RV adventure travel

Now for my attack on NASA. The nerd in me loved it!

My family and I went into the Kennedy Space Center at Florida’s Space Coast. We removed all our little pocket knives and other goodies before we went in.
Now Kennedy Space Center has a fair security system.
You will empty all of your pockets into a little plastic tray, hand it to the security person, and then walk through the metal detector, then they hand you the plastic tray and you go take it to another security person where they make you turn on all of your gadgets to make sure they are not dummy ones.

After that rigamaroe you are done. And its time to play at the NASA Kennedy Space Center.
We went straight for the tour busses, which take you around through the large campus and show you all the cool goodies.
You go past the huge building where they put together the ships (this building is way bigger that it looks),

and onto an observation platform where you can see the various launch sites and launch towers. Then you hop another bus and head over to the cool Apollo Exhibits, we had some pizza there, and checked out the huge rockets, after that just catch a buss back to the main visitor center complex.

Now one thing to just NOT miss at The Kennedy Space Center is the rather cool IMAX films , especially don’t miss the one on the International Space Station.
I saw the one on the Space Station and another called Magnificent Desolation or something like that. That later one was about the Apollo program and the moon visits, and it was very cool to see as well.

….

I milled around the Space Center and saw wonderful exhibits, very cool and inspiring things, a nice tribute to the fallen-astronauts called the Space Mirror. And I saw one exhibit that had to be one of the most useless ones I have ever seen. It was called The Robot Scouts. Now this was a wee little hallway that you walked though and some crappy mechanical robot puppet would appear on some TV and would talk about the robot explorers.
Now I think that subject could have been done quite wonderfully, but whoever put that one together needs to go back to the drawing board.
It lost me totally when I came to a section they called “the think tank” only to find a school desk with an early 1980ies calculator at it. I couldn’t help to make Doctor Who style Dalek impersonations as we traversed through the hallway. It was that big of a joke. I don’t even think modern kids would like it. The only redeeming quality that show had was Nadine a cute spokes person on the tellie. But alas there was so many cool things to see for a lover of science and space exploration that more than made up for the silly robot show. Miss that one, and use your time to see other shows.

Oh and another thing, Your ticket is good for 7 days after you use it so you can go back and see more space fun. You can also turn it into an annual pass for 12ish bucks.
I went back the following day before I went on down to the Treasure Coast, that is when I saw the IMAX on the Apollo mission. I had my Travel Trailer with me, so there is plenty of RV parking.
If I wanted to stick around the space coast I might spring for the annual one, but alas I found no Jennie on the beach like Major Nelson so I am off to other lands.

It was Jetty Park, a popular campground in Cape Canaveral Florida that we stayed at for our attack on The Space Coast.
Now, The park was fine, my some of my family dragged their RVs down and joined me in this park for the 3 days we stated there.
I got a great spot next to the water. I could watch the cruise line departing as well as the sub base across the way and the random boats that went up and down the bay.
I had a self-contained lot, as that was all that was available since I made my reservations late, but it was a much cooler spot than the spaces with power.
Oh and Jetty Park helped me to find a porpoise in life, as the porpoises would play and run amok in the bay.
Now being self contained for 3 days is not really a big deal to the Oyster Can of Adventure as it has a nice self contained battery system and a large 800+ Watt inverter and several super efficient tiny inverters for running small things, and almost every thing except the compressor on the AC can be run on the 12 volt system. The fridge went into lp gas mode, and I carry about 30 gals of h20 in the holding tanks.

Montepulciano Tuscany Wanderlust in Wonderland.

A train ride from Roma got us to the station in the town neighboring Montepulciano (our destination).

Montepulciano is a small, medieval town sitting on a mountain-top overlooking incredible views of the Tuscan valley below.

We meandered-about awhile looking for a way to get up the mountain. We even started to walk up that town’s hill for a bit until we realized that our One Ton Tomatoes (back-packs) would kill us.

