February 8, 2024, my father and I went to HamCation, a large amateur radio event in Orlando, FL. We made almost an entire week of it, flying into Orlando, going to the event, then driving down to Miami, then out to Key West, and the flying out of Miami.
2/8/24
I met Dad at our gate in Albuquerque, and we began our trip to Orlando. I had not flown with my father since my first flight ever, from Baltimore to Atlanta to Albuquerque, when I first was planning my move to New Mexico.
We had a good flight into Dallas. By then, we were both hungry, so I picked up some Whataburger, which was exactly what was needed. We ate and chatted and then boarded the flight to Orlando.
Once we arrived in Orlando, we picked up the rental car, which was a Toyota Camry, and then headed to our Air BNB, a nice house, though a bit noisy, as it was near the interstate. Even so, I didn’t have any trouble sleeping.
2/9/24
We got up and went to Denny’s for breakfast. From there, we headed out to HamCation. There was quite a few people there. We made our rounds through all of the buildings and then through all of the tailgaters. There were lots of neat things to buy, but thankfully, I*remembered that I needed to get back on a plane later this week, so I didn’t buy a lot of things.
I checked out an emergency communications trailer…
…and an impressive mobile setup…
N1DUC brought along a few friends that wandered around the event.
In the evening, I set the rental car up for running amateur radio. I made two contacts on 20 meters and then went and picked up some pizza. When I returned home, Dad and I sat and listened to music videos and had some good pizza.
2/10/24
We ate some left-over pizza and then headed east to the Kennedy Space Center. I had never been to it, even though I had been to Port Canaveral many times. It was really something neat to see- Dad got us the passes and we took the bus back to see the Saturn 5.
We went through Mission Control and they walked us through what it would have been like in 1969.
On the ride there, we got to see some of the main buildings:
On the bus ride back to the main campus, we saw several alligators in the ditches. I didn’t get any pictures of those, however. There were plenty of rockets and engines to look at around the visitor’s center.
In the parking lot, I was able to make quite a few amateur radio contacts, including my brother and nephew.
In the evening, we drove back to Orlando. I made a slight detour to make a few amateur radio contacts from a county I had somehow missed over the years.
2/11/24
This was our last day in the Air BnB. We got packed up and then headed back over to HamCation. Once we arrived, we made a few last-minute purchases and then headed southeast.
Along the way, I played on amateur radio, operating from another park and several new counties. We had intended to go to Fort Lauderdale, to a place where Dad used to go, but the park was closed when we arrived. Instead, we drove down to South Miami to the hotel I had picked out.
We had dinner at a Laguna burger, which was pretty good as well. I went for a walk late at night, too. All things considered, Miami was clean and safe.
I saw some stray cats and I had intended to feed them. Instead, an old man stopped his car and dumped a bunch of cat food into dishes, and they all came over running to him. He said he did this every night.
2/12/24
We woke up and headed to Key West. Neither of us had ever been there before, so we weren’t sure what to expect. It was a good distance, but I didn’t really hit any traffic.
Along the way, there was a few long bridges that had fallen down over the years. We joked that they were the ones Arnold blew up in True Lies.
Once we arrived at Key West, we went into Fort Zachary Taylor park and walked out to the beach. There was all sorts of wildlife there, including a Portuguese Man O’ War.
At the actual fort, we climbed some stairs to look out over the water. There were wild iguanas everywhere.
We had intended to go to the “Southernmost Point” monument, but it looked like the park was farther south. Furthermore, there was a long line to wait and take a picture by the monument. Funny- a line for that one, but not one for the geographic center of the contiguous US in Kansas.
We drove back to the hotel, stopping for some Greek food along the way.
2/13/24
We had intended to go back to Ft. Lauderdale, but the timing didn’t work out. Instead, we had another Denny’s breakfast and then headed over to the Miami airport. I had never flown through Miami, so I didn’t know how long it would take.
We took turns walking out to the ocean. I tried running amateur radio to get the county I was in, but I did not make any contacts. I did walk out to the beach and take a few pictures, however, including a sponge on the beach.
We had an uneventful ride to Dallas, and then, minus some rude passengers, an uneventful ride back to Albuquerque, thus concluding the grand adventure.
An Engineer in the World 