NASA! Wow, what a place!

Our visit to Wycliffe was great. What an impressive display of history to view. There was too much to take in in the time we allotted. We were also sorry to miss Cru’s headquarters – didn’t realize they were right next to Wycliffe. Guess we’ll have to return someday??

From Orlando we headed to Melbourne on the Atlantic coast. Our “old” friends Ben and Annie (from Chicago days) hosted us.

Annie works at NASA, and was able to get a special pass. So, we spent Saturday at NASA behind the scenes! It was wonderful – how does one explain the feelings when standing under the Saturn rocket's 1st stage engines used in the Apollo program -

 – or watching a video/re-enactment of the first landing on the moon (especially since we’re supposed to be related to Neil Armstrong’s wife!!). Here's a pic of the Vehicle Assembly Building. Note that the flag stripes are 11 feet wide and over 200 feet long. I could park 8 Miss Winnie's on one stripe (if it was on the ground). This picture was taken from the balcony where the VIPs normally watch the launches.

NASA doesn't just have astronauts and rockets; they have an alligator lake (so called because of all the alligators). We saw several (8-10) Large Ones swimming and sunning. Then, we saw a wild hog and a live armadillo (so far they've all been road kill). There's a wildlife refuge all around the Kennedy Space Center.

It was a full day, ending in Chicago style Italian beef.

Today we went to church with Annie. The sermon on Joshua 23 and 24 was inspiring. We enjoyed their Sunday School class on Hebrews 11. The Children's Choir sang for Mother's Day.

While at the church we were also privileged to meet a former astronaut Sam Durrance, who flew 2 shuttle missions in the Columbia and the Endeavor.

https://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/events/2015/april/astro-sam-durrance.aspx

We just arrived in an RV park near St. Augustine, the oldest city in the U.S. We plan to tour the town on Monday.

We're back online!

No computer can shut us out for long!!!!!!!!

So, here's the updates we haven't been able to publish:

We left Jennings and these interesting (ugly?) Muscovy Ducks. We hear they are excellent for dinner.

After a challenging ride through driving rain that slowed trucks to 35 mph, we made it to Seminole. Al and Marj welcomed us. Marj’s 2 brothers, Norm and Tim, live here, too (second cousins to Roger).

We enjoyed fellowship at the nearby restaurant and then went to prayer meeting together. The focus was on the National Day of Prayer tomorrow, so we prayed for our country.

Al is a magician (illusionist), so he entertained us with some fascinating you tube videos.

The sky has cleared and the stars are out.

Stayed overnight with the Nyes. Marj served us a full breakfast by 8 a.m.! And we got up in time to enjoy it. Shortly after 9 a.m. we were on our way to St. Petersburg to stop in and say “hi” to Alma and Larry Oline. Alma has been a lifelong friend of Heather’s family and it was good to get reacquainted. We finally met Larry, her husband of 19 years!

From there we went to Tampa to the office of Galcom – they make fixed-tuned, solar powered radios and Bibles. Roger & I are local NW reps for them, and wanted to meet Tom Blackstone and Hefziba Alonso, his assistant. 

From there we traveled to Orlando. We managed to squeeze a 1½ hour trip into 4 hours!! But we saw a lot of Orlando – more than we care to remember – and we have no desire to return…traffic was a hassle.

Now we are parked in a beautiful campground owned by Pioneer Mission. Pioneers' average missionary age is 35! They have thousands of missionaries out there - reaching the unreached in remote places. Very impressive.

They own the KOA campground we are on - part of their land here (which was purchased before the area was developed.) There’s a peaceful lake and the air is cool. Tomorrow we get a tour of Pioneer’s headquarters.

I managed to not have enough quarters to dry the laundry (they went into the toll road!!), so after dark we hung a line out… Oh, the joys of camping!

 
NOW, TODAY:

We had our tour and are now headed to Wycliffe (in Orlando). McDonald's bailed us out again, so we could access internet!

Arrived in the Sunshine State

We left green TN, driving on side roads. One road was hugged by tall trees, allowing just enough room for 2 narrow lanes – no shoulders! But it was scenic.

It took ½ of our day today to get through Atlanta. What a spread-out city! But we got through without any bumps or scratches! Thank you, Jesus.

Our daily schedule runs something like this: Let’s get an early start (but we’re lucky to be on the road by 9 a.m.!); cook up a main meal between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. (whenever we’re hungry or need a break); make iced tea late afternoon (very refreshing!); pull into a park before dark (if possible). You can see how we are pushing ourselves!!

One town we drove through I would have loved to stop and explore. It was called Bell Buckle in TN. Maybe someday…

Just before leaving GA, Miss Winnie got the bath of her life!! The bugs all washed away and all is clean now. FL may be the Sunshine State but the rain has come and gone several times this evening. Our Puget Sound friends are used to rain, but some may never have experienced a real rain storm. The old saying "it's raining cats and dogs" is fitting because the sound on the roof wouldn't be any louder if it was actual cats and dogs. 

Tonight we spend our first night in FL – beside a lovely lake. (in Jennings)

Arrived in TN via AR and MO

Our trip today was pretty uneventful - we did have to stop at a rail crossing for a long train - something highways don't require, but we were on side roads.

The cardinals are just as colorful as we remember! The main road kill is armadillos. We noticed quite a bit of flooding in the NE of AR. The land is flat and Miss Winnie kept up with the speeds posted (not like in the mountains where several times we just made it up to 48 mph!)

Sign on the side of the road in AR: "No hay baling on the side of the State highway"!! We didn't!

Crossing the mighty Mississippi put us into TN.

Made it on time to Gary and Sherryl's for a tasty dinner she had prepared for us. Best of all, we got reacquainted. It's been 20+ years since we'd seen them! We'll be sleeping in their church parking lot.

On our way, rejoicing

 In our last post we had a problem starting Miss Winnie. It turned out to be just a loose belt so the alternator was not charging the battery adequately. Roger was able to fix this in the RV park. (Thank you, Lord.)

We spent a very uplifting day Sunday with the church people who have reached out to Mary and Bryanna. The church van picks them up (with her friends) every Sunday, Wednesday and Friday.

In Sunday School we had a thought-provoking lesson on the potter from Jeremiah 18. It had been well prepared and was well delivered by a semi-invalid lady, Linda.

The morning service music was truly worship music and we joined in heartily. They have an incredible pianist (with bass guitar and muted drums). The message was from Revelation 2 - the letter to the church at Pergamum. Their pastor came out of retirement to fill in and he is an excellent preacher.

And - who would guess - they had a potluck after church, raising funds for their kids to go to camp. So we really struck gold again! It gave us time to get to know some of the folks and more wonderful fellowship.

Mary, Bryanna, Roger & I went for an afternoon walk - it was too nice to stay inside! We even got in our naps...

The evening service was, once again, very inspiring. A missionary lady, educated and accomplished in several disciplines, spoke. She communicated well the great need in fields she's worked - China, Ethiopia, Togo, and a few other places. We really enjoyed talking to her later. Our lives/interests crossed in at least 4 places (countries).

For the night, we parked in the church parking lot - it gets us on our way early, which is where today's blog ends. They let us connect to their outside water, electric and WiFi! Now the sun is shining, the birds are chirping (every morning they awaken us with song), and it's time to move out. Gary and Sherryl are expecting us near Nashville, TN, this evening.