Alone again, behind the wheel. It felt weird to be without Trish, my co-pilot, and Punk, chief crew member. I pointed Poppy west, and set off. Homeward bound!
Even alone, it was an easy day from Rochester NY to Chagrin Falls, Ohio. I made it in good time, arriving well before dark. I had time to walk the beautiful fields at my host's blueberry farm, Messenger Century Farm.
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| Blueberry blossoms |
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| Took a walk around the field, with these maple trees bordering. I'm assuming the tubing is part of the maple sap harvesting? |
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| Can you spot Poppy? |
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| I had a pizza and a salad delivered! |
The bumble bees enjoyed the flowers. I enjoyed watching them and shooting them.
In the morning, the host left some banana bread and tea for me!
They had massive bushes of my second-favorite flower (my fave fragrant flower!)
So I took a sprig to keep me company.
The next morning, I set out toward Indianapolis, where I was to pick up my friend Claudia.
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| Buc-eeeeeeee's! |
On the way, I thought about stopping at the Columbus Zoo to say hi to Luka the tree kangaroo for my brother. Luka had resided at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park before moving to Columbus. I even drove over to the entrance of the zoo. But it was raining lightly, and I decided that visiting the zoo wouldn’t be much fun even in a light rain. Would the animals even be out? So, I turned around.
I did recall a museum I had visited years ago during a family reunion in Dayton, The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force. It’s a great museum! Just about every type of aircraft the Air Force has flown is within the four hangers, and then some. There are aircraft from the early days of aviation. Orville and Wilber Wright worked in this area, you know! And there are aircraft all the way up to the space age.
(Side note. I am one degree of separation from Orville or Wilber Wright! My Great Aunt Penny, my dad’s aunt, told the story that when she lived in Dayton as a child, would water Mr. Wright's horse as he stopped by her house. Cool, huh?)
Indulge me as I share some of the museum's exhibits.
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| Monument to the Mighty 8th Air Force |
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| Polebrook, where Jack was stationed in England. |
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| The famous Memphis Belle, the first B-17 to return home after 25 missions. |
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| See the ball turret? I still can't believe a person was scrunched in there for hours and hours on missions over Europe. |
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| Seriously? It's smaller than Poppy's driver's seat area! |
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| An actual piece of fabric from the Wrights' plane! |
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| Here's an aircraft I had not known to have existed (nor had many people – it was top secret). The SR-71 Blackbird. Looking at it, all I could say was "Oh my gawd." The engineering! |
The SR-71 went high, and it went fast in this low-profile design.
And there were walk-throughs of some of the Air Force One aircraft:
Truman's: The Independence
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| I didn't see a date on this map, but I wonder if Los Alamos would be included on maps during the Truman years, so early after its "discovery." But maybe I'm wrong. |
The inside of JFK's and Johnson's aircraft. It's where Johnson took the oath of office just after the tragedy in Dallas, Texas.
Lego Air Force One!
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| A quonset hut like Jack lived in during WWII. |
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| A reproduction of a WWII air control tower (England). It and the quonset hut are now closed indefinitely, but years ago I toured the insides. |
I spent almost three hours in the museum and could've easily spent three more. If you are ever in the Dayton area, go visit (it's free, too!)
That night, Poppy and I spent the night in the parking lot of an Indianapolis hotel, where Claudia was staying the night. Claudia was to join as First Mate!
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