Where Americans went fast — sand, then sky
Florida's Atlantic coast is where Americans went fast. It began on the sand at Ormond Beach — from 1902 to 1907 Olds, Ford, Vanderbilt, and Barney Oldfield set land-speed records on the hard-packed measured mile, racing that outgrew the beach and built Daytona International Speedway (KDAB). Forty miles south the speed went vertical: Cape Canaveral and Kennedy Space Center (KTIX), where Pad 39A sent Apollo to the Moon and now flies Falcon 9s, the Vehicle Assembly Building visible fifty miles out. End at Vero Beach (KVRB), where Piper has built Cherokees, Archers, and Senecas since 1957 — the airplane you flew in on may have been born there.