Life On The Edge

May 14 - 21, 2013

I made a two-day ride out of the the 400 mile trip from Key West to Edgewater, Florida, selecting a two-lane country route via the agricultural community of Belle Glade so as to bypass the multi-lane traffic nightmare through Miami.  Except for an overdose of bugs, requiring a side and rear angle for the video camera (to prevent bug-splatter from obscuring the lens) and several stops to clean the windshield, it was a great ride -- clear sky, no wind and the heat kept tolerable by maintaining sweat-abating speeds, especially after getting off the Key West highway where heavy traffic seldom got to 55 mph.



Key West To Belle Glade (220 Miles)



Belle Glade To Edgewater (198 Miles)

Edgewater, Florida is where lives Cousin Joy and Chuck who invited me to spend a week at their home near the edge of a canal leading the short distance to the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, which provides calm passage for water craft from Key West to Maine.

While Chuck worked during the week on construction jobs in the neighborhood, Joy took me on tour each day, saying it would take a week to show me the area.  It did. An excellent cook, Chuck had nice dinners prepared for us soon after our return.

Below is a sampling of photos and a couple of videos that tell our story:

Day 2:

In The Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge
Near Cape Canaveral



Horseshoe Crab Skeleton



Flipped Over View



Egret Crossing

 

Another Egret
(Or Was It The Same One? I Can't Remember)

 

Grooming



Don't Know What This Bird Is



In her truck, joy awaits my picture taking return. She'd cautioned me to watch out for alligators. (I had been watching the whole time I was in Florida and the only alligator I saw was the baby Captain Doug was passing around to the airboat crew.)



Looking For Manatees In The Haulover Canal 



Manatee

Manatee Nostril Shot



When Joy came to Florida from Kansas in 1968 she began a career at NASA, next door to the military installation at Cape Canaveral. Part of the NASA facility is seen on the horizon. Joy worked in the building on the right. 

This is a closeup of the rocket launch towers shown on the left in the above photo. It was from here the ill-fated "Challenger" was launched. Joy was working that day in 1986. But it wasn't her fault.

 

 Another View Of The NASA Launching Site

Night Shrimping With Chuck (4-Minute Video)

Day 3:



Joy and I had breakfast
at the Goodrich Restaurant

The Tackle box Holds The Items You Need ...
i.e. salt, pepper, napkins, sauces, etc.

Captain Goodrich

Turtle Mound is a 35-foot high pile of Oyster Shells,
a refuse pile made by the native people between 800 and 1400 AD. Click HERE for the story.

Cousin Joy On The Walkway
To The Turtle Mound



View From Atop The Turtle Mound



Eldora State House
(Click Eldora for the history of this place)

Eldora State House



Eldora State House



Speaking Of Turtles Here's
One Crossing In Front Of Us

I Followed Him For A Closeup

Day 4:

Ponce De Leon Lighthouse

Been Around A Long Time
Click HERE

Joy Lives About 30 Miles
South of Daytona Beach

We Did A Driveby Of The
Daytona International Speedway

South of Daytona is this infamous "biker bar" where female serial killer Aileen Wournos frequented.  
Arrested here in 1991, she was executed in 2002.

Day 5:  Chuck and Joy took me on a picturesque boat ride about 8 miles up the Intracoastal Waterway, turning around at the Harris Saxon Bridge. Chuck explained the upright 2x4's on the boat are for rigging nets used in commercial "shrimping", which he is breaking into. For more information on the "Waterway" click HERE

  15-Minute Video: Boat Ride With Joy and Chuck



One of Chuck's friends had a good night on the river
and gave Chuck some of his excess shrimp.



More Than Enough For Dinner




One Escapee


Day 6: Joy and I spent some time looking at old family photos and scrapbooks, sharing our memories of various relatives. Thanks to her "grandma Milly" who collected news clippings, recorded family data, wrote poems, organized and saved family photos we have lots of information on our mutual Newman "roots".

1909 Wedding Portrait of
Mildred Belle Newman and Charles Clarence Casida
I knew her as "Great Aunt Mildred",
older sister of my grandfather,
Sam Newman. Joy knew her as
"Grandma Milly".

Day 7:




Legend has it that Al Capone owned this house on Riverside Drive in New Smyrna Beach at the Edgewater city limits during his notorious reign as gangster boss. During his stays here he had a handy escape route through a nearby canal to the ocean whenever needed.



"You're Not Going To
Take My New Bed Are You?"



My stay in Edgewater proved to be the perfect time to have the 10,000 mile service done on my bike at the nearby New Smyrna Beach Harley shop. And what timing. Give or take a few miles the odometer read almost exactly 10,000 miles. Joy followed me to the shop where I dropped the bike off then took me back the next day to pick it up. It was also an opportunity to get a much needed haircut.

Many thanks to Joy and Chuck for the delicious meals and their wonderful hospitality.

P.S. .... Not sure what's going on with "blogger" but from my perspective the fonts are of a different size in various areas? Maybe it will work itself out? (And the spell checker quit. I'm on my own to find the typos.

P.S. again. It is probably known I'm not where I say I am. I'm way behind in this blog due to touristic distraction and "iffy" Internet service from time to time. Though there are other stories to tell and photos to share, I figure I'll jump ahead and give a "current" location.

June 5, 2013: I'm in Bardstown, Kentucky, leaving for Washington, Indiana tomorrow to visit Navy buddy "Jim". After several days of good weather, thunderstorms are predicted from here to there. Umm?

Jim and Vern, who I visited in Texas, were both on the USS Truxtun Signal Bridge with me in 1971. We hadn't heard from each other since we all got out in '72. Vern found some Truxtun photos on my Smugmug site last November, left his email address in the comments section, and we are once again connected. He had always stayed in contact with Jim. So, now, I am too.