29 AUG 2010

It rained on and off all night so we really were glad we had opted to up-grade to a Kabin at the KOA. The Kabin included an air conditioner and so for a change we slept in a coolish room. What I did not like is that the bed is covered with a plastic type cover and so even in the sleeping bags, it does not breathe. That is my one complaint.

For breakfast we decided to partake of the Sunday All You Can Eat breakfast for $6. This gave us a chance to chat with some others at the campsite. We learned that the day before a gator had been caught and moved to a new location. Apparently it was only 6 feet (ONLY 6 FEET!!! That is longer than I am tall.) Apparently it is not difficult to catch a gator. All you do is cast a fishing line with hook (hook will not go into the skin). When the gator feels the string, his reaction is to roll into the string and of course results in tangling himself. Sounds simple, but I did not volunteer to try it at all. Bad enough to know the gators were knocking at the door. Apparently the harshness of last winter killed alot of gators which was good since they were started to become a problem. Nature's population control at work.

We left Richmond Hill outside of Savannah, Georgia, for Jacksonville, FL. On the way we studied options for things to do and see and nothing in Jacksonville interested us too much so we looked beyond. I had forgot about Daytona Beach and may have missed it because of time restraints if we had stopped in Jacksonville. And Wes was interested in the Canaveral NASA museum so we decided to work our way to Orlando stopping at these two locations on the way.

First stop was the speedway. With your ticket you can tour the museum, watch the iMAX show and take a tram tour of the speedway track itself. So we started on the tram and got to see the inside area of the speedway. Unfortunately this is the year (out of 30) that they are resurfacing the track, so there is little to see. The lake in the infield was created by digging out the dirt to create the banked corners. The corners are 33 degree banks and about 4 stories high.

Inside the museum we were able to read about the orginal start of the Daytona races which were done on the flat and hard surfaces of the beach itself. From this humble beginning it evolved to become a oval type track that used the beach surface and a portion highway creating a 2 plus mile distance. The next evolution was the development of the speedway itself with very special surfaces, high banked corners and specialized cars.

I decided to do the simulator to race the track. I am not going to be a race car driver ever. I am way to careful and cautious – yes those who have driven with me know that is my style. My Miata is a façade truly. I did not win the race so the computer told me, but I know the truth - who ever relies on a computer?

After that we enjoyed watching a series of short clips of race highlights – about 15 minutes worth I think, in a video room. It covered all Daytona 500 races from 1979 to 2005 and showed all the winning laps plus a few interesting crashes.

We had to wait around until 3:45 to go to the iMAX theatre which was a 45 minute 3D film about racing and the track. This meant that by the time we left it was too late to visit NASA but we were both ready to head to Orlando and start to relax from the holiday. A holiday from the holidays..if that makes sense.

An evening of swimming, hot tub, bbq and watching the Emmy’s. I do like Orlando.