I think we both know that doubling the previous record would be impossible under the conditions the pros compete in. Plus the pros make their record on indoor tracks if I'm not mistaken.

I made my trip on the east coast as I wanted stay closer to home if something unexpected happened.

This map shows my round trip route from Cape Canaveral to High Point NC and back. The blue was created with my GPS tracker which caused some lost data due to battery drain and poor signal. I flipped the image so the text was easier to read.

https://imgur.com/a/GhrmEkA

I met a lot of nice people. If you like to travel you might like this sight.

https://www.couchsurfing.com/

I was able to stay with people who invited me into their homes on 5 different occasions and never actually had to sleep on a couch.



EDIT: Someone else brought up the possible invasive species point so I'm on the fence with that. I don't want to be blamed for the next BIG earthquake that gives birth to the new Godzilla. Although, it's California. He could probably get a SAG card.

Again, SHE'S NOT A PRO! She doesn't take anything away from the pros but also gives them a chance to break her record. (If they got the guts)

Unrelated, this is me back in 2011 making a 2,500 mile bike trip which I did in 3 months. It was something I did to see if I actually wanted to bike across country. From Cape Canaveral beach to Vandenberg Air Force Base. I would carry a sample of sand from the east and then dump it on the beach in the west.

Due to circumstances beyond my control I still haven't been able to make that trip. But I loved every minute of the trip I did.

https://imgur.com/4LjMuiP

Your video, Some heroes don't wear capes, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

@ChaosEngine @Buck

My dad was in the Air Force. He was chosen for a particular program -- to be a Range Safety Officer on launches.

Once he got his Masters in Engineering at MIT on the government's dime, he was stationed at Cape Canaveral.

His job was to have his hand on the key that would blow up a missile when it went off course. The course was set so that if it went bad, the pieces would fall safely into the ocean. If it started to veer off course, you had to blow it up quick.

He was stationed at Cape Canaveral from something like 1958 to 1966. About that time frame. Early days, when they didn't know quite how to do a successful launch -- and he blew up a lot.

More than any other person -- and no one will catch up with his record, because it is no longer early days.

He got a Saturn. He blew up a Titan. He blew up a lot of Missilemen missiles.

He mostly worked on the unmanned launches. Only one launch (that I know of) was manned -- and he almost had to blow it up. He was sweating that one -- because of the stakes of blowing early or blowing late and no good result if you make the wrong choice. There was a wobble ... and he waited ... and it corrected.

But yeah. A Saturn.

After Cape Canaveral, he was stationed at Vandenberg Air Force Base, NW of Santa Barbara. The west coast equivalent of the Cape.

PM me your email, and I'll send you a SERIOUSLY cool cartoon that was a gift when he left the Cape. Sitting astride a rocket that has obviously been launched from Florida, with silhouettes of all the missiles he blew up -- with HASHMARKS for how many of each.

It is seriously cool.

I lived in Cape Canaveral for 35 years. I watched all but 5 shuttle launches and many Delta, Atlas and other rockets. Each unique in it's own way. This launch was spectacular in that the lighting helped illuminate the plume in a way that normally is unseen in a bright sky or total darkness.

Another cool effect when conditions are right during a launch is when a rocket breaks the sound barrier while penetrating thin clouds. It creates what's known as a Sun Dog. The shock wave creates a ripple effect that resembles ripples going across the surface of water. The effect at night can be illuminated by the rocket's bright plume rather than the sun.

The rest of the story https://www.thesouthafrican.com/watch-paddle-boarder-has-a-run-in-with-giant-squid-at-melkbosstrand-outside-cape-town-video/

Here is the full video

We had this event in Germany last week. A group of activists showed up with a statue of Martin Luther that had some quotes of his printed on his cape. Result: activists got removed by the cops and charged with incitement.

Guess people don't like to be reminded that Luther's antisemitism in 1524 might very easily be mistaken for quotes by Hitler.

I lived in Cape Canaveral during the shuttle program and was fortunate enough to watch all but 5 launches live.

An excellent video with scenes I thoroughly enjoyed in slow motion and HD.

A brief mention in the video about the 6 seconds from when the main liquid engines ignite until the solid boosters ignite is called "twang."

When the main engines ignite, the power causes the whole assembly to rock forward. It takes 6 seconds for the assembly to fall back to vertical again and then the boosters light up and away it goes.

Uh oh ... Spaceships filled with dinosaurs in red capes?! Damn you Tom Hanks

*promote Nightmares really can come true

Okay, folks. History is converging here through six degrees of separation.

Long story. I think it is worth your time.

I grew up with a father who said terribly racist things, the n- word, disparaging remarks about all races. There was much screaming and bitter words from me for a lot of my childhood and well into my 20s.

After he died, I got into a short email exchange with someone I didn't know at all. A former co-worker of my father.

My dad's job, as I have said here before, was Range Safety Officer. His job was to blow up missiles that went off course. (No person has blown up more missiles, and no one will ever catch up to him, since they know how to do it now.)

In my email exchanges with "Teddy", I find out slowly that Teddy is a woman. The first woman in the Range Safety Flight arena. She tells me that she was treated horribly in those early days. Except for three of her co-workers, who mentored and helped her.

One of those men was my father.

Oh.

And then she reveals that she is Hispanic.

Dang.

So my dad talked nasty at home, and acted MORE THAN honorably at work. I wish I had known that when he was alive.

Then she tells me that her daughter became an engineer also, and is currently working in Range Safety.

Wow.

Fast forward to last week. I watch Hidden Figures, the movie about black women helping in the first manned space launches. They were in Langley VA, while my dad was stationed in Cape Canaveral, not NASA but the Air Force, working on unmanned missions. But still. It all came flooding back to me -- how my dad was one of the good guys. (It was also cool to see all the actual news footage of people on the beach and parades and what-all -- I was there with my family, doing those things.)

This reminded me of Teddy. I sent her an email, telling her that I was reminded of her story and how touched anew I was.

Then the Falcon 9 launch happened. This launch on this video.

The next day, I got a response from her. Here is her email to me, lightly edited:

Thank you so much for thinking of me. The 60's were a time quite different than today. This morning It came to me just how far we women have come since then.

I stood on the balcony of my house and watched the launch of a Falcon Rocket take off in all its glory from Vandenberg knowing my daughter was the Lead Flight Safety Analyst on that mission. For the last couple of months I have listened to her tell me about all the problems she has had to deal with in preparing all the destruct lines, impact limit lines and all the other things that go into getting the mission package ready for launch and knowing what she was talking about. Boy, was I jealous. I really miss being in the middle of all that. I was/am very PROUD of my little girl being part of the missions leaving out of Vandenberg and knowing I played a small part in making all that happen just like those ladies in Hidden Figures. I have not seen the movie yet but my friends and I are looking forward to it coming to Lompoc so I can see it

Your Dad would be surprised to learn that most of the new Flight Safety Analysts are now all women.

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

I like this guy's style and his bravery. Not all heroes wear a cape. Some wear leather pants and suspenders with no shirt.

I was 14 when they landed on the moon. I remember watching it live on TV. I was fascinated by the space program and I still am. I eventually moved from NJ to Cape Canaveral in 1980. Got see all but 5 space shuttle launches in person, plus many rocket launches. It was a great time.

You don't tug on Superman's cape. You don't spit into the wind. You don't pull the mask of that old Lone Ranger. Oh, and you don't ever sit on another man's bike.

Yes. I think all the successful landings have used Of course I still love you. According to Jimbo's big bag'o'trivia, Just Read the Instructions is based in the Pacific for launches from Vendenberg and most of the recent launches have been from Cape Canaveral.