Sleeping at Cape Canaveral

We arrived at North Merritt Island UMC in early afternoon today after the two hour ride south, with a one hour stop at a campground to dump our waste tanks, and fill with fresh water and propane. Sunny and 75!

The church, as do many buildings on this barrier island just a short distance from the launch pads of the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, sits on a man made hammock (island) in the middle of primeval swamp in the middle of Merritt Island. We are only about 2 miles south of the Kennedy Space Center Museum and Visitor’s Center on NASA Blvd.

Some of the swampland around us has been drained and the water flow managed so homes can be built. When Cape Canaveral was first developed as the primary American space launch site there were almost no people anywhere on these hot, malarial islands.  A few cottages and motels on A1A in Cocoa Beach. And now!  Wanna buy some Florida swampland?  No longer cheap!

We entered a long avenue of live oaks that are not high enough yet for a 13 foot coach to enter without some trepidation on the part of the driver, and his co-captain.  But any new marks we received on our coach walls were negligible and we parked comfortably at the end of their flat drive, at the rear of the property.  Probably closest to where the alligators come out for dinner.

Sunday School tomorrow is at 9 and Worship is at 10:30.  They advertise a ‘living nativity’ this Monday evening so we are looking forward to that.  We don’t know what it will be like, or if its inside or out.  Some rain is predicted for Monday and Tuesday so that will keep us off the beach and the nativity indoors, we would imagine.

We drove around the island and into Port Canaveral and Cocoa Beach to see what had changed since we’d been here in 2009 with the family.  The Port Canaveral Jetty Park, nearest place on the coast for the public to see rocket launches costs $15.00 for non-Brevard County residents to enter. $5.00 for residents.  Mona says owning two deeded weeks at the Fort Lauderdale Marriott doesn’t make us Brevard residents, just customers.  L

I thought we would be able to drive to the Banana River to see the launches from there, but that land is all swampy, private, or just inaccessible. We’ll ask at church tomorrow where the locals go to watch a launch.  And we can stay here and watch Orion shoot up over the trees on the other side of the road we are on.  We are still only about five miles away.

Supper is over. It will soon be reading time, or movie time (for me), and then bed time.  It is SO quiet here, as it often is when we stay at churches.

The campground we dumped and filled in this afternoon was not crowded, but it felt like it; and a bit noisy.  Thank you United Methodist Churches for your generous hospitality!!

-Ken