Tag Archives: Military Veterans Museum

2023 Road Trip-Part 6

20 Sep

A Slice of Life

Bill LItes

Day 6 – July 20:  After breakfast this morning, I said my goodbys to Brian and Karen and headed north for about an hour on I-41/94 to visit the Harley-Davidson Museum located in Milwaukee, WI.  I had visited this museum on another Road Trip, but I can never see enough antique motorcycles to be satisfied.  However, today I arrived an hour before they opened, and that wait would mess up today’s museum schedule, so I just took this photo and was on my way.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

Having missed that great museum, I continued northwest on I-94 & I-41 for about a half-hour to visit the Harley-Davidson Factory located in Menomonee Falls, WI.  I wanted to visit this factory since I had spent almost 15 years riding Haley-Davidson motorcycles, and wanted to get an idea of how they were put together.  However, it was not to be, as there were no factory tours today.  I was beginning to think I wasn’t going to get to see any museums today.  So, I took this photo and continued  northwest on I-41 to find the next museum.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

That next museum turned out to be 45 miles northwest on I-41 where I visited the Galloway House Museum located in Fond du Lac, WI.  This museum turned out to actually be a historical village.  The village has 30 restored homes and business buildings arranged on 15 acres, that represent a typical residential, commercial, and farming community in this area during the mid-1800s.  Many of these structures have been moved to this location over the years to form a living village.  The original 1870s Galloway log cabin was used as the “Summer Kitchen” after the Victorian mansion was finished in 1880.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

Leaving Fond du Lac, I headed north about 20 miles on I-41 to visit the Military Veterans Museum located in Oshkosh, WI. This small museum displays military artifacts and memorabilia honoring all U.S. Military personnel from all branches of the U.S. Armed Services.  Many of the 20 restored (mostly U.S. Army) vehicles are operational and are used in special events at the museum and at other locations.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

While I was in Oshkosh, I visited the EAA Aviation Museum located just a few miles north of the Veterans Museum.  As it turned out the annual EAA Oshkosh AirVenture event was scheduled to begin on the coming weekend and several private antique and warbird airplanes had arrived at the museum early.  This was a great opportunity to get photos of these planes and talk to the pilots.  This large museum (one of my favorites) displays more than 200 home-built, general aviation, and military airplanes as well as replicas of airplanes of all sizes and descriptions dating from the first Wright Brothers airplane to modern air racers.  Interactive exhibits, antique artifacts, and aviation memorabilia could easily keep a person captive in this museum for days.  But, I had other museums to visit today so, after reviewing as much of that eye candy I could handle for one day, I moved on.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

Heading northwest out of Oshkosh on US-10/41, my next museum was to be the Motorama Auto Museum located in Aniwa, WI.  But I never made it to the museum.  After about an hour on US-10, I turned north onto I-39 at Stevens Point, WI and was making good time, when all of a sudden, I heard this “ding-ding-ding” and glanced at the dashboard to see the temperature gage pegged out on “HOT.”  I panicked, and  asked myself, what in the world could this be?

Image Credit: https://images.search.yahoo.com/ overheated+car+engine

—–To Be Continued—–

Bill is a retired Mechanical engineer living with his wonderful artist/writer wife, DiVoran, of 65 years in Titusville, Florida. He was born and raised in the Southwest, did a tour of duty with the U.S. Navy, attended Northrop University in Southern California and ended up working on America’s Manned Space Program for 35 years. He currently is retired and spends most of his time building and flying R/C model airplanes, traveling, writing blogs about his travels for Word Press and supporting his wife’s hobbies with framing, editing and marketing.  He also volunteers with a local church Car Care Ministry and as a tour guide at the Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum there in Titusville.  Bill has two wonderful children, two outstanding grandchildren, and a loving sister and her husband, all of whom also live in Central Florida, so he and DiVoran are rewarded by having family close to spend lots of quality time with.

One of Bill’s favorite Scriptures is:  John 10:10

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My 2019 Great Lakes Road Trip Part 6B

30 Oct

Day 6 – Sunday July 28 (Continued)

As I mentioned last week, when I was traveling south on I-41, I passed right by the RV parking area for the EAA Airshow, in Oshkosh, and it was jam-packed with RVs of every description.  The Military Veterans Museum, there in Oshkosh, was my next stop, and it was located just down the road from the EAA RV parking area.  This is a small museum displaying restored military vehicles, equipment, artifacts, and memorabilia from all branches of the American military services.

