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