Re: shuttle launch

Posted by Kurt Maurer on Jul 2, 2006

George sez: "Florida you'd better look me up! We've got some interesting places to paddle down here."

Yeah, yeah, yeah... But let's talk turkey here, pal. Whaddya got to offer in the way of crab cakes? Huh?? Well???

Heheheh, seriously, you bet I'll look you up if (when) I ever get to Florida. Heck, if nothing else, I wanna see the KSC, and I couldn't imagine a better guide.

Speaking of guides, did you know you can rent your own personal guide at Gettysburg, right there at the official park Visitor's Center? Just look for a "blue shirt" (hey, it's Union territory), and they'll ride in your own car with you for as long as you can stand it, for fifty bucks. They'll even drive so you can gawk if you like. And knowledgeable? Hoo boy, you should've heard some of their spiels. No, I didn't hire one for myself, can't afford that sort of frill, but I sidled up close and lissened to a few. Heard things like this:

"The Third Mississppi of Skeeter's Brigade, down to just forty in number by two-thirty on the second day, led a charge from this hillock. Their objective was a gun emplacement over on that rise, which was manned by Capt. Cornfield of the Fourteenth Illinois Artillery. Had 12-pound rifled Parrotts and a wagon with ammunition and rations, and it was primarily the hardtack they were after, if you ask me. But now you must remember, they didn't simply charge in formation as you might have expected, from that depression on the left, but rather, performed an echelon movement emanating from those trees on the right whereas only a squad at a time might emerge, one after the other. This not only served to confuse the Northern men, but also provided smaller targets to the defenders, etc., etc., etc."

And this is just one little bitty gun emplacement!

Good lord, I thought I knew something about the Civil War in general, and Gettysburg in particular, but almost everyone there knew all sorts of details like this that left me feeling positively illiterate. But at one point, I heard a woman ask her friend "Who was defending the Devil's Den again?" "The South", I piped up, then slunk away quickly, before anyone could ask me any questions. I came away feeling just a little smarter.

Anyway, that's how I want it to go at KSC.

Cheers, Kurt

In Response to: shuttle launch by George K on Jul 1, 2006

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