Tag Archives: Travel

My 2016 Mid-West Trip~Part 12

21 Sep

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Day 12 (Wednesday)

 

I got on the road from Huntsville by 8:30 am, and arrived at my friends, Terry and Mary Simmons, house at 9:30 am. Their house is located just a few miles northwest of Lester, AL on the Alabama/Tennessee border. The plan was for Terry and me to drive over to the local R/C model airplane field and watch the members fly their models. As it turned out, by the time we had breakfast and got to the airfield, all the members had finished their flying for the day and were gone. So we headed back to his house for some lunch.

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Terry was telling me about the owner of the property, and how he had built his own grass landing strip next to his farm house. When he mentioned the owners name I was surprised! The man’s name was Epps, and the reason for my surprise was that we have a replica of a 1907 Epps ultralight aircraft on display at our VAC Museum in Titusville, Florida. I’m wondering if the man in Alabama might be related to the man who built and flew the original 1907 Epps aircraft in Georgia. That, by the way, was the first airplane recorded to have been flown in the state of Georgia. Terry is going to find out his full name so I can Google him to see if he might be related.

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After a delicious grilled ham and cheese sandwich and a short nap, Terry and I looked at airplane books and he related many stories of aviation enthusiasts and historical events. Mary cooked us a wonderful Milk Can supper. I had never heard of that, and when I asked her about the name of the dish, she related the history of the Milk Can supper to me.

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Mary used her Chef’s Oven to cook our small Milk Can supper, but I understand that people still use the traditional milk cans when cooking for large 40-50 person gatherings. I also discovered there are lots of Milk Can recipes on the internet, and even some “How-To” YouTube videos on the subject. After supper, Terry and I talked airplanes until past my bedtime. I finally called it a night, and settled down to a nice quiet (no traffic sounds) night’s sleep. He and I had made plans to visit aviation museums and car museums together tomorrow in Birmingham, Alabama, as my trip took me in that direction.

 

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—–To Be Continued—–

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My 2016 Mid-West Trip~Part 11

14 Sep

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

 

Day 11 (Tuesday)

 

I began the day by heading south, out of Nashville, on I-24 for my first stop, to visit to the Cannonsburgh Village located in Murfreesboro, TN. Now according to Wikipedia, Murfreesboro was named Cannonsburgh until 1811, when the name was changed by the state legislature. How’s that for a really great trivia question? This village is a nicely restored early 1800s Tennessee farming community. Most of the buildings are of log construction and were moved from their original locations to this site in 1976.

 

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Included in the village buildings are a log home, a one-room schoolhouse, a general store, a church, a town hall, a gristmill, and a working blacksmith’s shop. This village gives people a good idea of how an early farm community would have looked in the early 19th century Tennessee hill country.

 

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From Murfreesboro I headed south on U.S. 231, through Shelbyville and Fayetteville, and across the border into Alabama. My next stop was to visit the North Alabama Railroad Museum located in the northeast outskirts of Huntsville, AL. This museum was very small and looked like it probably consisted mostly of local railroad memorabilia. The sign out front and on the entrance gate said the museum was supposed to be open but, I got there around noon and, it was closed. I suppose they could have just locked up and gone to lunch.

 

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Down the road a ways was the next stop on my list for today at The Historic Huntsville Depot located in downtown Huntsville, Alabama.  The depot was constructed in 1860 and is the oldest railway passenger station in Alabama. It was the eastern division headquarters for the Memphis & Charleston Railroad, and serviced its last passenger train in 1968. As luck would have it, the museum was closed in preparation for an event that was to take place in and around the museum grounds during that coming weekend.

 

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Next on the list was the U.S. Space & Rocket Center also located on I-585 just east of downtown Huntsville. I had been to this museum once before but decided to go through it again to see if they had added anything new. It didn’t look like there were any new exhibits and many of the outdoor exhibits that had been pristine the last time I was there, were now weather-beaten and looking poorly. I find it very sad to see an organization as large as this NASA museum allowing their exhibits to deteriorate to such a degree. Especially after all the money they pull in from visitors from all over the world.

 

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Next I checked out the Veterans Memorial Park there in Huntsville. This was a beautifully sculptured park, with a couple of very nice statues representing our military, and their part in the ongoing fight for our freedom.

 

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I wanted to see if there was a museum associated with the Redstone Arsenal, which has been so instrumental in U.S. rocketry development. However, I was disappointed when I called the base to inquire, and was informed that there were no museums open to the public.

 

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Next I visited the Veterans Memorial Museum located around the corner from the Veterans Memorial Park. The signs for the museum were a little hard to follow but I finally located it. This museum is dedicated to all of the U.S. military services, and has restored Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine equipment. Like many small museums I have visited, this one was hoping to expand soon, so that they could display many more of the items in their collection to the public.

 

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Now it’s time to head for the motel, where I will warm up and enjoy leftovers of St. Louis ribs, turnip greens, and corn-on-the-cob. I even have a nice piece of Jack’s BBQ homemade cornbread and some butter and Strawberry jam to spread on it for dessert. Yumm again!

