Are You Smarter Than A Flying Gator? (9 page)

Gator Mikey approached the Main Street of Plant City at an altitude of just 50 feet. A huge crowd on the ground was chanting
“Ichepuckesassa! Ichepuckesassa! Ichepuckesassa!”

Gator Mikey flew on a little farther until he got to Dinosaur World, a wooded park and picnic area filled with 150 life-size dinosaurs. He started circling the area as the people down below him cheered loudly.

Gator Mikey yelled,
“Ichepuckesassa!
This is Plant City now, but it used to be called
Ichepuckesassa.
Ichepuckesassa is a Creek Indian word meaning
tobacco field.
The word was so hard to spell and pronounce, the people here decided to
change it to Cork. After that, it became Plant City, but it's not named after all the plants grown around here. It's named after a famous railroad tycoon named Henry Plant. Now, I've got a question that everyone from Plant City probably already knows the answer to, so please don't yell the answer until I ask you to later. The question is: What fruit is Plant City most famous for? Is it A, watermelons; B, tomatoes; or C, strawberries?

“Once again, I'll repeat the question and give you ten seconds to think about this, even though most of you already know the answer.”

Gator Mikey repeated the question. Then he sang a little of the song “Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On” while dancing in the sky.

“All right! Time is up!” the flying gator yelled. “At the count of three, everyone can call out the answer at the same time. 1 ... 2 ...
3!”

“Strawberries!”

“That's right,” said Gator Mikey. “The correct answer is C, strawberries. Plant City is known as the winter strawberry capital of the world. Its strawberry festival in late February and early March is awesome! They once made the world's largest strawberry shortcake there. It weighed over 6,000 pounds and
was a whopping 827 square feet!

“Let me know if you got the question correct—right
now!”

“I'm smarter than a flying gator!”

“Now, where do you think I'm going next? I'll give you a hint:
Ham the Chimp.”

“Mr. President. This is Governor Trust. We may have a problem.”

“Go ahead, Governor.”

“I just got a call from Prez. Gator Mikey seems to be flying east northeast out of Plant City at over 300 miles per hour. We think we know where he's going, and that's the problem.”

“Where's he going?”

“Directly toward Kennedy Space Center—and I know unauthorized aircraft aren't allowed within that airspace.”

“Give me a few minutes. I'll take care of it.”

“Thank-you, Mr. President.”

“You're welcome. By the way, Governor, what's the deal with Ham the Chimp?”

“That's an interesting story, Mr. President. It happened back in 1961 when I was just a kid, so I'd forgotten about it. It turns out Ham the Chimp was
launched into space about three months before Alan Shepherd.”

“Wasn't there a dog launched before the chimp?”

“Yes, the Russians did that. Her name was Laika. They sent her into space in 1957.”

“Do you know what happened to Ham the Chimp?”

“Yup. I've been reading about that. He had a good life spent at the National Zoo and the North Carolina Zoo. Sounds like he made several TV appearances, even a film with daredevil Evil Knievel.”

“What an interesting story! Well, I'd better take care of our little problem. I'll get back to you later today about my possible trip to Florida.”

“Fantastic. Thanks, Mr. President.”

“You're very welcome. Good-bye.”

“Good-bye.”

Gator Mikey approached Kennedy Space Center, escorted by four F-16's. Behind Gator Mikey, four Shuttle Training Aircraft, piloted by four astronauts, were flying in formation. They didn't want to miss out on the fun.

The Gulfstream III was flying behind the
astronauts. On board, Sarabiskota watched in wonder as they flew over the launch pads, the visitor complex, the shuttle landing facility, and all the other sites they'd all seen on television before.

Gator Mikey began circling the biggest building of them all.
“Kennedy Space Center!”
the flying gator called. “Kennedy Space Center is named after President John F. Kennedy, a huge supporter of the space program. The Vehicle Assembly Building down below is one of the largest buildings in the world. It has the largest doors in the whole wide world on it! The question is: How high are the doors? For your reference, the Statue of Liberty is 305 feet tall, and a football field from goal line to goal line is 300 feet. So, knowing that, do you think the doors on the Vehicle Assembly Building are: A, 310 feet high; B, 359 feet high; or C, 456 feet high?

“Of course, I'm going to repeat the question and give you ten seconds to think about your answer.” Gator Mikey did repeat the question and then he sang the song “Rocket Man” for ten seconds.

“All right. Time is up. The answer is C, 456 feet high. The Vehicle Assembly Building is so big you could fit almost four Statues of Liberty inside. Is anyone smarter than a flying gator?”

“I'm smarter than a flying gator!”

“Wow! That was great! Now, I'll bet you have no idea where I'm going next. I'll give you a hint, but it's probably too tough for any of you:
a big, mean, red-eyed alligator monster!”

Gator Mikey turned and began flying west northwest at almost 500 miles per hour.

On board the Gulfstream III, Sarabiskota and Chad's mom were having the time of their lives. Jan Alcorn was finishing an interview with Chad's mom.

“Mrs. Renner, how were you picked to accompany these nine bright teens today?”

“Actually, I volunteered quickly. How could I pass this up?”

“Are you enjoying yourself so far?”

“I feel like royalty. Ron has made sure I have anything I want.”

