Tallahassee to Cocoa Beach
Goodbye Starr — Kennedy Space Center
Day 46 — crossing Florida from the Panhandle to the Space Coast.
Day 46 started with a goodbye. Starr — Ray's old buddy who had been riding along since Dallas on Day 43 — departed in Tallahassee. He'd ridden through Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. A good stretch of road.
From Tallahassee, Ray drove east across Florida toward the Space Coast — the stretch of Atlantic coastline around Cape Canaveral where NASA launches its rockets.
Kennedy Space Center was the destination. The space shuttle, the Vehicle Assembly Building, the launch pads, the booster rockets — Ray got to see it all. The Columbia disaster had occurred just four months earlier, in February 2003, and the center was in a period of reflection and rebuilding.
A visit with college pal Byron and his daughters Melissa and Brittany rounded out the day in Cocoa Beach.
Photos from the Day
The Day's Route
Tallahassee, FL — Goodbye Starr
Starr had been riding along since Day 43 in Dallas. He departed in Tallahassee after riding through Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida — a memorable stretch of the trip.
Kennedy Space Center — Merritt Island, FL
NASA's Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island — the launch facility for the Apollo moon missions and the Space Shuttle program. The Vehicle Assembly Building, one of the largest buildings in the world by volume, is here. The space shuttle Columbia had been lost just four months earlier, on February 1, 2003.
Cocoa Beach, FL — Visit with Byron
Cocoa Beach — the beach town adjacent to Cape Canaveral, home of Ron Jon Surf Shop (the largest surf shop in the world). Ray visited college pal Byron and his daughters Melissa and Brittany.