Fly me to the moon...

If you said, "Frank Sinatra, 1954," you get 150 bonus points.  If you also said, "The song was written by Bart Howard," you get an additional 1,000 bonus points.

As sporty as my Vespa is, I won't be flying it to the moon.  Last week, a friend (Charlie Vinroot) asked me on Facebook how far the SpaceX launch facility is from our house.  I guessed it between 3 and 4 miles.  Today, we decided to take a drive to Boca Chica Beach, which is where the Elon Musk SpaceX launch project is being developed.

Even though it is between 3 and 4 miles as the crow (or rocket) flies, it is more than a 50 mile trip to get there... you have to drive into Brownsville to get around the Brownsville Ship Channel to get out to Boca Chica Beach.  We haven't been out there in about 20 years - we were both interested to see how things were developing.

Screen shot from Joan's phone...

The blue dot is SpaceX, the red dot is us.

After that lengthy 2-lane road drive out Hwy 4, we could see the SpaceX facility in the distance...

Yes, the public road runs right past (and very near it).  On closer inspection...

Yep, right off the side of the road.  To me, that rocket looks like something from a 50s Buck Rogers movie.  Just past where that rocket is being assembled is what looks like tracking dishes...

Overall, it is kind of primitive looking... just not that much there.  It is being build right at Boca Chica Beach - which reminds one of what South Padre Island looked like about 60 years ago.  Mostly swamp(ish) with our current high tides.  We drove a few hundred yards further, where the road ends at Boca Chica Beach...

Nothing much has changed on this beach in a lot of years.  We turned around, heading back on that same road (one way in, one way out).  The light is better from this direction - this looks like the engine testing facility...

That structure is permanently anchored there.  Back to the assembly area...

That building is Stargate, a University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley facility.  Nice that they are working in conjunction with SpaceX.

And that's about all there is to see.  Driving back, we stopped at an historical sign...

That sign tells about "the last clash of the Civil War."  For factual sake - the battle here happened 34 days after Robert E. Lee surrendered... the internet was a bit slow back then.  The next sign gives an overview of the area...

You are quite close to the Rio Grande (River) at this point.  And another sign telling about the wildlife refuge here...

There is also a Border Patrol Inspection Station on the way back in towards Brownsville.  The officer at that small station engaged us is a moment of conversation while they looked us over.  "Just here to look at SpaceX?" he asked.  I would imagine there is more traffic because of that.  Interesting that he didn't ask where we were from but said, "You probably enjoy your beach on the island more than Boca Chica," when I told him we hadn't been out here in 20 years.  No doubt they had all our pertinent information being pulled up as soon as we got close.

We had one more stop to make before heading for home: the black Honda PCX scooter needs a new front tire.  There is an old Honda motorcycle dealer in Brownsville; never been there, so we thought we'd give it a try.  "Small" doesn't begin to cover it, but they had a decent selection of Honda motorcycles, and even a couple Metropolitan scooters.  It is a family operation: Dustin and his wife (I'm guessing mid-30s on those two), and his Grandfather.  That's it.  Dustin is the salesman, parts manager, mechanic... he ordered a tire for us, and he will be the one who puts it on.  When he gets it.  I wasn't a bit surprised when he said, "I don't have that in stock, but I can order it for you."  I feel good about that experience.  Perhaps even more so, because tucked back in one corner was this...

It's a Honda 150 Dream.  I had one of those, my first motorcycle.  Mine was black.  This one is in far better shape than mine was.  A real blast from the past.