2018 Florida Road Trip (Prelude)

14 Nov

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

 

Prelude:  Because of the influence of NASA and the U.S. Air Force, east central Florida is the home to many historic, space, and aviation related museums.  Living in this area for many years, I have visited many of these museums more than once. Because they are all within a “Day Trip” distance, or less, from where I live, they will not be counted as part of this current road trip.  However, I will start off by giving you a brief account of each of them so you will know what is available in the area.

 

 

Because we live on Florida’s east coast near the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), one of my favorite places to visit is the KSC Visitors Center.  This is one of the most frequently visited attractions in Florida, next to Disney World in Orlando.  The visitor center is one of the best ways for NASA to advertise their launch operations business that has been on-going within the 144,000 acre Kennedy Space Center over the last 60+ years.  The KSC Visitor Center complex displays a variety of artifacts, memorabilia, and exhibits related to the history and future of America’s manned space flight programs.  The U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame is also located within the NASA Visitor Center Complex. There is a rocket garden and several space related attractions, as well as bus tours. The bus tour gives visitors a close-up look at the KSC and provides educational information about the many past and current projects as well as those planned for the future from this location.

 

 

Located southeast of the KSC, across the Banana River, on the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station you will find the Air Force Space & Missile Museum.  This small museum exhibits artifacts and memorabilia related to the early days of America’s space programs.  The museum also has a Rocket Garden which includes the restored launch complex 26, from where the first successful American satellite was placed in earth orbit, and launch complexes 5/6 which were used to place America’s first Astronauts in earth orbit.

 

 

While in Cape Canaveral anyone who has an interest in lighthouses will want to visit the Cape Canaveral Lighthouse, located on the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, and operated by the U.S. Air Force Space Wing.  The lighthouse has a very interesting history beginning with the first lighthouse placed at this location in 1838.  Other lighthouses have been built and moved to this location over the years, to warn mariners of the dangerous Southeast Shoals located just off the Florida coast.  Free tours of the Cape Canaveral Lighthouse can be scheduled for Wednesdays & Thursdays (only) thru the Patrick AFB Public Affairs office.

 

 

Just a few miles west of Cape Canaveral, across the Banana River, you will find the 82 acre Brevard Veterans Memorial Park located just south of SR-520 at the south end of the Sykes Creek Parkway.  Within this beautifully laid out park you will find the Veterans Memorial Library, the Veterans Memorial Plaza and the Veterans Memorial Museum.  The museum displays artifacts and memorabilia related to all branches of the U.S. Military Services dating from the Revolutionary War to the present War on Terror.

 

 

On your way back towards Orlando from either of the afore mentioned museums you will find the Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum located just off SR-405 on the east side of the Space Coast Regional Airport in Titusville, FL.  This is a large three-hanger museum that displays 40+ beautifully restored aircraft from WWI to the present.  As with most aircraft museums, there are always aircraft in various stages of restoration by the excellent staff of volunteer mechanics. Several of the aircraft in this museum’s collection are in flying condition and for those who wish the thrill of flying in a vintage warbird, and have the money, this can be arranged at the gift shop.

 

 

Another local space related museum is The American Space Museum located in downtown Titusville, FL. This museum displays artifacts and memorabilia related to the history of America’s manned space exploration from its earliest days.  The museum also has examples of launch control consoles from the blockhouse of launch complex 36, from which NASA and the U.S Air Force launched various payloads on Atlas rockets from 1962 to 2005.

 

 

The outdoor Space View Park, located on the Indian River, just two blocks east of the museum, is the site of the Space Walk of Fame and is an integral part of the American Space Museum. The monuments and brick engravings honor the Astronauts and many of the workers who made the U.S. Manned Space Programs possible.  The Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, and Space Shuttle monuments and engravings displayed in the park also help keep alive the memory of the people and programs and what they have accomplished in their generation.

 

           Additional Brevard County area museums will be discussed next week.

