Preparations

Well, the bitter-sweet preparations have begun for us to pack up and leave the Manatee Hammock.  I am happy to be heading North to see family and friends, but we have spent 7 weeks of our 12 weeks camping thus far, here.  We've seen dolphins, manatees, and alligators in the wild here, Jason learned to swim without a life jacket, we saw 2 shuttle launches, 1 rocket launch, and hopefully a night rocket launch tonight while here.  We've also gotten to know the area and the people who work at the campground.

We have every intention of coming back here again some time.  This campground is a good location for getting to Cocoa Beach and we both have the surfing bug (unfortunately the weather the last 3 weeks has not cooperated even a little for that to happen again).

It's really sad to think how different things could be when we return.  I was talking to one of the staff the other night and there are predictions that because of the shuttle program shutting down, they think unemployment in the area in 6 months will be 28%.  The county parks department (that he works for) just laid off 14 workers.  I really hope for the sake of the people in this area that NASA and government officials can get their act together and figure out the next goal that needs to be achieved, or this area is going to be hurting in a big way and very soon.