Are You Smarter Than A Flying Gator? (13 page)

“Daytona Beach! The World's Most Famous Beach!”
he called. “Daytona Beach was named after Mathias Day, who bought the land around here in 1870. Auto racing started on the beach, but now it takes place at the famous speedway down below. One of the most famous racers on the beach ever was a man by the name of Malcolm Campbell from England. The King of England knighted him back in 1931 when he was able to break the land speed record. Right here on Daytona Beach, Malcolm was able to travel one mile in his automobile in less than how many seconds—after he got a running start? Was it A, two seconds; B, 12 seconds, or C, 22 seconds?”

Gator Mikey repeated the question. After that, he made the sounds of a speeding race car for ten
seconds.

“The answer is B, 12 seconds. Malcolm broke the speed record of 246 miles per hour that day. The land speed record now is over 760 miles per hour!

“If you answered the question correctly, I'll bet you know what to say!”

“I'm smarter than a flying gator!”

“Tremendous! Now, where am I flying next? I'll give you a little hint:
1903 Gatormobile.”

“This is Jan Alcorn, on board Air Force One. We're headed up the East Coast of Florida right now. I'm here in the Main Conference Room with the President of the United States, Governor Trust, Chad's mom, and Sarabiskota. As you can tell, there's a beehive of activity going on.

“Over here we have the President, Jessie, and Mike working together. Jessie, what's going on?”

Jessie said, “Well, a few minutes ago, the President found the photo of the Gatormobile from 1903 that Gator Mikey was talking about in his clue. It's right here.”

“What exactly is that?” asked Jan.

“It's a photograph of the 18th governor of Florida, William S. Jennings,” Jessie explained.

Jan described the photo to the TV audience. “As you can see,” she said, “he's riding in a chariot with a live alligator pulling it. It's called the Gatormobile.”

“The picture was taken at the Old City Gate in St. Augustine,” the President added. “It looks like Gator Mikey's headed to St. Augustine for sunset.”

“Excellent,” said Jan. “Now we're walking over here to where KT, Doc, Prez, and Governor Trust are working. What are you four finding out?”

Governor Trust said, “We're researching St. Augustine. We just found out they have an alligator farm there. That may have something to do with Gator Mikey picking St. Augustine.”

KT said, “They've got a huge crocodile there named Maximo. He's about 15 feet 3 inches in length. It says he was born in 1971, hatched on a crocodile farm in Australia.”

“They've got albino alligators, crocodiles, birds, emus, and even kookaburras there,” Doc added.

“What's a kookaburra look like?” Jan wanted to know.

“It's a big Australian bird,” Prez said, showing her a picture of one on his computer screen. “They make a distinct sound like a human being laughing.”

“That's fascinating,” said Jan. “I hope I can see
a kookaburra sometime and hear that sound. Now, let's go over to where Chad's mom is working with Kari, Chad, Nick, and Kevin. Mrs. Renner, are you enjoying yourself?”

“More than you can ever imagine.”

“Kari, what are you researching?”

“Well, Jeffie Gordon talked to Nick on the phone and gave him a clue to where he thought Gator Mikey was going to fly after he left Daytona Beach. We were just checking that clue out. It turns out Jeffie and his team were right.”

“What was the clue again, Nick?” Jan asked.

Nick spelled it out, “C-o-a-c-o-o-c-h-e-e. Coacoochee.”

“Coacoochee,” Jan repeated. “Interesting word. What is it?”

“Actually, it's more like
who
is it?” said Kevin. “Coacoochee was a great Seminole Indian chief who was jailed in a Spanish fort called Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine. You'll never believe how he escaped.”

“How?” Jan asked.

“It wasn't easy,” said Chad. “The only way out was a little window more than 15 feet off the ground. It was too small for a man of Coacoochee's size to
squeeze through.”

“But that wasn't the only problem,” Kevin added. “There was a guy posted outside the prison cell all the time.”

“Were there other prisoners in the cell with Coacoochee?” Jan asked, getting more curious by the moment.

“Yes,” said Chad. “But there's another problem. There were bars on that little window.”

“We've only got a few seconds,” said Jan, anxious to find out how Coacoochee escaped. “Aren't you going to tell our viewers and me how he finally escaped?”

“There's not enough time,” said Nick. “I guess they'll have to look it up themselves.”

“All right,” said Jan. “This is Jan Alcorn about to look up that answer— and reporting from on board Air Force One.”

“Good morning! I'm Steve Goocy. It's Tuesday morning, Day 4 of Gator Mikey's Amazing Adventure, and this is FOX & Friends!”

“And Gator Mikey is at Walt Disney World this morning,” Brian Stillspeed announced. “Right now, you're watching a live shot of the famous gator flying about 50 feet above Adventureland at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. My own kids are going to be
so
excited when they see Gator Mikey on TV this morning. They love Walt Disney World, and they love Gator Mikey!”

