Moon Tale
Sunday, 06.02., Tampa

Sunday evening. We arrived in Tampa this afternoon, visited the Florida Aquarium, saw river otters and baby alligators, white herons, multicoloured corals, neon fish - and black tip sharks.

After visiting the artifical wetlands, reefs and beachesre, we went for a stroll at the authentic bay. Sat down at the water front. Watched doves cry. There was music playing somewhere, a piano man singing. A ship passed by, and I thought of this Otis Redding song. Sitting on the dock of the bay.

Just some minutes later, he started to play it... It's two thousand miles I roamed / Just to make this dock my home... This song, it will always take me back to this day, to this moment.

Soon to come now, the Superbowl. We will watch it here, in our cute motel room that comes with King Size Bed, high speed internet, fridge and microwave. But before the show starts, I feel like typing out a moon tale that includes a homecoming. And the moment that moved me most on this trip so far. It surfaced unexpected, as most travel moments do - and isn't that the greatest, the space that road trips provide, opening so many moments, bringing you into the now and here.. and connecting the past to the now. Like it happened yesterday:

Cape Canaveral. We visited it, basically because it was so close. Waiting there, along the way. I picked up the brochure for it as we walked to our car. That's how we already knew that there would be a bus tour. But first it was buying tickets, and security check. For Cape Canaveral is not an amusement park, but - the real place. Opened for visitors with the help of a guided bus tour. The tour, it was amazing. First it took us to the site where the space shuttles are assembled. Climbing a platform, we could see the launch pad in the distance, waiting for the next mission to start.

After that, the bus brought us to the site of the Apollo Rockets. The ones that made the journey to the moon possible. It was my father who first told me their story. And how Apollo 8 started three days before I was born. And how on the very day I was born, mankind for the first time saw the other side of the moon. 24. December 1968. My Dad, he was fascinated by those space rockets. But my mum and he, they never went to the States. Never saw Cape Canaveral.

That is what I thought when Ronnie and I walked into the Apollo hall. That I am here on behalf of my Dad. We stood there, and a film started, showing pictures of the past. News clippings of the time my parents were young and got married. And then - a door opened. It lead to the control centre of Apollo 8. The lights dimmed down, as they started to replay the day. The very launch that happened when I was alive, but not born yet. It was so moving. It felt like a place that waited for me. So I be there. And bring the memory back home. To my parents.

Ah the magic of travel. This morning, I leaved through the pages of my little diary, and thought, we are here only since 6 days. And was amazed by how long 6 days can be. How one day alone can hold so much. Make a difference. For each day that follows.

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