—–To Be Continued—–

 

Bill is a retired Mechanical engineer living with his wonderful artist/writer wife, DiVoran, of 61 years in Titusville, Florida. He was born and raised in the Southwest, did a tour of duty with the U.S. Navy, attended Northrop University in Southern California and ended up working on America’s Manned Space Program for 35 years. He currently is retired and spends most of his time building and flying R/C model airplanes, traveling, writing blogs about his travels for Word Press and supporting his wife’s hobbies with framing, editing and marketing.  He also volunteers with a local church Car Care Ministry and as a tour guide at the Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum there in Titusville.  Bill has two wonderful children, two outstanding grandchildren, and a loving sister and her husband, all of whom also live in Central Florida, so he and DiVoran are rewarded by having family close to spend lots of quality time with.

 

Bill

 

One of Bill’s favorite Scriptures is:  John 10:10

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Favorite Things

13 Nov

Onisha Ellis

On the Porch

 

This is one of my favorite paintings by DiVoran and  my favorite scripture of the week. They both make my heart sing.

 

 

 

 

 

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School Days Again 4

12 Nov

My Take

DiVoran Lites

 

I waited two full weeks to hear about my acceptance as a certified school volunteer..

 

Photo by Charles Deluvio 🇵🇭🇨🇦 on Unsplash

 

At the beginning of the third week, I was thinking I should ask somebody. I called the School Board and they said, “Yep, you’re good to go.” You can go over to the school right now and start.”

I didn’t want to go over there, “right now.” I had no idea where to go or what to do. I wanted to know the next step. I called the school and the woman there connected me to the voice mail of the volunteer coordinator. I left a message, but she never got back to me, I believe it was because they have just made changes in the phone system there.

The next day the School Board left a message on our phone telling me my fingerprints had been rejected and we had to do them over, no expense to me. So I wasn’t good to go after all.

Before that day came, I talked with a friend from our church’s Book Chat. She is a volunteer at the library with the very impressive background of having been a research librarian herself. I asked about her fourth-grade grand-daughter who is brilliant. The last time we talked, the granddaughter was doing virtual school, but it wasn’t right for her she was way ahead. Next,they tried a charter school. The granddaughter got the only slot, and she began to succeed. She loved her teachers and they loved her. My friend, the grandmother, said she had volunteered to work in the media center where her granddaughter attended, but they didn’t need any more help, not even from a certified research librarian.

Today I went back to have my fingerprints done again. When I told the receptionist I was back for the second time she got everybody hustling to tend to me. I’d been told not to use hand sanitizer but to wear lotion on my finger-tips. I had done that, but when I got to the computer every one of my prints were labeled, poor quality again. The finger-print taker said she would send them to the FBI and if they were rejected again, she would ask for a name check. I guess that meant an FBI background check. I was feeling more and more important, not discouraged at all. Hmm, certififed and approved by the FBI. I was coming up in the world.

 

Photo by Corinne Kutz on Unsplash

 

 

 

Author, Poet and Artist

DiVoran has been writing for most of her life. Her first attempt at a story was when she was seven years old and her mother got a new typewriter. DiVoran got to use it and when her dad saw her writing he asked what she was writing about. DiVoran answered that she was writing the story of her life. Her dad’s only comment was, “Well, it’s going to be a very short story.” After most of a lifetime of writing and helping other writers, DiVoran finally launched her own dream which was to write a novel of her own. She now has her Florida Springs trilogy and her novel, a Christian Western Romance, Go West available on Amazon. When speaking about her road to publication, she gives thanks to the Lord for all the people who helped her grow and learn.  She says, “I could never have done it by myself, but when I got going everything fell beautifully into place, and I was glad I had started on my dream.”

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Fred Remembers~Part 12

11 Nov

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

 

 

Charles wrote:   Late in 1954, I received orders assigning us to Far East Air Forces.  So we were being moved to Japan.  

We left Tyndall in the winter of 1955, on February 1st, with the temperature being 28̊.  We headed West on U.S. 98 in ground fog.  The fog was right at windshield level.  We drove across country through Texas – and it took two days to across Texas! [that was before interstate roads] – then  across New Mexico and Arizona to Yuma, Arizona.

Charles wrote:   On our first day out of Tyndall heading to the west coast, we arrived in Beaumont, Texas in late afternoon.  Going through the city, we happened to be the last vehicle in the line to go through a light.  Unfortunately, a beer truck following us, also attempted to go through, but went too fast, and when we got into the next block discovered he didn’t have room to stop, so he crashed into our new Buick, bending the trunk lid.  Kitty had her sewing machine in the trunk, and she was concerned about that, but more about the children.  The driver came to apologize, but Kitty yelled at him, “what are you trying to do….kill my children??”  He arranged that very day to have a check cut for repairs for our car, so we continued on out to the west coast.

