Sat. May 8: Bartlesville to Tupelo
We had breakfast in the RV then left town about 1:40 AM.  We headed south on highway 75 toward Tulsa, then took the Creek Nation Turnpike to the Muskogee Turnpike, we took highway 412 toward Fort Smith, AR.  We entered Arkansas at 11:05 AM and stopped for lunch in the RV in a Lowe's parking lot.  We were back on the road at 11:15 AM.  We passed Toad Suck Park outside Conway, AR and stopped about 2:00 PM to check the lug nuts on the RV tires.  Dave had put new lug nuts on as the old ones were getting very rusty.  We are almost to Little Rock, AR.  Later we stopped at a camper store to look for blocks for the RV as Dave forgot to bring theirs from home.  We saw 2 yellow crop dusting planes outside Carlyle, AR.  They were flying really low.  We stopped for gas at 4:30 outside Parkin, AR.  We entered Tennessee then went south toward Jackson, Mississippi.  Got to Mississippi about 5:30.  There was lots of road construction and an accident on highway 78 somewhere south of Holly Springs.  Traffic was backed up for mile and miles.  We later found out that this was a two or more hour delay in getting by the accident.  Dee found us a route around the accident by getting off the interstate and going through Holly Springs.  We went around through Holly Springs to avoid being held up for a long time and it was a great side strip.  The town is the home of Rust College established in 1866 and is a beautiful area with well-preserved antebellum homes and other structures and has a strong tradition of historic preservation.  We got back to Highway 78 and headed for Tupelo, Miss.  Got there and found Campground at Barnes Crossing RV Park about 7:15 PM.  We prepared potatoes for the microwave, then went to Home Depot and found some 4x4's and had them cut for braces for the RV.  We ate supper about 9:00 PM, then went to bed.

Map of Campground at Barnes Crossing

Abreviated map of Barnes Crossing

Barnes Crossing web site

Crop duster

Really pretty RV park

Barnes Crossing

Campground at

Barnes Crossing

Tupelo MS near

 Natchez Trace

Sun. May 9: Tupelo to Tallahassee
Mother's Day and Dave's birthday.  Dave and I both got gifts from Deanna.  Thank your, Deanna!!! We had breakfast and got ready to leave Tupelo.  We will drive to Tallahassee, Fla. today.  The sun is shining part time.  We left camp at 9:15 AM and headed toward Birmingham, Ala.  The scenery is just beautiful!  Lots of Ponderosa pine trees, honeysuckle in bloom, and magnolia trees in full bloom.  We got to Alabama at 9:50 AM and stopped in Birmingham at McDonald's for a rest room break.  Stopped again at 12:30PM for lunch in the RV.  We got to Fla. at 6:00 PM Eastern Time.  We were trying to find Big Oak RV Park in Tallahassee and were driving into the setting sun which made it really tough to see.  TomTom lied to us about the RV Park location and as a result we turned off too early and found ourselves wandering around a neighborhood with huge oak trees and Spanish moss.  We were scared to death we would get hung on one of the branches or run into a dead end.  Dave found a circle drive to turn around in and it was REALLY small with one side completely blocked with tree branches.  He turned the rig around in the smallest space ever and we headed back to the main road.  FINALLY, Big Oak RV Park!  While Dave and Deanna set up camp, I called Brother Kris, my pastor, to let him know we had arrived in Fla. okay.  Eastern Time is one hour different from ours at home.  Here it is 8:35 PM. We had supper and Dave and Deanna went to gas up the truck after eating.

Big Oak web site

Big Oak brochure

Big Oak map

Florida visitors center

Footprints in the sidewalk

500 year old tree at Big Oak RV Park

Big Oak RV Park Tallahassee

Another Florida

visitors center

300 year old Oak

Mon. May 10: Tallahassee to Titusville
If you want some great information about Florida and Florida state park, to the state parks web site here.  They have a GREAT brochure (70 pages) of information on their parks that you can order fby giving them a call.

We got up before 8:00 AM, had breakfast, and then walked around the park before leaving.  We found a 500 year old tree and lots of Spanish moss hanging from the trees.  The old tree actually had it's own ecosystem of plants growing on top of it's limbs.  This is really a pretty park.  We left at 10:00AM Eastern time.  We stopped for gas, and then went on to Manatee Springs.  Had lunch in the RV, and then walked around the springs and the Suwannee River.  Lots to see: kayakers, swimmers, fish, turtles, a water moccasin on a tree limb, etc.  Manatee Springs "really is a spring" and feeds the Suwannee river.  The spring is crystal clear and quite deep (40 feet) at the bottom of the spring.  Scuba divers are here frequently to explore the bottom of the spring and the caves that have an entry at the bottom of the spring.  There is a boardwalk about a block long that winds through the Cyprus trees and along the spring leading out to the Suwannee river and is a really fun walk if you are a nature nut.  Lots to look at along the way and the spring is so clear you can see big fish swimming around.  At the river is a dock that extends a little way out to the river and a shelter house where you can fish, hook up your boat or just sit in the shelter house and enjoy the river.  You can rent kayaks and canoes, camp out with an RV or tent or just picnic, swim and enjoy the spring and river.  We left at 2:25 and got to the Great Outdoors RV Park outside Titusville at 6:15 PM.  We set up camp, and then had supper.

