FLORIDA 2011
This trip was originally planned to attend the Winter Star Party in Florida. As I began planning, other things fell into place, particularly a space shuttle launch on the preceding Thursday, and a Vulcan Events convention the weekend in between.
Stardate 201102.20 Sunday: Packed the Prius with camping, car show and astronomy stuff. I was amazed that it all fit in.
Stardate 201102.21 Monday: Left New York. It had snowed in the early morning, but only a half inch or so. The forecast from the night before was worrisome at the time, but I ended up leaving on time. The roads were wet but no big deal. I made it to Roanoke, VA by evening, staying at a Best Western, using one of the coupons from the books you can pick up at the visitors information stops on the the Interstate. These are good deals, and get you about 50% off.
Stardate 201102.22 Tuesday: Drove to Atlanta, where Tim Johnson, an old friend from medical school days, lives with his wife Carole. Had dinner at a nice Alsatian restaurant, and much conversation catching up on several years of life.
Stardate 201102.23 Wednesday: Made it to Orlando, and started calling around to see if there was a room available near Cape Canaveral. I had originallly planned on tent camping, but it was dark by the time I got to Orlando, and I was road weary. Nothing was available at the Cape, so I started checking around Orlando. The first three places I tried were filled up, but I found a Best Western north of Orlando. Full price and no breakfast, but at least I had a place.
Stardate 201102.24 Thursday: Woke up early, and got to Jetty Park, just south of the Cape, between 8 and 9. The place was filling up already for a 4:50 PM launch, but I got a good place to view from. Could not see the launch pad, and there was disagreement among folks about where we would see the shuttle come up. I set up a telescope and binoculars. This attracted another guy who was an astronomer. David and Penny Rossetter joined us about noon. We hung out, mostly reading, and watching boats come in and out, ending with the Coast Guard and naval ships going out to enforce the curfew zone. As launch time approached the astronomer put up a short wave walkie-talkie so we could hear mission control directly. At T minus five minutes there was a hold, and a possible abort because of one downrange station computer problem, that got cleared with 4 seconds to spare (one second by the time word got relayed through the launch director).
It was about two seconds after lift off that we saw the bright pink-orange flame of the shuttle clear the trees (in a spot that NOONE had picked correctly). My scope was not pointed there, and I could not get it aimed in time, so I got no picture (which I had given myself only 1 in 10 odds of getting in the first place). The flame was a color not seen anywhere, except perhaps the setting sun. It disappeared into the clouds after less then five seconds. We saw it briefly a couple times through small breaks in the clouds, and that was it. Except. The sound. I forgot. We were nine miles away so it took 45 seconds for the sky to start rumbling with the deepest sound you have ever heard. Not really loud, but impressive for being that far away. It went on for a minute or so.
David and Penny invited me to their RV for dinner, thinking that we would sit out the traffic jam going out. Wrong. It took me four hours to get back to the motel. Turns out there were record crowds for this launch.
Stardate 201102.25-27 Friday-Sunday: Drove to Tampa for the Vulcan Events convention. I had arranged with a couple of guys from Miami to share a hotel room, and I had agreed to display the Zhang Heng, and do three presentations. This con had the rare appearance of two actors in full costume and makeup: Gowron (Robert O'Reilly) and Martok (J.G. Hertzler).
The attendence seemed a bit low to me, but there were more Trekkies in costume, especially Klingon, than usual. My presentations went OK, although to very small audiences. My laptop died somewhere during that weekend, so I did the final presentation (on cybernetics) without it. The Zhang Heng was a quite a hit. The convention people arranged with the hotel to have it displayed at the entrance. After my final presentation on Sunday, I went to Miami to stay at the home of one of the guys from there.
Stardate 201102.28 Monday: I woke up about 5 AM and headed down to the Keys for the Winter Star Party. Got to West Summerland Key between 8 and 9, and parked at the side of the road, behind a quarter mile of other cars waiting to get in. Hung out, read, chatted with other partiers until noon when they let us in. Scott Ewart and David and Penny Rossetter had gotten in earlier and reserved space in a little cove, somewhat surrounded by shrubs and trees. It was as good a place as any to observe. Out toward the beach there was a more unobstructed view, but more wind. I unpacked, set up the tent that Maureen Ford had lent me, and set up my scopes next to David's 25 inch Dobsonian. It was clear as night fell and we got a good view of more southern sky. My NexStar 8 scope worked well, and I racked up over twenty objects. We even got a sighting of the Hubble Space Telescope.
Stardate 201103.01 Rabbit Rabbit Day: Maureen and Natalie arranged for us to go snorkeling. Maureen did not go since she was not a swimmer, but the Rossetters came. We went to a place that rented all the stuff, including prescription goggles, which was really cool. There was a bit of wind, and the water was a little choppy on the way out on the boat. We spent a good hour and a half in the water, except for Natalie, who, strangely, got seasick after she got in the water. Back at camp I got to do some shopping among the vendors, including Howie Glatter who confirmed that he would be speaking at our club in July. We got about and hour and a half of observing in before the clouds (remember them? We came down to get away from that stuff.) rolled in.
Stardate 201103.02 Wednesday: We went kayaking. Another nice balmy day. Saw many sponges, corals, and birds among the mangroves. It was a bit cloudy toward evening, but there were frequent breaks in the clouds. The wind had picked up considerably, making observation impossible in the early evening. It calmed down a bit after midnight. I was able to log another 20 or so objects, and see some of the more spectacular sights through David's Dob. One fellow reported the next day that he got 107 Messier objects in his marathon.
Stardate 201103.03 Thursday: The wind picked up a blew and gusted all day. Had lunch with a few of the guys from Cloudy Nights.com. At lunch I caught a weather report saying the wind would continue the next three days. I got back from lunch to find that one of the tent poles had broken in the wind. It was really gusty, and I was beginning to question whether the tent would last for the next few days. I repaired the pole, and it broke again. Scott's tent uprooted completely, held in place by the heavy stuff inside (all those Televue eyepieces!). It was also difficult to get things secured, since there was only 4 inches of soil on top of the island rock in most places. It was clouded over completely. I began to feel more and more miserable and helpless, and finally made a decision to start packing up, and leave a day early. The wind gusted all night, as did the clouds.
Stardate 201103.04 Friday: Took the tent down and finished packing in the morning, then went to attend the door prize drawing. Won nothing. Neither did anyone else in our group. I hit the road around 1 PM and made it to northern Florida, where I spent the night in a seedy Motel 6.
Stardate 201103.05 Saturday: Drove to Atlanta. Stayed with Tim and Carole again, and had a fine dinner in a local restaurant.
Stardate 201103.06 Sunday: Drove to Harrisonburg, VA. Rained all day. Stayed in another Best Western at coupon rate. It snowed and rained during the night.
Stardate 201103.07 Monday: Made it home about 3 PM. The phone immediately started ringing with people wanting time or money from me.
LINKS
A great collection of photos of the Winter Star Party.
A short video of the Winter Star Party.