 

 Charles and Kitty with Sally by house on Beacon Beach, Tyndall AFB, Florida

1953 Buick, light green bottom, dark green on top

I think we ended up spending a few days with my Aunt and Uncle and cousins – I think at that time they were in Pasadena, California.  We drove up to Danville, California, which is just east of Oakland in the San Francisco Bay area.  Dad found a place for us to rent.

I think that, just a few days after we arrived in Danville, Dad decided to trade in his car – the 1953 Buick that was rear-ended – on a 1955 Chevrolet V-8 which was coral and gray.  It was an interesting car, and we really enjoyed it.

 

Emily and Sally by the coral and gray 1955 Chevy

We got in a three-bedroom house in Danville, south of Walnut Creek, California. It was a very affluent area, near Mt. Diablo.  Us kids were enrolled in the schools there.  I attended San Ramón Valley Union High School.  It was a new building.  I was quite disappointed to find they didn’t teach any Latin at all, or Algebra 2. They only had Business Math.  So I took two hours of study hall.  I had to take spelling again, something I hadn’t had to take since the fourth grade!  I was not impressed with the California schools.  We went to Japan during my second semester of my 10thgrade.  Since I could not take Latin and Algebra 2 while we were in Danville, I had to take them both during summer school in Tokyo.

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

JUDYJudy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years
Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing.
Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.
After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.
She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins.
She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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I Need Encouragement

10 Nov

Walking by Faith, Not by Sight

Janet Perez Eckles

 

I need encouragement.

 

Reblogged November 10, 2018

“C’mon, tell them your story,” my friend nudged me.

I smiled but my heart said no.

How could I share my story with these two teenagers who showed up to collect for a camping trip? They had knocked at the door, hoping to get some money and be on their way.

But my friend, who hosted me in her house, insisted. “Come in. Have a seat,” she said to them, “wait till you hear this story.”

I squirmed. This audience of two was not eager to sit through the details of my transition from sighted to blind.

I grinned with an apologetic smile. But, having no choice, I began to relate my journey including God’s redeeming love and spiritual healing.

“She’s crying,” my friend whispered to me when I finished.

For obvious reasons, I had no idea the young girl had only one eye. They stayed and stayed telling us their own story, the trauma they endured brought tears to our eyes.

“God brought us to this house for a reason,” they said. “We know He’s real.”

That night they found hope.

And I found a hint of the power of God when we put aside our resistance to tell what He has done.

And He has done something for all of us, big or small, powerful or light. We all have a detail that shines of His goodness. We all have crossed from some valley to a mountain top. And because He took us through that journey, He says, tell it. Don’t hide it. Show it because “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:14-16).

Opportunities to show His light surround us. They whisper to us. And call us to still believe, still be bold, and still know He goes before us in moments trivial to us, but mighty for Him

From now on, rather than hesitate, these words will echo in me: “I’m coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End” (Revelation 22:12-13).

Let’s Pray

Father, remove from me any hesitation to share what You have done for me. Open more doors to tell of Your faithfulness and Your goodness at work. In Jesus’ name, amen.

What part of your story does God want you to share?

Janet

______________________________________

Did you know I wrote a book filled with words of encouragement, uplifting thoughts and illustrations of real-life triumph to empower you? Its title, Trials of Today, Treasures for Tomorrow: Overcoming Adversities in Life. You can get it HERE.

CLICK HERE for a one-minute inspirational video.

Looking for a speaker for your upcoming event? A great speaker makes the difference between a so-so event and one that shines with impact. I invite you to view one of my two-minute videos HERE.

Please share: Feel free to share Janet’s posts with your friends.

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Home Front – A Weed Went to War

9 Nov

My blogging muse deserted me this week. I found this blog about milkweed to be fascinating. I am thankful there are bloggers like GPCox keeping our past alive.

