To her, grits was like porridge only lighter in colour and flavour. There was no "grittiness" at all. A little butter gave it some taste. We'll have to try it again to see if there is some variation.

As we walked along Beach Road several buildings were derelict where motor businesses had failed or moved on. It looked lonely, like the surface of another planet. The asphalt has overgrown with weeds.

Opposite was the lovely harbour with it's stylish bridge and palm trees. It was obviously a prime location.

While we were waiting for our bike to be serviced Chris went looking for a new pair of boots - the ones he brought from Australia had suffered a "wardrobe malfunction". The stitching around the heal of the left boot completely unravelled some months ago and the boots were letting in water evertime it rained. They were also getting very shabby generally and since they are his only footwear other than a pair of thongs, Chris needed an upgrade. The motorcycle dealer had some good looking Triumph branded boots for sale at $55 off the regular price. Chris checked with the sales staff to ensure that they would be compatible with a BMW motorbike before buying them.

We went shopping at a few other motorcycle clothing shops. Wanda found a motorcyccle jacket she liked,but since (1) we have no way to carry it; (2) Wanda wasn't prepared to throw away her current jacket; and (3) the cost of shipping it home would be prohibitive, we just noted the brand, model and price so she can look for it in Australia when we get back in 9 weeks time.

While waiting we struck up a friendship with another BMW rider, "One Eye" Bill. He was quite a character and gave us some useful local information.

Mark Sanchez has a military background. He has transferred these skills to running the motorcycle service department and it certainly runs like clockwork. We were very impressed. We were able to move on earlier than expected.

Once our bike was ready, we headed south to Titusville, about 45 miles away. It was 93 F (but felt hotter), so we just took of down the Interstate to minimize our exposure to the heat. We arrived in Titusville in mid-afternoon and found a good budget motel where we flopped down for a couple of hours in our airconditioned room.

When it cooled off a bit in the late afternoon we rode to a grocery store and bought dinner. While the wine chilled we walked the few hundred yards from our motel to the coast. The water we saw was not the ocean but a closed body of water behind a line of dunes. The water stank horribly and appeared heavily polluted.  The absolute water frontage in this area was not pleasant in summer.

We abandoned any thoughts of wading and headed straight back to the motel for dinner.

Every morning this little fella has been paying us a visit. He's about two and :a half inches long.

Chris's beard has grown a bit since we left home.

For a second time we headed straight for Bill's place for make the most of the Mini-Shindig.

The morning was spent learning about lost wax casting, Bill introduced us the steps involed in making rubber molds from objects, making and spruing wax masters, putting them in an investment, burning out the wax and pouring the metal.

Chris was particularly interested in the smelting kiln Bill had made from a beer keg.

With aluminium which melts at a relatively low temperature, it is very easy to make a furnace to achieve the required temperature. Apparently a propane weed burner is sufficiently hot. With all the scrap aluminium car parts Chris has back home, he is starting to get all sorts of ideas...

We sat out under a shady tree for lunch.

Wanda spent more time in the afternoon honing her new glassmaking skills, and having fun selecting some of Bill's glass work to buy -except Bill refused payment..

This is the marble she made yesterday with a flower inside it: It's a fun process.

Later in the day we slowed down, opened some beers and chatted about all sorts of things, looked at images of Bill's works including an amazing 14 foot long forged steel table (you can see it here: http://www.customdesignmetalarts.com/tables.7.html) Check out the rest of his website, too - he is a very talented and energetic artist/blacksmith. He enjoys giving extra detail to his work to improve the aesthetic quality.

 As the sun sank lower we headed off to dinner at Outback, a franchised restaurant with an Aussie theme. Bill was worried we would not like it, but it was great! Chris had a Tasmanian beer - his first in 4 months, and was pleasantly surprised that it cost no more in the US than Australia.

Chris was intrigued that they have "Kookaburra Wings" on the menu. Apparently they are not a protected species over here...

Bill dropped us back at our motel. It was so hard saying farewell to such a hospitable and friendly person who is always cheerful and good natured. We've been getting a lot of practice at farewelling all the friends we have visited and it's not getting any easier.