Campgrounds and Rocket Launches

One of the major expenses with driving an RV, is camping fees. Although you can just pull off in a WalMart parking lot overnight, It ain't a resort. And just like timeshares, there's a secondary market for campground memberships. Most of the trading and buying is done online. But this area has enough business to support the Campground Membership Outlet in Minneola, Florida. Micky found them because the building beside US27 looked like a fruit stand that was ready to fall down. Online she learned that they had moved a few miles and were now in a better building.
Chad Hoel has been reselling memberships for 11 years. The business has been there for 25+ years and is a BBB member. We made an appointment and had a very pleasant, no-stress hour discussing the ins and outs of getting into and out of these arrangements. Many people buy into them and then want out later as their situation in life changes. And the programs vary from deeded property like a timeshare in one park that gives you access to several others to straight discount programs.
The one we were primarily interested in is Resort Parks International. With them we pay a yearly membership of around $150 and then camp for $10/night. The initial outlay is where the negotiations and hoodoo lie. With our Thousand Trails membership, we would have to upgrade to "National" access before they would even offer RPI. Total cost invariably around $4000. Chad listened to what we wanted, and was very impressed when Micky pulled out the 2" binder full of notes and printed web material. He accurately explained what we were going to be quoted by TT and how the system would work. Then he offered us a contract with a campground in Unadilla. Georgia that would get us into RPI Preferred for $850 with a yearly $150 dues! We bought it. If you can make Micky happy to spend, you've hit a real sweet deal!
The next morning we sat through our required presentation with TT and a truly nice guy named, ominously, Jim Jones. He worked out his program and sure enough, it was $3999, but with the buy it nows it came out to $3000. The part that was of interest, was the spiel being given to the couple behind us for $15000. They were just regular folks that had accepted a 4-night stay with TT in Orlando in exchange for the required presentation.
Like all of these programs, they take you on the tour of the property, then start adding things into the pile right up until the time for a decision. The price will come down considerably if you're walking out, but many people have bought packages that include condo is Hawaii for $18000 and even more! It is legitimate! You get everything they offer, but most people never do the math to figure out the cost/night and compare that to what they're getting.
Micky and I figure a full hook-up site in a resort-style park is going to cost us $30-80 per nite depending on season and location. Here in Orlando, our rate with a KOA discount was $79/night plus taxes. The bill for all the nights we've stayed here is zero! and we can come back for two-week stays as often as we like as long as we're out of their system for a week. Since we truly are travelers and not snow-birds that's not a problem. Using $60/night as a good Florida and Keys average the initial lump of money has been well-spent and all the rest of our visits to Thousand Trails preserves anywhere are free!

The weather finally broke Saturday and was clearing up as we finished our shopping trip to IKEA (even I love going there! The meatball dinner is superb!). We hurried back and picked up the camera, warm clothes and most importantly, my amateur 2-meter/440 Mhz handheld radio. I drove over via SR 528 (Beachline) and enjoyed hearing the beep from our pre-paid toll transponder as we flew through the toll booths at 75 MPH! We spotted the crowd at the base of the Banana River bridge and were looking for a place to turn around near the Port Canaveral cruise ship docks when I spotted people off the road with and even closer view of the gantry. We pulled in and I setup the camera and met a guy name Dave as he came by letting us know the latest launch time. I thanked him and said that I was listening to the EOC on the Ham bands. So was he! They had another repeater working on 146.940 MHz. Made it very informative since one member was a retired missile guy at home monitoring SpaceflightNow.com and relaying the updates. At the last opening in the window, a weather balloon failed, but a backup gave them enough data to launch.
I know for Rhonda and others in her generation that space and rocketry are just old hat and part of the background noise of their lives, but for my generation it is THE BIG DEAL of all time! When I was born, steam locomotives still pulled into Union Station in downtown Augusta, so the chance to see spaceflight happen is terribly exciting. It was perfectly clear, cold, windy night with Orion rising in the East as the rocket lit the entire world! Starting slowly and silently the Delta IV cleared the tower and began arcing away from us. We were well to the side of it so the arc was very apparent. After the rocket had traversed maybe 35 degrees, The sound hit us! Literally and physically hit us and pounded the hollows of your chest like a drum! The sight of the red glowing nozzles of the separated solid-rocket boosters tumbling through the constellation of Orion is absolutely seared into my cortex.
Can you tell that I want that experience again!
I know that you can't set your watch by rocket launches. They are hugely complicated, expensive things that need great care before they are committed to fly. But you all need to add a rocket launch from Canaveral to your "bucket list"! And it is Cape Canaveral not Cape Kennedy! Correctly it is the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral. The navigational treaties of the Western World wouldn't let the actions of an over-zealous Democrat congress stick.
More later.