March 22, 2016 Daytona Beach

Lyn and Peter waving goodbye to Ringle

Another frustrating day in Daytona Beach. David the mechanic checked in with is at 08:15 this morning and told us what we expected to hear: our heat exchanger was leaking and also needed replacement. He said he would work with his parts people to see if they could find both heat exchanger and exhaust manifold that would be available in less than four weeks.  He expected to have the answer this afternoon.  At about 09:30 we waved goodbye to Ringle as she headed out of the marina toward Titusville.

David returned around noon, not with news of part availability, but to record some numbers from the engine block.  He said it would help them find parts if he had the specific numbers.  He got the numbers and disappeared. He must have encountered some difficulty because he did not contact us again today. We are fearing the worst, that he cannot improve the 4 week lead time for parts. But it seems we will have to wait another day to have a definitive answer.

AtlasV rocket launch viewed from Daytona Beach

There is an AtlasV launch scheduled tonight at 23:00 - 23:30 from Cape Canaveral. We are a mere 50 miles from the launch site, so we will stay up in hopes of capturing a photo of this rocket as it streaks across the clear night sky. This posting was delayed so that Peter could include the photo.