Day 50 – Cape Cantafforditaveral

Gosh… Day 50, has it really been that long already.  I must say it does feel like forever, I can hardly remember the start of the journey.

Today I am going to Cape Canaveral for a look at the rockets…  According to the iphone it is 25 miles away, but by the time I get there it is almost 50 miles, I really miss my Garmin.

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It is $5 to park the bike… mmmm I wonder how much it will be to go in?  I decide that if it is less than $40 I will go for it.

So it is $50 or $47 with the over 55 discount plus tax of course.  I really just wanted to take a bus tour, I’m not interested in the various ‘experiences’ or indeed have any desire to meet an astronaut, it really isn’t my thing and to be honest yet again it’s not on my bucket list and I don’t really have the money so all in all I decide to give it a miss.

I do however take a few snaps to remember it by…

Back on the road and via a long circuitous route, (for that read bloody frustrating), I find myself on the Canaveral Nature Reserve…

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Another fee to get any further in so I turn around again… and look what I found

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Ooooo, I must have a look.  I park the bike next to a Triumph and the guy riding it says hello, I know that accent and yep he’s from London… Wandsworth.. so we chat for a while.  He seems like a nice fella and we go to look at the Manatees together.  Bloody hell, they’re all hiding.  He starts to tell me all about losing his job and how hard it was to find another, (he’s probably in his early 50’s), and then he proceeds to talk about one of his current work colleagues who is lazy…zzzzzz I am trying hard not to yawn!  I want to escape, but I want to see the Manatee more so I stay hoping they will show up very soon.

After about 10 minutes I give up on the Manatee and finally manage to break away, but before I go Mr Boring tells me not to continue on the road I was on as there is a drawbridge there that seems to be continually open so I won’t be able to get through, better to go back around and blah, blah, blah… oh ok, thanks for the advice.

Now if you know me, you know I am not one to do as I’m told… the other thing is I absolutely hate turning around and going back the way I have come unless I absolutely have to… so I ignore Mr B’s advice and continue on the road I was on.

After about 4 or 5 miles there is no bridge and I arrive at a T junction back onto Highway 1, I don’t know what road he was blabbing about but it isn’t this one… chalk one up to me and my stubbornness.

I am soon passing by Patricks Airforce Base… ahhhh Paddy… where I think they train the astronauts.

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and I see this, could it be Airforce 1 methinks??? I surreptitously take a snap

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What do you think?

When I was riding along the A1A this morning I saw a number of references to Jack Nicklaus the world famous golfer.. Jack Nicklaus Boulevard for example… do you think he has lost one of his balls???

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Once again I am riding along beside the Atlantic Ocean.. the houses here, whilst I am sure are highly desirable, are not in the same bracket as Boynton and Palm beach. They are very well kept although not quite so manicured, i.e. not had their lawns cut with nail scissors…

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I did also manage to get some rather shaky video…

and a little further on, just to prove not everything kitch and quirky resides on Route 66… it’s almost everywhere.

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So, next stop is Daytona Beach.. this is one of the most famous Harley Davidson rally venues, it has two rallies a year attended by thousands of bikers from all over the world.  Sadly the Octoberfest rally is mid October, (strangely), so I’m going to miss it.  I ride along the beach and then head onto Highway 1 again to find the Harley dealers in the next beach over, Ormond… it should be right on Highway 1, but blowed if I can find it.  Eventually I just give up and keep on riding.

I arrive in Jacksonville and to be honest have had enough for today.  All in all I have covered about 200 miles so am going to stop now and find a room.

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