Trailer Parks, Spaceships, Sour Oranges and Memory Lane

Trailer Parks, Spaceships, Sour Oranges and Memory Lane… what do they all have in common? They all occured during our Titusville leg of our Florida adventure. One thing we have had an abundance of during our Florida trip has been beautiful Florida state parks… with lots privacy, views, trails, water, wildlife… the whole nine yards. But when we wanted to visit the Titusville area and couldn’t get in to any state parks we chose a local county park. And… for the first time this trip we found ourselves in a… trailer park… shuffleboard city… waking up to your neighbors pooper hose at your door kind of trailer park. With the noise of construction, trucks and cars, the highway and the constant loud “how’s so and so” that goes on in these little cities that pop up in what we like to call Shuffleboard Cities. We have quickly learned that this is not for us. Having spent six winters in such a place in St Petersburg we know that you become so close to your friend and neighbors. All the activities are great and neighborhood can be the best part of a park for those staying. But for those visiting for a day or two… not so much. But, we try to make the most of every situation and that’s what we did at Manatee Hammock county park.

If you walk to the end of the park you could see the launch pad for the Kennedy Space Center along with lots of water. We let Maggie play in what is arguably the best dog park at a campground we have ever seen and then left to do some exploring Travato style. We took in Canaveral National Seashore, ate a not so ripe very sour wild orange and tried to visit the Kennedy Space Center only to go to the wrong place and meet a very nice policeman.

The memory lane portion of the trip was riding down to Cocoa Beach in search of Lynn’s very first apartment and job location. Our banter back and forth is just part of our daily fun and there was plenty of that as Lynn tried to recognize landmarks and roads after 42 years of not being there. In the end we found her apartment and the building that used to be the 7-Eleven that was her employment at age 18. We were then 30 miles south of our trailer park home that we only had for one night and we had our first argument over just Boondocking there in Cocoa Beach or driving back an hour and then returning north that same hour the next day as our reservation ran out in Titusville. It was not much of an argument but that’s the closest we ever come to not agreeing.

So like every other leg of this awesome journey through Florida in our Winnebago Travato we feel like we made the most of it. We took sour oranges and made… well… there’s nothing you can make with sour oranges but you can and should learn that you should not eat wild oranges that are not ripe…ever!