Before the Iron Horse

 There were real horses. And in Florida that meant cowboys.

OK, Cowgirls. The 31 annual Florida Cracker Trail Ride across the state ended Saturday, February 24, 2018 with a parade in Fort Pierce. The ride started Feb. 17 on the west coast in Bradenton honoring the Florida cowboy pioneers.

After the War Between the States (recent unpleasantness) a group of pioneers were know as Florida Crackers because of the cracking sound from the whips they used to drive cattle and oxen pulling carts and wagons. Every year they would drive the scrub cattle across the state from west of Ft. Pierce to Bradenton and then to Punta Rassa for shipment to Havana, Cuba. Other sources say the cattle operations started earlier.

The Cracker Trail was the only dry route across Florida with the Kissimmee River and its floodplains to the north and Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades to the south. For more information, go to crackertrail.org.

For another interesting read see:  Jacob Summerlin (February 20, 1820 – November 4, 1893), aka the King of the Crackers and King of the Cracker Cow Hunters, was reputed to be the first child born in Florida after the land was ceded by Spain.

Blog Hijack by Terry's Planes

The blog has been taken over by aircraft today. This WW II instructional video was just to neat and I had to share it.It is a little long at 40 minutes. I watched every minute of it.

Uncrating and Field Assembly of the P-47 Thunderbolt Fighter - 1944

"This truly remarkable step-by-step training film shows how a ground support crew of fifty men could assemble a P-47 fighter in a farm field using nothing more than muscle, unpowered hand tools and pieces of the shipping crate it came in. We're talking nothing more than hammers, wrenches and bicycle pumps. You'll get a unique look at the inner workings of the big Jug as it is bolted together. Then a pilot jumps in and flies it away"

 H/T Emil

Atlas 5 Launch - Off the Rails

Not trains but it was a beautiful night, severe clear and an Atlas 5 launched from Cape Canaveral, about 90 miles north of here. It was at 6:42 PM EST.
Payload was the newest of the GOES weather satellites, GOES-R. 
Sorry the camera lost focus a couple of times. 

From the above linked website.

What is GOES-R?

NOAA's next generation of geostationary weather satellites
The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-R Series (GOES-R) is the nation’s next generation of geostationary weather satellites. The GOES-R series will significantly improve the detection and observation of environmental phenomena that directly affect public safety, protection of property and our nation’s economic health and prosperity.
The satellites will provide advanced imaging with increased spatial resolution and faster coverage for more accurate forecasts, real-time mapping of lightning activity, and improved monitoring of solar activity.
The GOES-R series is a four-satellite program (GOES-R/S/T/U) that will extend the availability of the operational GOES satellite system through 2036.