Re: The last scheduled night launch of a space shuttle
Posted by
Chris in Tampa on 2/6/2010, 1:12 am
It's going to be in the mid 40's, so it will be a bit of a chilly wait.
I'm not sure precisely where I'll watch it yet. I've been looking at Google Earth and looking at the gallery layer's YouTube videos to see where other people have seen the launch from. That gives me an idea of where to watch.
I'm taking state road 50 from I-4 to avoid the toll road and then I'll just get as close to the water as possible by car and then just walk. There is a shopping center, but I'm sure that will have been hours full long before I get there.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Orlando+Rd&daddr=S+Washington+Ave&hl=en&geocode=FZfAswEdRPIu-w%3BFbfgswEdsh0v-w&mra=dme&mrcr=0&mrsp=1&sz=17&sll=28.562813,-80.798382&sspn=0.006973,0.013937&ie=UTF8&ll=28.561682,-80.80277&spn=0.013946,0.027874&t=h&z=16
There are some spots along highway 1 between businesses and apartments that might be good, but I like the grassy area along the water in the map above just north of state road 50. But so will everyone else probably. The only bad is that the angle puts the vehicle assembly building nearly in the way. I may travel a little further north. All the places along there are about 12 miles away.
I imagine traffic is going to be a nightmare though. And when everyone leaves at the same time, it will be a parking lot. It was bad 20 years ago when I last saw one when I was young. This one is going to be extremely busy I think. People can watch the launch, go home and go to bed and then watch the Superbowl that night.
There are a few malls up a little further north I might try parking at depending on where you can park legally, but I doubt I would ever get near them. I'm not sure if they will even be available for free parking. (And if they were you would probably have to get there a lot earlier than I am going to get there.) I'll probably park in a residential area as close as I can get to the water as long as that is legal. Depends if traffic is moving. I'd rather walk miles than wait in the car for hours getting nowhere and find out there is no parking near the coast.
I'll probably leave Tampa around midnight or earlier. Google says it should take a little over 2 and a half hours from my house, which gives me around two hours to deal with traffic and finding a spot. That might be cutting it close though. I am a little worried I might get stuck on state road 50 and that the traffic doesn't move. If I can't get within 3 and a half miles of the water, I'd be stuck on state road 50 watching it because there are no other roads around until you pass interstate 95. When I saw it one year we actually had tickets for getting to see it at the cape but the traffic was so bad we never got there and watched it from the car.
I am also going to be listening to the radio often to make sure it doesn't get postponed on the way. I'm also bringing a radio so I can have it with me away from the car and water in preparation for what may be a long walk. |
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