“The same for my kids,” Gretchen Johannson added. “If you went to bed last night, you probably don't know that Gator Mikey visited three more locations in the dark after he left St. Augustine. We will catch you up on those visits in just a moment.”

Alisyn Cantaloopa yawned. “I stayed up and watched the whole thing. I wouldn't have missed it for anything.”

Steve asked, “Alisyn, would you like to give our
viewers a little more information before you start snoring away?”

“Oh, sure. Gator Mikey arrived in Orlando about 25 minutes ago. The Disney World people have decided to open up the park one hour early this morning, at 8:00 a.m. That would be in about 52 minutes. Right now, you can see some of the thousands and thousands of people starting to converge on the Orlando area in their cars—”

“WOW!” Gretchen exclaimed. “There's Gator Mikey flying over Cinderella's Castle in Fantasyland!”

“Unbelievable!” said Steve. “The Magic Kingdom has never seen this kind of magic!”

“No doubt,” Brian said. “We've got Walt Disney World. We've got Gator Mikey flying overhead singing one of my favorite songs, ‘It's a Small World After All.' It simply doesn't get much better than this!”

“The song seems to be so pertinent for a flying gator with Gator Mikey's abilities,” Steve added.

“Gator Mikey seems to have changed the lyrics somewhat,” Gretchen noted. “Let's listen in for a few moments as he sings with that beautiful Elvis voice of his.”

It's a world of kind people,

A world with a rising sun,

It's a world with a flying gator,

A world of fun,

There's so much that we share,

That it's time that we care,

In this small, small world ...

Brian wiped tears from his eyes. “That was beautiful,” he said. “I love that song.”

“Brian,” said Steve, “we're getting word now that Air Force One has landed at the Orlando International Airport. The President, Governor Trust, and Sarabiskota are on their way to Walt Disney World at this moment.”

Gretchen said, “As we continue to watch Gator Mikey fly over Walt Disney World, this might be a good time to talk about his three visits last night. Those of you who didn't stay up last night and like to solve the clues yourselves may want to mute your televisions and look away for about five minutes as we show the clues and the edited version of Gator Mikey's visits. We'll begin right now by putting the three clues on the screen for you.”

Brian read the clues to the television viewers:

1. Sebastian the Ibis's team's nickname
   
2. Indian word meaning
   laughing waters
   
3. Cow Ford
   

“Now,” Steve said after the clues were displayed, “here we go with the edited tape of Gator Mikey's visits last night.”

“Hurricanes!
Miami is the home of this beautiful University of Miami, whose teams are nicknamed the
Hurricanes!
Their mascot is an ibis because an ibis is the last animal to take shelter before a hurricane.
Hurricanes
is a good nickname for a Florida university because many hurricanes seem to be attracted to Florida. This is my question: Throughout history, out of every ten hurricanes that have made landfall in the United States, how many have hit Florida? Is it A, two out of every ten; B, four out of every ten; or C, five out of every ten?

“The correct answer is B, four out of every ten. Would you believe 279 hurricanes hit the United States mainland since 1851; 113 of those hit Florida!

“Umatilla!
Umatilla was named after an Oregon town with the same name. The town's name
is an Indian word meaning
laughing waters.
Every October, Umatilla has a big festival. What's the name of that festival? Is it A, The Florida Comedy Festival; B, The Florida Alligator Festival; or C, The Florida Black Bear Festival?

“The correct answer is C, The Florida Black Bear Festival. Umatilla is the gateway to the Ocala National Forest. Lots of black bears live in the area.

“Jacksonville!
Jacksonville was named after the territorial governor of Florida who became the seventh President of the United States. It was called
Cow Ford
at one time because it's the narrowest crossing of the St. Johns River for many miles. Here's the question, a geography question: Jacksonville is directly south of what major city in the United States? Is it A, Cleveland; B, New York City; or C, St. Louis?

“The correct answer is A, Cleveland.”

“We're back live,” said Steve. “And Gator Mikey's causing quite a ruckus as he flies over the animals at Kilimanjaro Safari. Look at those big gators!”

“Now Gator Mikey's swooping down as he approaches MGM Studios,” Brian pointed out. “He seems to be dropping down over Mickey Avenue.”

“Walt Disney World!”
Gator Mikey called out.
“This is the greatest place on earth! I've got a Walt Disney question for you. Walt Disney had another name for his famous mouse before his wife, Lilly, suggested
Mickey.
What was that name? Was it A, Mikey Mouse; B, Mortimer Mouse; or C, Milton Mouse?

“I'm going to repeat the question and then sing the theme song of the
Mickey Mouse Show
while you're thinking about the answer.”

Gator Mikey did just that. When he was done, he said, “The correct answer is B, Mortimer Mouse. Now, everyone knows what to say if they got the question right!”