Pacific Paratrooper

Late in World War II, the common milkweed was often the only thing that kept a downed aviator or soaking-wet sailor from slipping beneath the waves. The plant’s floss was used as the all-important filler for flotation devices.

The northwest part of the Lower Peninsula, particularly the area around Petoskey, became the country’s picking and processing center for milkweed floss. By the time the war ended, an army of citizens—including schoolchildren—led by a visionary doctor had helped keep America’s servicemen safe from harm.

In the early 20th century, the typical filler for life preservers was a material called “kapok.” A cottony fiber extracted from the pods of the ceiba tree, kapok was cultivated in the rainforests of Asia. America’s primary source for this material was the Dutch East Indies (present-day Indonesia).

Then, in 1937, came Japan’s invasion of China, which initiated World War II in the Pacific.

Enter Dr. Boris…

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The Pinewood Derby Race Car

8 Nov

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

 

 

DiVoran and I transferred from Los Angeles, California to Titusville, Florida in 1965, for me to work on the Apollo Moon Landing Program.  At the time, our daughter was three and our son was 18 months old.  We bought our first new house, and spent months furnishing it the best we could (Can you imagine, our lot had no grass and no trees when we bought that first new house),    DiVoran went to work as a hair stylist for a while, and we made some wonderful friends at the local church we joined.

 

                 The house was gray with no grass or trees when we bought it!

 

We stayed really busy the first few years, and the stress of the jobs was getting to us.  Friends of ours suggested we join their square-dance club, to help relieve some of the tensions of our daily lives.  Not being much of a dancer, I couldn’t see how hours of high-stepping square-dancing would relieve my tensions.  But I learned that it was really great therapy, and we liked it.  We had some wonderful times dancing with the Titusville Twirlaways square-dance club, at local and state-wide dances over the years.

 

 

When our son, Billy, was seven we enrolled him in the local Cub Scout Pack 370 and I became a volunteer Scout Leader.  The Boy Scouts of America program is a great learning and character developmentexperience for young boys, and I enjoyed helping as a leader.  We had lots of skill and development projects, and Billy and I worked together on most of them.

 

 

One of our favorite projects was a Pinewood Derby race car.  This involved taking a block of hard-wood, and hand fashioning it (with lots of elbow grease and sandpaper) into a race car.  As I remember it, the Cub Scouts were given a certain amount of time to finish their car and have it ready for racing.  There were certain rules they had to follow, so there would be no cheating. When race day came, we made a day of it and all the parents were cheering for their son’s car to win, as they raced down an inclined track.  After the race, there was a covered dish meal and a good time was had by all.

 

 

When Billy was 10, he graduated into the next age group of the Boy Scouts, which was Webelos.  I worked with him to earn the many merit badges he needed to move up each step in the Scouting program.  Funny thing, while I was working with Billy on his merit badges, DiVoran and I were working on collecting our square-dancing badges for various classes and trips we took to dances around the state.

 

 

One of the most fun projects I worked on with Billy, while he was in Webelos, was the building and flying of model rockets.  As an engineer, I was challenged to build rockets that would look the best and fly the highest.  Billy got caught up with the challenge, and actually designed his own model rocket from scratch.  The first flight didn’t go too well, but with just one small modification, it flew great. We bought several kits, and spent many hours putting them together and painting them.  Then we had loads of fun flying them at the local school yard.

 

That’s Billy’s original design on the far left

 

As a side note, you might be interested to know that those model rockets Billy and I built, when he was in Webelos, have survived to this day.  And Billy’s son, Jacob, enjoyed flying them (when he was younger) at the same school yard, all these many years later.  To me, it’s a testimony to the shared love, respect, learning ability, and character development, to see generation after generation succeed in life with the help of organizations like the Boy Scouts of America.

 

—–The End—–

 

Bill is a retired Mechanical engineer living with his wonderful artist/writer wife, DiVoran, of 61 years in Titusville, Florida. He was born and raised in the Southwest, did a tour of duty with the U.S. Navy, attended Northrop University in Southern California and ended up working on America’s Manned Space Program for 35 years. He currently is retired and spends most of his time building and flying R/C model airplanes, traveling, writing blogs about his travels for Word Press and supporting his wife’s hobbies with framing, editing and marketing.  He also volunteers with a local church Car Care Ministry and as a tour guide at the Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum there in Titusville.  Bill has two wonderful children, two outstanding grandchildren, and a loving sister and her husband, all of whom also live in Central Florida, so he and DiVoran are rewarded by having family close to spend lots of quality time with.

