Chapter 44

The working part of our trip to Orlando was complete now that the expo was over. We took the next several days for our family to play. We spent two full days at Disney World. I know that Ned and Eva had an extraordinary time, but I believe Eileen and I had just as much fun. It had been a long time since we had a family vacation getaway.

For lunch on our second day, we were at Epcot, and I asked Eva to keep close with Ned so that her mom and I could have a nice lunch together—just the two of us. I have always wanted to take her to Italy, but since we hadn’t made it yet, I planned to do the next best thing without leaving the United States. We went to the World Showcase and had a romantic lunch in an Italian restaurant. It may have been hot and humid in Orlando, but sipping espresso was refreshing in the air-conditioned restaurant. It was rejuvenating, sitting across the small, round table from beautiful Eileen. A permanent grin spread across her face and her eyes aglow with joy, she said, “Thank you for taking me to Italy.”

After lunch, we rejoined Eva and Ned at the test track, where they had just come off a fast ride. They were holding hands, laughing, and skipping. I have to say, I felt like skipping, too, while holding Eileen’s hand. They ran up to us with delight, talking a mile a minute about all they had experienced since we last saw them.

I squeezed Eileen’s hand, looked up to the beautiful, cloudy sky, and mouthed, Thank you. The next day, we went to Sea World and added to our incredible holiday.

On Friday, I awoke early while everyone else slept in for a well-deserved relaxing day at the hotel in Orlando. Topher Stevens sent a young man to pick me up in Orlando and drove me to Titusville to meet him at a boat launch on the Indian River. Illuminated by the dock light glowed the famous white hull of Topher’s boat—the same boat I had seen in numerous episodes of his fishing show. It floated next to the dock with Topher standing aboard ready to begin our adventure. Topher greeted me warmly and welcomed me to come aboard.

“Today, I’m your guide, Dalton. The Indian River is yours. How about some redfish, maybe some snook, and a jack crevalle or two?”

That launched our terrific fishing adventure of catching all of the fish Topher said we would. By the end of our time together, my arm was sore from fighting and reeling in so many fish. Topher even piloted the boat into Mosquito Lagoon so I could see the launch pads of NASA’s Project Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, and Space Shuttle. The Vehicle Assembly Building towered over the landscape as did the launch pads. With this site, I made the connection from Daddy’s work at Marshall Space Flight Center to the actual launch pad gantry. It was a delightful bucket list day for me. I returned from Orlando a very happy man.