Florida State Parks - Manatee Springs web site

Manatee Springs brochure

Another Manatee Springs brochure

Manatee Springs Map

The Great Outdoors RV, Nature and Golf Resort web site

The Great Outdoors Book

The Great Outdoors map

Space Coast abbreviated map

Manatee Springs

Lady watching the

water moccasin

Suwannee River

Alligators?

.

Manatee Springs

Water moccasin

Boardwalk from the

springs to the

Suwannee River

Turtles

Tues. May 11:
We got up early this morning as we are going to the JFK Space Center today and want to be there by 8:00 or 8:30 AM.  We hope to locate the shuttle launch area while there.  We left the RV Park at 8:30; Kennedy Space Center opens at 9:00 AM.  We went through the space center, took a tour bus on the NASA history tour, saw lots of rockets, launchers, etc., and went on a space shuttle simulation ride.  WOW!!! A lady panicked and started screaming and yelling when they shut the doors, so they had to open the doors and let her off.  it was a little comical.  She didn't speak English so we had no idea what she was saying when she was screaming and yelling.  Maybe it is just as well that we didn't know what she was saying.  Funny thing though, when we got off the ride her husband was outside and apparently he spoke English because he said "it wasn't that bad".  We went to the lMAX Theater and saw a 3D film on the Hubble Space Telescope.  What a machine the Hubble is!!  And the IMAX 3D movie was just like flying through the galaxies!!  The history tour was really great too with lots of knowledgeable tour guides.  Got to see some of the old Mercury and Gemini block houses and equipment that was used back when those programs were in full swing.  It was old home week for Dave.  We then went back to the RV for supper.  Deanna and Dave worked on the computer, trying to plan what to do tomorrow.  We went to bed about 10:30 PM.

JukeBox Cafe at the Great Outdoors

NASA Kennedy

Space Center

The rocket garden

Blockhouse control room

The "laucnh" button

A badly merged panorama

Kennedy

Gemini capsul

Dee and Mom in Gemini Capsul

Gemini

Soyuz

Ablative shield

 - used

Blockhouse electronics

Site of the Apollo 1

disaster January 27th, 1967

Memorial

Wed. May 12:
I got up about 6:00 AM, our time.  Deanna discovered a lot of eggs got cracked in the 'fridge when we traveled over some rough roads, so we had scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast.  M¥ belly has been cramping really bad and I think it is a colon problem.  We are going back to the JFK Space Center again today as our tickets are good for 2 days.  We got there and took another bus tour.  We saw the Atlantis shuttle and launch pad 39A, and lots of other interesting sights.  We went to the Astronauts Hall of Fame for an hour and a half.  I bought pens for Sam and Geneva.  We went back to the RV for lunch, and then drove out to Merritt Island to take a dip in the ocean.  We didn't swim, but waded and picked up shells.  When we left there, we went to the Manatee Observation Deck and saw at lest seven manatees and one baby one; then drove to Wal-Mart to stock up on groceries.  We got back to the RV at 7:30 ET.

Haulover Canal map

STS-132 still "wrapped" up before launch

Everyone wonders about the john on a space station

Manatee at Haulover Canal

The Crawler

STS-132 on the pad

Launch control

center

Saturn 5 was a big

doggie wasn't it?

A space station

component under

 construction in the

 clean room.

