November 15th, Saturday Vero Beach, FL

Opening day of deer hunting season

We pretty much sat around reading and doing various odd jobs during the day. We had heard they were blocking off some streets near the beach and having music and food vendors so we walked down to the beach with Charlie and Kathy from "My Time Too" and met up with Jim and Nancy and Jay and Di. They had been driving around looking for some action and found nothing, so we all went out for dinner and had a nice time.


November 14th, Friday Vero Beach, FL


It rained on and off during the early morning hours but was just cloudy at sunrise. We sat around for awhile after coffee but I can only sit so long...I had been thinking about the problem with the Honda all night and decided that the symptoms pointed to bad gasoline, a clogged fuel filter or a sticking float in the carburetor. I had already changed the gas and the fuel filter seemed to be hiding so I took the carburetor apart again and cleaned the ports. The needle valve was sticking, but after liberal doses of Carb cleaner, seem to be working properly. When I got things back together it worked. However, I would like to have a spare carburetor. What I really need is some of the stuff that you soak carburetors in over night to clean them out...maybe NAPA.

Feeling a little better, I crawled down into the basement of our boat and with Kathy's help form above extracted our new bilge pump and the water witch (bilge switch) which I had left in disgust... tangled in the bottom of our keel yesterday.

Yesterday's attempt was to replace the old bilge pump with the new using basically the same system. By morning I had come to the conclusion that I need to reengineer the completely. So...I went to shore, got on the bus to West Marine, purchased some fittings, caught the bus across the street on it's return and went to work. By lunch time I had the new system built and by about 1:30 had it installed in the bottom of the bilge.

After a shower and an hour of reading Bahamas Charts for places we haven't visited, we went to shore to hook up with Jim, Nancy, Jay and Di for a two car caravan to Titusville to view the Shuttle Launch that night. It took us about 2 hours up Hwy 1 to reach the good viewing areas, but most were full by the time of our arrival. We passed a couple of parks on the Indian River that were packed with folks and were beginning to worry about finding the a place to watch the action when we passed a tiny city park.. .after a few minutes of indecision, Jim made a u-turn and headed back. There seemed to be lots of room in the parking lot so things were looking up.

There were picnic tables and playground equipment and a long T-dock on the shore with a few picnic tables .. which were all occupied... but at the north end of the dock there was a large bench which seemed perfect. We were directly across the Indian River from the launch pad. Jay, Kathy and Nancy ... made a run to the store for some dinner while Jim, Di and I stayed to stake out our claim.

After a couple of hours of conversation and roasted chicken, the Shuttle took off making the full moon seem like a dull candle. It was spectacular! After what seemed like a long time we heard the noise... a low rumbling. By the time we quit watching ... a matter of minutes, it was in orbit.

Viewing a launch has been one of those things that I've always wanted to do but had never made it a priority. Thanks again go to Jim and Nancy for hauling our butts around and another rewarding evening.


The pictures were taken by Jim and Nancy of "Solitaire". You may want to read their account of the event at:

http://www.nancyjim.org/nov_2008.htm