 

Bill

 

One of Bill’s favorite Scriptures is:  John 10:10

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A New Way

6 Nov

My Take

DiVoran Lites

 

 

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Home Front recipes from WWII

5 Nov

Pacific Paratrooper

As most of you know, America experienced rationing for the first time in World War II and with the holidays looming in the wings, food seemed to be a logical subject.

Some products  that were rationed during World War II were sugar, meat, coffee, typewriters, fuel oil, gasoline, rubber, and automobiles.  Each person was issued a book of ration coupons each month.  Rationed goods were assigned a price and point value.  Families were not restricted to certain quantities of rationed goods.  But once their coupons were used up, they could not buy rationed goods until the next month. Families were encouraged to plant victory gardens.  These gardens supplied a major part of the vegetable supply during the War.

But one thing most of us can admit, our parents and grandparents ate well.  They ate to live – not lived to eat!    Here are some of the recipes, given to us…

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School Days 3

5 Nov

My Take

DiVoran Lites

 

I went to the school board website to fill in an application as a school volunteer. I’m not great at filling out things on the computer, but with a bit of help,I got it done last week. I would have to pay thirty-five dollars for a set of fingerprints and be charged eight dollars a year for the prints to stay on file.

Photo credit Pixabay

Bill drove me to the County School Board building in another town, but before we went, we had lunch at Chick-Fi-l A with our daughter. I love that place. It’s feels like a giant family reunion. We mingle with military people, sports team people, and lots of mothers and a few dads with babies and pre-school children. Children are God’s best work of art. I have to be careful that I don’t just sit and gaze at them.

 

photo credit Melody Hendrix

I’ve always liked children, that’s the main reason I want to help with reading again. Over the last year,I’ve been a bit slow as I recuperated from an emergency gall-bladder operation. While I was getting back my strength, I felt as if I had no real purpose in life, so as I got well I prayed for God to use me in some way that He knew I could manage.

Since it was around lunchtime when we got to the School Board the tiny security room in the large building was standing room only. Eventually,it was my turn to go in. I had a pink sheet that asked if I had ever been arrested. They wanted to know what, where, when, why, and how. There were strict instructions against lying.

Thank the Lord, I have never been arrested…uh, well but… when I was in high school, I got hauled into the police station for drag-racing at night on our main street. I kind of hated to quit, because I had always won. Maybe I won because of the Green Hornet Hudson my dad let me drive. The other driver, the Lutheran pastor’s son got taken in too. Apparently the police liked him, though. They let us go without calling our parents. I didn’t know until later that Dad had replaced a transmission on the Green Hudson Hornet. Let’s not tell the School Board any of this, okay?

 

Photo credit commons WikiMedia.org

Back to the fingerprints, which aren’t nearly as exciting as drag racing. (Kids don’t try it at home). The fingerprint space had two big desks in it which meant four people filled the room. Did you know that fingerprinting is now done on a computer? The old way was probably better, but at least I didn’t have ink on my hands. Words come up for each print at the top of the monitor. Mine always said, “Poor Quality.” I figured I had worn off most of my prints like the woman I heard saying hers had been rejected because she was a cook and they had mostly burnt off. Next,I will get an email notice of whether I passed or not.

 

Author, Poet and Artist

 

DiVoran has been writing for most of her life. Her first attempt at a story was when she was seven years old and her mother got a new typewriter. DiVoran got to use it and when her dad saw her writing he asked what she was writing about. DiVoran answered that she was writing the story of her life. Her dad’s only comment was, “Well, it’s going to be a very short story.” After most of a lifetime of writing and helping other writers, DiVoran finally launched her own dream which was to write a novel of her own. She now has her Florida Springs trilogy and her novel, a Christian Western Romance, Go West available on Amazon. When speaking about her road to publication, she gives thanks to the Lord for all the people who helped her grow and learn.  She says, “I could never have done it by myself, but when I got going everything fell beautifully into place, and I was glad I had started on my dream.”

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