Well we found the bus stop but being the “afternoon” (a kind of siesta time in Italy just not called “siesta”) every thing was closed. So there were no bus tickets to be had. We finally (after waiting) found the bus, paid a bit extra for our tickets from the driver and got a scenic tour all the way to Montepulciano. The great big bus was like a Japanese monster compared to the other tiny micro machines that made up the common Italian vehicle.The driver weaved through the tiny streets like a real pro, and delivered us to the main hotel in Montepulciano at the bottom of the town’s hill. We asked around for directions, consulted our guide books and read signs to find that the tourist office was at the top of the huge hill before us. We survived (whew!) the lengthy and exhausting walk up the hill (though the sites were nice) to find one of the most amazing views of the Tuscan land-scape and also to find a little sign at the address of the tourist office stating that it had moved (somewhere near the bottom of the hill we just walked up). We relax , take pictures , have a tiny picnic eating some of Wanderluster DC’s stock of junk food. and head back down to the tourist office to inquire about places to stay. We found the tourist office after the walk back down and went in to pick their brains for places to stay. A fellow back-packing couple were in the line ahead of us, and we listened as they told them and us that there were no rooms to be had in Montepulciano and we would have to catch a bus (the last one) to some neighboring town so that we maybe could rent some shabby hovel they knew of there, but we would have to hurry. I couldn’t help but to get mental images from Lewis Carol’s “Alice in Wonderland” “No Room! , No Room!” Shouts the Mad Hatter”. Now this information was from the “Official Tourist Office” ; So, we beat and tired Wanderlusters, who rarely trust anything “official” and are quite accustom to the ramblings of mad people, decide to ignore them. We easily pushed away momentary visions in our mind of 3 worn out backpackers camping in an alley-way with bottles of wine and sleep-sheet lingto, and we wander (just like Alice) about a block down a random street and effortlessly secure a very comfortable and affordable tripple with our choice of bath, view or whatnot. for the night. We wanted to catch the other back-packing couple who had been sent on the Mad Hatter’s (tourist office’s) goose chase, but we were moving too slow at that point as they had hustled to the bus stop as they had been instructed to by the hatter .. Throughout our stay in Montepulciano, we occasionally stopped by the “Official Tourist Office” or the Mad Hatter’s lair and constantly confirmed, as a kind of inside joke, that the travel office would almost always convey wrong information about everything. Now we 3 wondering idiots in wonderland had, without trying, developed a workable system for getting around, which was coming in a bit more handy in Montepulciano than it did in Roma. I had 3-4 years of Spanish in College about 8 years ago so I could read Italian for the most part (as it is similar on paper) but I would retreat to my Spanish if I tried to speak more than basic words which didn’t do me any good at all. That’s where Wanderluster Fred came in. He had spent a summer in Italy a few years back and had a fair use of the very basic spoken lingo. Where neither of us could communicate that’s where Wanderluster David came in . He would bumble up and say in plain-English “can I get that?” The way it worked out usually the three of us together could communicate with the locals.

Montepulciano was wine country, and we lovingly participated in the enjoyment of the fine local vintage with our various picnics in the parks, hill-sides, and restaurants of the beautiful little hill town.. The Let’s Go had recommended the Ristorante Cittino, and I just have to say YUM!. Truly a wonderment in this wonderland. Yes these were some of the best meals I had had during my entire trip to Italy. We had an excellent meal It was quite a deal too. After dinner we were enticed intoa cool clock in Montepulciano another little local cafe by a beautiful staff and yummy looking deserts. Quite yummy with wine and this gave us even more of that rejuvenating relaxation we Wanderlusters needed after our previous evenings at the heart of Roma’s night life. It was here that we were charmed by fine wines, cheese-cakes, and the relaxing demure of the town into staying another day in lieu of trying to get out on Easter Sunday. The inn (Albergho de Borgehise) at Montepulciano was relaxing. It wasn’t noisy at all ,as Roma was, and the innkeeper was very friendly conveying understanding, patience and comradery as we jokingly struggled with each other’s language. His English was much better than our Italian. So after the comfortable rest we three idiots were energized and ready to live up to our name. We had seen a flyer at one of the restaurants telling us that there was the annual horse race ( Corse de Camili) in the neighboring town (Aquaviva). Knowing there were no busses, we made a little sign with the word Aquaviva on it and set out trying to hitch to the horse races as there were no busses running on Easter Sunday. We walked for a while toward Aquaviva with our little sign, befriending all the neighborhood dogs as they barked at us from their fences on the way past the neighborhood homes. Well no one picked us up. And we weren’t about to walk 6km to a horse race we would be late for anyway. “On second thought lets not go to Aquaviva Tis a silly place”.So instead we opted for wine and food again at the Ristorante Cittino and then people watching at another well situated Montepulciano cafe. We hit the sack early that night to be fully recharged for our attack on Florence.

Adventures in Saint Augustine Florida.

I heart Saint Augustine.

I love this town (Saint Augustine that is).. I’m not really sure as to why I like it so much, so I tend to keep coming back. So as I write this maybe It will help me work it out as to why I love Saint Augustine. Now in spite of its loveliness, it is awful touristy, but I grew up in a tourist town so that is not a major problem for me.

This place keeps drawing me in. and every time I bike or moped the lovely back streets, peeking in gallery windows to steal a view of objects I could never afford or sneak down to my favorite pub for a sandwich. Its another here I am again trolling the Streets of Saint Augustine.

I took the Wind Up Toy of Adventure over to the Lighthouse
The Saint Augustine Lighthouse will give you a good view of the city the bay and all kinds of things. It is a tall bugger and worth it if you have the bucks to blow on the tour. Be in shape or use it to get in shape. I didn’t climb her this last trip, I wanted to save dough as I transition into my mobile lifestyle.. mehhh, now as I write this I wish I had just sprang for the fee and climbed her again (maybe next time). As I’m sure this town will find me haunting her again. Maybe that Dale guy, who comes here lots should be on the Ghost tour as a feature. The Tourist Ghost.ooohhhhhhooooooo, rattles cameras…

Saint Augustine Florida lighthouse pier
Instead of clambering up the light house this time, I mopeded around and hung out at the Lighthouse pier and watched some boats while I was over there. and then went mopeding around town for a bit.

