You Can't Get Anything at Alice's Restaurant
7 hours ago
Monday, September 10, 2018
Strange and Sad Coincidence
The dog woke me up at an uncivilized hour so she could go inspect the property lines in the dark. Once up, I could not get back to sleep. To pass the time I finished reading Lee Hughes' "The Biggest Boat I could Afford."
I got to the section where he was sailing into Titusville Florida with the hope of seeing a returning space shuttle. Unfortunately, that was the Columbia that broke up upon reentry, causing the loss of life of all on board. Titusville is on Florida's Space Coast and is definitely a space town. While the loss of the space shuttle was a national disaster, on the Space Coast it was a local disaster too. Most of the residents have some connection to the space industry.
As luck would have it, at the same time Lee Huges was sailing into Titusville, I was driving into town. My lovely wife and I happened to be traveling the country in an old Mercedes diesel sedan converted to run on waste vegetable oil. On the fateful day, Mr. Huges and I were probably no more than a mile apart.
The book brought back memories of that sad day. It was a strange coincidence that we were both there at the same time.
-Sixbears
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A couple degrees of separation? Hope you found the book useful for your preparations.
ReplyDeleteYeah, funny how that works out. The book was useful. Marinas change, of course, but the stuff about the towns, waterways and anchorages along the way were useful. Most guides are written for larger boats.
DeleteI worked at the space center and lived in Cocoa, FL before moving to Texas. We lived in DFW area out in the country and I remember hearing a loud sound that day (the space shuttle?). They picked up pieces east of us. Very sad. Talk about a couple of degrees of separation. We all have a story.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure it felt pretty personal to you too.
DeleteA week before my lovely wife and I were canoeing on one of the TX lakes where debris came down.