The Launch of Shuttle Discovery

Well, we think it’s time for an update to our update. There hasn’t been much to write about since we arrived at Manatee Cove Marina three weeks ago, other than we have spent a lot of time with our friends Eric and Ellen Provost, and have made some great new friends here at the Marina. It has been a great “fix” for us to spend some time on a military base after being away from that for the past ten years, and we are enjoying it.







Let’s start with the most thrilling event we have seen in a long time. Thanks to our old friends the Provosts, and our new friends the Bouthillers, we were able to watch the launch of the Shuttle Discovery last night (9 Dec) from a great vantage point at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The NASA folks keep the Shuttle bathed in spotlights prior to launch, and it is a sight to behold. The only thing we can tell you about the actual launch itself is that it is about four standard deviations more exciting to watch and hear the launch from close up than it is to watch it on TV. We were speechless. The sky went from very dark to a brilliant light as Discovery ascended into space. The noise from the launch was a surprise--very loud as you can imagine. Thanks so much to Eric and Ellen and Tom and Diane for making it possible for us to be spectators at one of the events that makes America stand out from the rest of the world. All we can say is WOW!!!



Last night was also the Christmas boat parade here at the marina. Many of the boat owners worked all week to get their boats ready for this parade. These folks take this Christmas boat parade seriously, and they put a lot of hours into decorating. There were several spectacular decorated boats. We were a little disappointed that we would not be able to see the parade as well as the launch, but our timing was such that we were able to see all the boats as we were crossing the Banana River headed to the launch, and it was an awesome sight with all the decorated power and sail boats cruising along. It was a beautiful night for a boat parade (and shuttle launch), and both were a great success. The shuttle launch was by far the highlight of the night.

Now, for what we have been doing for the month (almost).

We stayed at the Manatee Cove Marina for Thanksgiving and had a wonderful meal. Several of the men and women (active duty and retired military folks) of the marina provided smoked turkey and deep fried turkey for everyone. Everyone else who attended brought a covered dish. It was a beautiful day, and everyone had a great time sharing delicious food, desserts, and friendship. This event started several years ago as a means to have Thanksgiving dinner for Airmen of the base who couldn’t go home for Thanksgiving, and has become a tradition here at the marina that brings a lot of folks from the club to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday. As always, we ate way too much, but we enjoyed every bite.

Pat flew to Alabama the end of November to spend a few days with her mother and drove our truck back to Florida. Her mother was keeping our truck for us until we could make arrangements to get to Alabama to drive it to Florida. We had not planned on doing this until January, but because we have stayed here much longer than anticipated, we decided it was best to get the truck to Florida now so that we could have our own transportation while here. Eric and Ellen will drive our truck from here to Key West the end of December and spend a few days with us there. We will spend our Christmas and New Years in the Keys and look forward to Richard and Marcy and Eric and Ellen spending time with us during the holidays. Eric and Ellen will celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary on our boat on Dec 29-Jan 1.

We spent Sunday, December 3rd, with friends Diane and Tom Bouthiller, who invited us to go out on their boat for the afternoon. We cruised the Banana River and the canals of Cocoa Beach and saw beautiful homes along the way. We ended up at Dania and Gregg Billman’s house that is located on a beautiful canal. All of these folks we just mentioned are new friends we have made here, and they are wonderful people that we are very happy to have met.

We arrived here at Manatee Cove Marina on 15 November, intending to stay only a few days, (we will have been here a month by the time we untie from the “dock monster”) and have logged about 1,600 miles so far. We have enjoyed our stay at Manatee Cove Marina, but it is time to move on—all good things must come to an end. We have met many great folks and have made many new friends, and look forward to seeing them again. We will leave on or before 15 December, weather permitting, heading south toward Fort Lauderdale, Miami, and the Keys. We look forward to meeting our friends Ted and Linda Jones somewhere around Fort Lauderdale next weekend. Our ultimate destination is Key West, at Boca Chica Marina. We will be there from 23 December through 23 January and look forward to enjoying that area and its attractions. We plan to leave the boat in Key West when we head back to Knoxville the first part of January for eye, dental, and medical appointments. We’ll head back to the boat after that, and see where this adventure takes us.

We wish everyone a blessed Christmas and best wishes for 2007.

More later, so stay tuned.