“I should explain to our viewers that Ron is our flight attendant, Ron Ladd. He is truly great at his job. Now I'm going over to where the nine teens are doing their research. This is Kari Wise. Kari, what are you doing?”

“Could I just say hi to my family and everyone else in North Dakota first? Uh, we just got an e-mail
from a man who lives up on the panhandle of Florida. He thinks he knows something about the monster alligator with the red eyes. I'm e-mailing him back to get more information.”

“Thanks, Kari. Right next to Kari is Prez. Prez, I understand you've been communicating with Governor Charlie Trust of Florida.”

“Yes, he called just a few minutes ago and he said he's going to try to join us tomorrow—if Gator Mikey keeps flying. He also mentioned he might be bringing a famous friend with him.”

“I wonder who that could be.”

“I have no idea.”

“I can't wait to find out, and I'll bet our viewers are curious now too. For now, this is Jan Alcorn reporting from on board the Gulfstream III with Sarabiskota.”

Gator Mikey slowly approached the town of Esto, Florida, at a low altitude. The whole population of 350 people was outside waiting for this, and thousands of other people had come from other places to share the experience.

Gator Mikey began circling the town at a slow speed.
“esto!”
he yelled.
“esto
is the home of the
Two-Toed Tom Festival! The festival is named after an infamous, red-eyed, monster gator who attacked people and animals around this area for years! People tried to hunt him down, trap him, or blow him up with dynamite, but nothing seemed to stop Two-Toed Tom! He got his name because he lost some of his toes on his left front foot in a bear trap. The question is: How many toes does an alligator usually have on his front foot? Is it A, five; B, four; or C, three?”

Gator Mikey repeated the question and made his eyes blink red for ten seconds.

“The answer is A, five,” Gator Mikey announced. “An alligator has five toes on his front feet and four on his hind feet. Was anyone smarter than
me
on that question?”

“I'm smarter than a flying gator!”

“Now, I'm not going to tell you where I'm flying next. Why not? Why should I? Why, oh, why, oh,
why?”

With slightly more than an hour left before sunset, Gator Mikey was circling Ybor City.

“Ybor City!”
he called out. “Ybor City is now a part of Tampa, but it once had five times the population of Tampa. Ybor City is named after Vincente Martinez-Ybor who brought his factory to Tampa in 1886. Then he bought 40 acres of land that eventually became Ybor City. The question is: What did Ybor's factory and the other factories in Ybor City make by hand? Was it A, Barbie dolls; B, cigars; or C, computers?”

Gator Mikey repeated the question. After that, he released blue and orange smoke from his tail end for ten seconds. The huge crowd gathered below him laughed and cheered.

“OK. Time is up. The correct answer is B, cigars. Ybor City once had 200 cigar factories and made more than one million cigars a day. Now, what do you yell if you got the question right?”

“I'm smarter than a flying gator!”

“Excellent! You might have a better idea where I'm going for sunset when I start singing this Beach Boys song!”

Gator Mikey started singing the song “Kokomo,” and soon, the whole crowd in Ybor City was singing along with the fantastic flying gator.

“Gator Mikey's headed for sunset off the Florida Keys!” Jessie exclaimed on board the Gulfstream III flying overhead. “It's in the song!”

“He's turning and flying southeast,” Kevin noted. “I think you're right, Jessie.”

Gator Mikey flew at a speed exceeding 400 miles per hour toward the Florida Keys, singing the same Beach Boys song as he flew.

On board their jet, Kevin was doing some calculating. “At this course and speed, we'll be in the keys in about half an hour.”

Prez said, “I wonder what key he's going to choose to stop at.”

“Just for the fun of it,” Kari began, “I checked to see if there's an Alligator Key down there someplace. It turns out there's an Alligator Reef with a lighthouse on it. The reef was named after a schooner by the name of the
USS Alligator.
The
Alligator
wrecked on
the reef in 1822.”

“What's a schooner again?” asked Nick.

Doc answered, “It's a ship with at least two masts with fore and aft sails.”

“Oh.”

“What wrecked the
USS Alligator
?” Chad wanted to know.

“Well,” said Kari, “it was chasing pirates and escorting ships when it ran aground on the reef. After some other ships rescued the crew and salvaged some of the ship, they actually set the ship on fire and blew it up.”

“Why?” KT inquired.

“So the pirates wouldn't get anything good out of it,” Kari answered. “Anyway, after that, the lighthouse was built on the reef so no other ships would run aground on it again.”

“Cool,” said Nick.

“How many islands are there in the Florida Keys?” asked Jessie.

“One source here says 700, another says 900,” Prez replied. “Here's one that says 1,700.”

“Can't they count things down here in Florida?” asked Nick.

Prez giggled. “There was that counting problem
in the election of 2000—but as far as the number of keys goes, I have a feeling they just can't agree on how big a land mass has to be before it's classified as an island. Some islands in the Florida Keys aren't much bigger than Gator Mikey.”

Doc said, “It says here that the Florida Keys cover a distance of about 220 miles. There's a highway that connects many of the keys that's 127 miles long. They call it the Overseas Highway or U.S. Route 1.”

“Wow!” said Mike. “They've even got a bridge on that highway between two of the keys called the Seven Mile Bridge, but it's
only
6.8 miles long.”