Lift-off
by Jon Worley

I live in a tourist zone. Florida, as a state, has been designated such by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. We get lots of tourists, and though from time to time some kids get a little overexcited and go on a poaching expedition, for the most part tourists like us, and we like tourists.

And every once in a while, every citizen of Florida trades the "resident" hat for a "tourist" chapeau. After all, if I'm gonna live here, I might as well say I've "done" Florida.

Last year, my wife and I drove out to Key West. We arrived just after sunset, and so were able to experience all the attendant glories. We've communed with manatees. And we've hit the beaches early and often.

My wife got home at about 12:30 this morning and said, "The space shuttle lifts off in four hours. Let's go."

So we did.

The trip across Florida takes five to six hours during the daytime, most of that spent negotiating the Orlando morass. But early on a Sunday morning, it only took us two and a half hours to get to Titusville, and the trip back in heavier traffic was only a half hour longer.

We had watched a couple shuttle launches from St. Pete, one at night and one during the day. But nothing could prepare us for this morning's event.

Once we got to Rocket City, finding a parking space was surprisingly easy. We just parked on some city property and wandered over to the water's edge, about 10 miles from the pad (the only way to get into the Kennedy Space Center is with a special pass, and we didn't have any such thing).

Lots of folks had brought RVs and tents to wait out the chill of the evening. A forecasted cold front didn't bring as much bite as expected, but the temperatures were in the upper 40s, which Floridians consider fairly cold. And almost all the people gathered along the banks of the intracoastal waterway were Florida residents. This mission was so low-profile the St. Pete Times didn't cover it, the first time since the Challenger disaster that they didn't send a reporter and photographer. But that didn't turn out to be a bad omen.

The only real problem was the heavy smoking habits of the family that plopped down next to us. I got a bad headache and decided to walk north along U.S. Highway 1, toward the only open food establishment, a McDonald's which had opened at 2 a.m. to serve the masses.

All the land along the sound is public, as near as I could tell. But at certain points, enterprising people had camped out and were charging $5 a car and $15 and RV for parking. Ah, America's entrepreneurial spirit at its finest.

Inside the McDonald's, I took advantage of the facilities. While the women's restroom had a line of about 50, I was the only guy in the men's room. This in mind, I resolved to watch where I stepped on the way back. There hadn't been a dew, so any moisture should be avoided, I thought.

I scored a couple biscuit things and two large cups of dreck coffee, and then plodded back to where my wife was sitting. We scarfed our food and then waited for the final countdown.

Everything went without a hitch, no delays in the countdown. At 4:27 a.m., the Space Shuttle Atlantis lifted off, en route to the Russian Space Station Mir. The booster rockets provided even more light than a sunrise, and we watched the graceful ascent. Fish and birds jumped about in the water, surprised by the sudden flash. About a minute later, the sound of the lift-off hit us, and the animals became even more agitated. We sat back and watched until Atlantis left the horizon.

While many folks expressed hot flashes of patriotism, I just sat watching the sight. I think the real patriotic feeling that flowed through the crowd was one of community. We all could identify with all the work and sacrifice that went into the launch. Indeed, all of us had paid plenty of taxes to fund this mission. And we were proud that the damned thing worked once again.

It was an awesome sight, well worth losing a night's sleep (and the $5 in tolls). At times like this, I kinda understand why people wander south in search of a thrill.

Jon Worley still hasn't done Disney (since he moved to Florida). He's waiting for one of those real cheap "residents only" sales.

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