November 29

Neither boat would start this morning. The "miracle" repair had obviously not been enough on our boat and Eagle's Wings was suffering from a lack of battery capacity. Walt used his backup jumpstart battery and I made a line with alligator clips on each end to go from the battery post on the starter to the switch post in the cockpit. That took care of the problem and demonstrated that the problem is in that power line. It was a misty morning as we started, but it became a beautiful, hot, but muggy day. We ran with the front window down and that made the trip very comfortable. Our destination is Titusville and we reached it before two in the afternoon.

Our trip route took us within sight of NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building and the launch gantries, including the one with the shuttle being readied for the next launch. This bridge and canal is a NASA installation and is closed during launches. After anchoring in front of Titusville, we dinghied in for some browsing in local stores and walked to the main attraction for dining, Dixie Crossroads. They have a unique offering called rock shrimp, small shrimp that taste like lobster. Pat and Walt joined us about an hour after we got to the restaurant and we shared a meal with them. They had coupons for free krabby bites appetizer which, fortunately for us, we had happened to order. All meals include small corn fritters topped with confectionary sugar. We were nearly full before we started our entrees. No problem-we just got a box and took the rest home for lunch. We joined Pat and Walt back on Eagle's Wings at eight for some conversation over a drink. It had been a full day and we were tired and our attempts to read a few pages in our books failed with sleepy eyes unable to stay open.