In the Rocket Garden

There I am in the Rocket Garden. Take a picture of a family taking a picture in front of a Saturn. Mailer was here 29 years ago to cover the launch to the Moon, Jules - blinded by the Sun, entranced by the alligators, stymied some as he tried to get the story from the Waspy Nasa of the day - another big anniversary is a year away, and here I am too. Mailer is dead in the last year. Here I am. Coming down here, knowing where I was going, reading Of a Fire on the Moon - [and smartly too, 2001 was showing on the Orlando TV] - thinking back to how the Moon quest was part and parcel of my youth - seeing how this Mailer piece, mere journalism at the time, for lucre at that, resonates like few tomes on tech - and seeing how the Space program had left its mark on the present day - no where more clearly than at the airport - with droning Midwest voice messages - with moving sidewalks and coolly alienated populace - with birds on tarpaulins. Red light glow of National Rental Car Pontiac dashboard. I went down to Orlando recently - the trip was a bit different than the two dozen before it. Besides going to a technical conference and staying on some patch of tract hotels, I went to Cape Canaveral. Sap that I am I cried in the Rocket Garden. Hello Redstone - model that got the best of me! And Atlas. Saturn of Buzz, Neal and Mike. Rockets that told my trajectory. You can see more pictures of this trip, and another trip to Las Vegas at my Flickr site.

Anyway, summer vacation is starting. If I post this summer it will be from shere desire. Otherwise will post on my Epitome blogspot [which is an occassional rumination on the Web] and RJ11 Wordpress blog [which is about advanced technology]. Have some good stuff I am working on though, might must recharge. Think about the Web. Clear head. Buy car. Read poems. Om-diddy-bop!