I continued another 20 miles south on I-41, around Lake Winnebago, to visit the Jim Baldauf Auto Collection located in Fond du Lac, WI.  This is a private car collection consisting of a showroom full of beautifully restored and modified cars.  I had called ahead for an appointment to view Jim’s collection.  I was especially excited about seeing his 1949 Olds 88 Convertible, which Jim says is, one of only five left in the U.S.  It is said that Jim has a very nice collection of vintage and classic cars, but he never did call me back, and I was disappointed to find this museum closed.

Now I headed another 35 miles south on I-41/SR-175/CR-P to visit the Wisconsin Automotive Museum located in Hartford, WI.   This is a very impressive museum that displays about 150 automobiles dating from the early 1900s to the present. Some cars are beautifully restored, while others are still in the condition they were in when discovered (in the barn or field) by the museum collectors.  There was also lots of early automobile displays, artifacts and memorabilia to examine.

Next I headed 40 miles southeast on I-41 to visit the Harley Davidson Museum located in Milwaukee, WI.  This was one of the most impressive collections of motorcycles I have ever seen. Beautifully restored Motorcycles dating from 1903 to the present are displayed on two levels of this large museum.  They had examples of each of the four Harley Davidson motorcycles that I had owned.  There was a 1943 (737cc) WWII US Army courier machine, a 1948 (125cc) Hummer, a 1954 (165cc) Hummer ST, and a 1955 (888cc) Sportster KH.  Boy-O-Boy did those motorcycles bring back a lot of memories from my riding days.

After that trip down memory lane, I headed 20 miles west on I-94 to try and find the Wisconsin Wing of the Commemorative Air Force located in Waukesha, WI.  As it turned out, here again neither Greta (my Garmin) nor I could find the airport hangers where the airplanes are stored.  The closest I could get was the small Waukesha Airport lobby, where the Waukesha Aviation Club had a few aviation related items on display.

Now I headed another 20 miles southwest on SR-164/I-43 to visit the East Troy Electric Railroad Museum located in East Troy, WI.  This museum displays many interesting exhibits, artifacts, and memorabilia from the Electric Train era in the eastern Wisconsin area dating from the early 1900s. Restored electric trains and trolleys still run on a section of the original Milwaukee Electric Railway System track between the East Troy Railroad Museum and the Elegant Farmer station in Mukwonago.  Visitors can buy tickets at the museum for the 14 mile (roundtrip) electric train/trolley ride, or for other special events such as Family Picnic Train and Wisconsin Cheesemakers’ & Wine Train.  The Dinner Train Service ride is one train ride I would like to have had the time to take.  Maybe one of these days I can take DiVoran there and we can enjoy a romantic Dinner Train Service trip.

I asked Greta to take me to the motel, there in East Troy, for the night.  After getting checked in, I asked the desk clerk for his restaurant recommendations, and he suggested the Ale Station Food & Brew just across the square.  Since most of the restaurants in town were closed on Sunday evening, I walked over to the Ale Station and had a delicious Garibaldi Sandwich which was just right for the occasion.

—–To Be Continued—–

Bill is a retired Mechanical engineer living with his wonderful artist/writer wife, DiVoran, of 61 years in Titusville, Florida. He was born and raised in the Southwest, did a tour of duty with the U.S. Navy, attended Northrop University in Southern California and ended up working on America’s Manned Space Program for 35 years. He currently is retired and spends most of his time building and flying R/C model airplanes, traveling, writing blogs about his travels for Word Press and supporting his wife’s hobbies with framing, editing and marketing.  He also volunteers with a local church Car Care Ministry and as a tour guide at the Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum there in Titusville.  Bill has two wonderful children, two outstanding grandchildren, and a loving sister and her husband, all of whom also live in Central Florida, so he and DiVoran are rewarded by having family close to spend lots of quality time with.  

Bill  

One of Bill’s favorite Scriptures is:  John 10:10

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