Mar 12, 2009

Crazy Road Trip!

Some of you may be aware that the Space Shuttle was scheduled to launch Wednesday, March 11th at around 9:30 pm EST. Charles had been checking the NASA web site for a while and this event looked pretty certain - no troubles had been reported and the weather was perfect.
Since I had never seen a Shuttle launch (in person) we decided it would make for a great road trip. We're 7 hours from Kennedy Space Center so we thought we'd drive down, watch the launch, sleep in a cheap motel and drive home Thursday morning. Perfect plan - right?


We had our evening all figured out - we'd go to Titusville, find a great parking spot and viewing place along A1A and be tourists on foot for a while until the evening.

Traffic was great and we made good time. When we reached the Beeline parkway to Orlando (we were still 2 hours from Titusville) we stopped for lunch. While deciding between Popeye's chicken and Dunkin Donuts, we happened to glance up at the CNN news bulletin on TV: "Due to a recently discovered leak in a hydrogen vent line, the Shuttle launch has been canceled."

We both looked at each other, rolled our eyes, and at the same time said "Let's go home". Twelve hours and 660 miles later we were back in our house, enjoying a bottle of wine and a recording of "Lie to Me" on the DVR.

The Shuttle launch is now scheduled for March 15th. I plan to travel 20 feet (to my big fluffy sofa) for a large screen, high definition, viewing of Discovery's take off.


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4 COMMENTS - Click here to leave YOURS!:

sassypackrat said...

Bummer! I've always wanted to see a live take off but can't even watch on t.v. anymore since I saw on t.v. the one that exploded just after take off when I was in college.

Deb DiSalvo said...

awww, that stinks! I like your idea to travel 20 ft. to your sofa - that's my kind of trip! LOL!
Cheers,
Deb:)

storybeader said...

At least you had the road trip! Love your drawing!

Unknown said...

Well even though you didn't see the launch it sounds like a fun day:D

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