Not a holiday, but another great weekend!!!

As I mentioned earlier, my sister and her granddaughter have been visiting with us from Tennessee. They had planned to leave for home on Friday, but after learning of the scheduled Space Shuttle launch, they were convinced to stay until Sunday morning. We took the motor home out early Saturday morning and got a prime parking spot along the "A. Max Brewer Memorial Parkway".

We knew that a Saturday launch would draw a huge crowd. My sister and great-niece accompanied me in the motor home. Becky stayed behind to finish up some Saturday morning chores and then make a quick trip to her favorite retail store in the whole wide world. (Anyone who knows my lovely wife knows no shopping trip with her is quick.) We arrived very early Saturday morning and had our choice of spots. We were located approximately 11 miles from the launch pad.

We opened the awning, sat up the table and chairs, turned up the music, and just got comfortable in general. That is about when the rain showers hit. You would think that a little shower would not pose a problem for someone with a 16-foot awning, but guess which way the wind was blowing. Right. At least we had a comfy place to wait out the shower.

Shortly after the second shower hit, I was standing just outside the door (yes, I was under the awning)when a little red convertible with the top down pulled in. By the time I got to her and got the top up, there were water puddles in the front seats. Vonna, our niece, began to worry that the launch would be scrubbed by the rain. She is not as familiar with our Florida showers as we are. I assured her she would get to see the launch.

The ladies put together a nice lunch. We then spent a leisurely afternoon chatting with other viewers, reading, consuming cold beverages, and just relaxing in general. We met two generations of an extremely nice family that had driven down from Jacksonville to view their first up-close and personal shuttle launch. The father and mother have recently retired and just sold their home in Colorado. What a change of scenery this must be for them. The son and his bride live on the south side of Jacksonville but are planning a move to the D.C. area of Virginia in the near future. After questioning their sanity, I learned that it was a work-related move. The afternoon wore on and the launch eventually went off without a hitch.

After the launch, we sat back and watched the scramble. Within two hours, traffic was almost back to normal. Do you have any idea how many gallons of $4 gasoline were consumed on this highway today?

After we got the motor home safely tucked in at home, I sat down to enter the receipts from Becky's shopping trip into the check register. I am still trying to figure out what the $15 charge for a "10-inch fan" was for!