Thurs. May 13:
It is warm and sunshiny today; no clouds.  After breakfast, I walked up to the laundry/shower house These are really nice facilities; clean, roomy.  etc.  I got back to the RV and Dave and Deanna were up and having their breakfast.  I think we are going to find a beach today.  We'll take lunch with us.  Before leaving, we had to stop to get a propane tank filled, and then take it back to the RV.  We left at 10:55AM and drove to Cape Canaveral to Jetty Park.  We ate lunch in the park, then went down to the beach and waded in the surf.  As we walked from the parking lot toward the beach we crossed over a board walk and down a very sandy path that ran by the lifeguard shack.  We found a billfold with all the credit cards, ID and cash you would expect in the average persons hip pocket.  We were giving it to the lifeguard when a very distraught woman ran up asking if anyone had found a billfold.  When she discovered that we had turned it in she hugged the gals, thanked them and went on down to the beach very obviously relieved.  The waves almost knocked me down! WOW!!! We left and drove to Satellite Beach and picked up lots of shells and coral.  We left there and stopped at some more beaches.  The Spess and Hall and North Beach Park at Melbourne and saw a sea turtle nest roped off and a sign telling people not to bother it.  We drove on south just sight-seeing.  We stopped at Treasure Shores beach outside Sebastian and got more shells and coral.  We went to Pelican Island and National Wildlife Refuge next but didn't stay as it was all walking trails.  We went back to Sebastian, stopped for gas, and then headed back to the RV Park at Titusville.  We got there at 7:45PM and had our supper.  Dave and Deanna then went to the Astronaut's Hall of Fame to see if people were camping out there in the parking lot, and then went to Wal-Mart.  I stayed at the RV and took a shower and wrote letters to Sam and Barbara.

Jetty Park

A message to Molly

Treasure shores

Playing at Jetty

Doesn't God do a good job?

Down to another beach

Turtle nest

Fri. May 14:
Atlantis launch day!!!  Dave and Deanna left at 5:00AM to pick up the tickets and reserve a spot to watch the launch.  Deanna came back and got me at 6:30.  We drove to the Hall of Fame, found our spot, set up our chairs, toured the museum, etc.  The launch won't be until 2:20 PM.  We saw the astronauts boarding on a big screen TV that was located at the far end of the viewing area; they checked and re-checked everything; then the blast-off on the screen.  The shuttle went up in the sky and I got 3 good pictures of it, and then used my binoculars to watch it.  AWESOME!!! I saw the booster rockets ejected by watching with the binoculars and the huge vapor trail left by the rocket.  In just a few seconds it was out of sight.  We had to wait 8 hours to see this, but it was worth it.  Totally fabulous!!! We left when it was all over and got back to the RV about 4:00 PM.  We rested awhile, and then at 6:00 PM Dave and Deanna went to Wal-Mart for gas.  When they got back they said there was still a traffic jam in Titusville due traffic coming out of Kennedy Space Center.  Holy Cow!  The launch was at 2:20 and there were still people coming out after 6:00PM.  How many people were at Kennedy?**  We were glad that we watched from the Astronaut Hall of Fame and didn't have to deal with that huge traffic jam!  When they got back, Dave grilled steaks and we also had corn on the cob, Bush's baked beans, and tea.  Yummy!!

STS-132 Mission Summary

Shuttle Launch viewing areas

** We heard later that there were 300,000 people at Kennedy that day.

At 7:00AM

The big screen TV at the far end of the gounds

Back to The Great Outdoors RV Resort

At 9:00AM

We can see ignition on the big screen

Going throught the clouds

The shuttle is to the left bottom of the building

As it clears the vehicle assembly building

SRB separation and Mom Loggan watching carefully

The Maestro at work and Dee getting an "ambush" photo

Sat. May 15: Titusville to Jolly Roger in the Keys
I got up at 7:00AM, made coffee, and had my breakfast.  We will be leaving today, heading south toward Miami and the Keys.  We left camp at 9:30AM with Deanna driving and stopped for lunch in the RV at West Palm Beach.  Hamburgers were $10.00 each in the restaurant! We left at 1:25 PM.  Love bugs are everywhere.  They are such a nuisance.  We learned that May is their mating season and they will be here all month.  They are so bad that the Florida DOT has a windshield washing stations at rest stops.  When we stopped at a toll booth, the lady said a tire on the RV was going down, so we pulled off the road in the wide spot in front of the toll booth area.  By the time we got stopped it was completely flat.  It was 2:30 PM and really hot.  We were north of Hialeah.  Dave got the spare tire on and we went on to a Wal-Mart store to get it fixed.  The valve stem had gone bad.  We had supper at the Golden Corral while waiting on the tire.  We were on the road again at 6:30 and got to Key Largo at 7:00 PM.  We went through Islamorada, then on south to Marathon to the Jolly Roger RV Park.  We had trouble getting the RV unhooked as the ground was at such and angle.    We had to get one of the park staff out of his shower to help us unhitch.  He knew exactly what to do and we finished setting up at 9:30 PM.  Thank you so much Mike!!  You taught us something we did not know about unhooking a 5th wheel.  Whew!!  It was a long day.

The Jolly Roger web site

Jolly Roger site map

The route to Jolly Roger

Love bugs!!

Love Bug cleaning station

Florida has the nicest rest stops in America.  Well almost.  Mississippi runs a really good program too.