The Rendezvous Restaurant

Ummmm Beer!!!

Speaking of Saint Augustine haunts, there are light houses (ooohhhhoooo), then there are ale houses (yeeeehawwwww) So lets stop in at the Rendezvous Restaurant for some of that good old rising of the wrist. As this ale house has some of the best brew selections around. This time I picked a time honored favorite a brew called Hacker Pschor (I likely spelled that wrong, anyway the octoberfest one) as it brought back memories of really fun times with a dangerous blond. and I washed it down with a good Ruben sandwich. and had a nice German brew for desert. The place isn’t easy to find in spite of the fact that it is right in the center of all the tourist stuff.You have to look on the map (which you can scrounge all over) for this mall thing called Saint George’s Row, you will walk by some of the cutest little faerie figurines I’ve ever seen (I always have to stop and wish), you will pass a magic shop and some other cool things to find the ale house. The brew selection is huge.

Now Saint Augustine, as the oldest town in the States has plenty of history to fascinate the history buff and tons of cute wee shops for those into that sort of thing. Parking is a hassle sometimes if you are in a car and not the wind up toy of adventure scooter/moped like me.

Arrrgggg! Me Mateys!!!

While this latest trip I stayed at a nearby RV park called Indian Forest Campground and just rode the moped /scooter thing into town as I had the camper. Before I have stayed at the quite fun hostel called The Pirate Haus Inn.

Shiver Me Tenders!!! arrrrrgghhh
I went for a private room when I stayed there last as I have loved hostels and all the folks that I meet at them for ages, but these days sometimes, as a 40 something, I think I am getting a bit old for the common room (I’ll likely get over that). But the place is great and it is right in town, so you can have all the fun you want, and have a handy place to crash, and even get Blueberry pancakes in the morning.

The Saint Johns is a river running north through central Florida.

As I begin my full time RVing experience in the Oyster Can of Adventure this place is to be an important factor.

Yep, My mail forwarding service is located in Green Cove Springs with the nice folks over at Saint Brendans Isle.

I took a pic of a sign in Spring park that has a bit more history on green Cove Springs, click the thumb to read it.

Now it is obvious that the town of Green Cove Springs is tied with a heavy-duty sailor knot to the Mariner culture of the Saint Johns River.

The Port there is huge. You can see all sorts of marine services, and huge marinas just out of town and mongo river boats , barges and more docked at the Green Cove Springs Port.

I fancied a number of of nice large sail boats in a marine storage yard near the port. As well as watching the river boats, the floating casinos and such that were docked at the port.

Now Green Cove Springs is the far most point these large ships or the sailing vessels can go when traveling South up river, as the Shands bridge that crosses the Saint Johns just has a 45ft clearance.

The mineral springs flow into the town pool and continue into the Saint Johns down a spring run.
Spring Park in down-town Green Cove Springs has a handy fishing peir so you can toss your line in the Saint John’s waters.
The Green Cove Springs Town Dock also features boat slips where you can tie up and check out town. You can dock here 48 hours for a small fee.

Clay County Theatre
This old Vintage Movie theatre reminded me of one in my home town. It is a working movie theatre. Now, If it only had a theatre company to take it over now and then, I’d felt right at home.

RVing at Wright Lake was Ribbiting Performance (ribbit ribbit!!)

The curtain rises on Wright Lake with a soothing intro, that of lots of frogs singing their songs. Its a lovely little lake in the Apalachicola wilderness.
The 26 foot Oyster Can of Adventure fit just fine into one of the very shaded spaces near the lake, and 8 bucks bought a site with water only, and a nearby bath house. So the Oyster can went into Inverter and fans mode with lp gas running the fridge.
But be warned , If you come out to these boonies you just might croak, just to fit in with the neighbors that is.. After the Sun takes its bow, with a stylish exit, and the moon caresses the waters, this lake comes alive with the singing of the night. Frogs sing the lead and katydids are on percussion. The rest of natures night instruments chime in regularly to add to the night time wonderment.

For a lover of nature, this is a great campsite, in some ways for what the camp site did not have.

There was no motor-coach of mongo hugeness 2 inches from my door so huge that there is a convention center in one of the slide outs
there was not 1000 screaming preteen-vermin swarming though my campsite.

The only real annoyance was the yellow files or horse flies but Deep Woods Off bug repellent helped with that problem. I had the place almost to myself as there was only the very friendly camp host, the camp doggies, and a tenter. Yep, that was it.
I have here a pic of me trying to “out tacky” the birds and flora while I enjoyed rambling around on the bicycle of adventure and walking, invading random trails.
The lake was a bit shallow due to the Florida drought, but it was at least there and was a decent lake still, and it was wet, so I even went for a dip/wade in the lake swimming area. and didn’t get eaten by anything (though these cute little minnows were looking at me funny).
There is a 4 mile + trail for the very adventurous, but I just did the short one that goes around the lake and went on a few random bike jaunts.