 

—–To Be Continued—–

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My 2016 Mid-West Trip~Part 10

7 Sep

A Slice of LIfe

Bill Lites

Day 10 (Monday)

 

What a beautiful day to take a drive through the Kentucky and Tennessee Hill Country. My first stop today was to visit the Swope’s Cars of Yesteryear Museum located in Elizabethtown, KY. This really was a “cars of MY yesteryear” museum. It was filled with beautifully restored 1900s to 1960s cars, many of which brought back the memories of my teenage years. They had a Hudson Hornet that DiVoran told me she drove when she was a teenager. They also had a 1955 Ford Crown Victoria, similar to the one that my high school best friend’s sister had. She would drive us around town when we asked her to, so we could feel like we were high class teenagers.

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The next stop on my list for today was the Historic Rail Park & Train Museum in Bowling Green, KY. This was a good sized museum located in the original Bowling Green train station. They had memorabilia and model trains inside and some nicely restored Pullman train cars outside.

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As I was leaving Bowling Green, heading back to I-65, I came across Art’s Corvette/Art’s Auto Mart, just around the corner from the National Corvette Museum, located on the outskirts of town. It looked like they could have had as many as 100 different Corvettes and other cars displayed in those two facilities. However not being a Corvette fan, and not needing to buy a car, I elected not to pay the entrance fee and go through the museum. Besides, these two museums were not on my list and I needed to make tracks for Nashville.

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I stopped at the Tennessee Welcome Station for a short break and to pick up a Tennessee road map. They were playing country music on their speaker system for their visitors. After I used the restroom, I picked up a map and headed for my car. I saw a lady on the sidewalk, who looked like she was waiting for someone, and she was moving to the music. By the time I got to my car she had started heading toward her car, but she really wasn’t walking, she was line-dancing down the sidewalk to the music from the welcome station. It was the coolest thing. She had no idea anyone was watching and I don’t think she really cared. I wished I had thought in time to take a video, but I didn’t.

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My first stop in Nashville was to visit the Lane Motor Museum, located on the east side of town, just after I crossed over the Cumberland River. This museum was unbelievable! One man, Jeff Lane, has collected approximately 450 different kinds of motor vehicles and motorcycles from all over the world under one roof. What was so amazing for me was that almost all of the vehicles in this collection run, and many are shown at various car shows. A sign in front of the museum reads “Unique Cars from A to Z.” I had no idea that so many different types of vehicles have been manufactured throughout the world in days gone by.

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I tried to visit the Music Valley Wax Museum there in Nashville but discovered that it had been closed, due to a flood in the area in 2010. However, within walking distance of the wax museum building, I was able to walk through The Nashville Music Palace (The home of traditional country music) and The Willie Nelson & Friends Museum. Both were filled with memorabilia of various country music stars from over the years.

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My plan was to visit the Grand Ole Opry, but I was told the only way that was going to happen was if I bought a tour ticket, that included the Opry House and a stage performance. I probably would only see an empty Ryman Auditorium stage and I didn’t have the time to wait around for an evening show. So, I opted to do the whole Grand Ole Opry tour another time.

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Last on the list for today was to visit Nashville’s Centennial Part and take in the full-scale replica of the original Parthenon in Athens, Greece. The Original replica was built in 1897 as the center piece for the Tennessee Centennial Exposition.   Later, during the 1913 & 1914 Spring Pageants, it was referred to as the “Athens of the South.” The structure was left standing for the next 20 some years, until weather and deterioration required its removal. It was permanently rebuilt, on the same foundation, between 1920 and 1931.

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The Nashville Parthenon now operates as an art museum, with a 41-foot high reproduction of Athena Parthenos (Greek goddess Athena) as its focus. It’s beyond me why anyone would want to keep something like that in their city. I guess it makes for a good tourist attraction. It got my attention didn’t it!

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When checking into the motel, I asked the desk clerk about a good place to eat, and he referred me to Jack’s BBQ Restaurant a couple miles down the road. Jack’s was a small place, but the aroma in and around the place made my mouth water and my stomach growl. I had some of the tenderest and most delicious St. Louis Ribs I have ever had. They came with collard greens, corn-on-the-cob, and cold slaw. I enjoyed a slice of their homemade cornbread and Grape jam for desert. Luckily, there was enough of everything, left over, for me to enjoy it all again tomorrow night.

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—–To Be Continued—–

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My Love Affair with Disney~Part 3

4 Sep

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

 

 

Because Fred and I have Disney running through our veins, we have a LOT of Disney memorabilia around our house. Last time I shared some of our Disney memorabilia. I would like to share a bit more this time.

Fred’s sister and her husband came to visit us a few years ago. We did take them to EPCOT, which we all enjoyed. We also took them to (then) Downtown Disney (now Disney Springs). We usually enjoy taking visitors there – especially if they don’t really want to do one of the “parks.” It gives them a “taste” of Disney, without feeling like they must spend an entire day there, to justify the cost of the ticket. If they don’t want to purchase anything, that’s okay. We do enjoy showing them our favorite eatery there (the Earl of Sandwich), as it is probably the most inexpensive spot to eat within the Disney complex. And the hot sandwiches are GREAT!!

 

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In any case, when they came to visit, as we wandered through some of the shops, Jim pointed out a Mickey Mouse figurine to Sally, and they purchased it for us as a thank-you for all we had done for them on their visit. A few days later, after they returned home, we went back to Downtown Disney and purchased another figurine – one that I’d had my eye on for a while. They aren’t a true match, but I like them both, just the same.

 

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And then there’s the Precious Moments® figurine with Bambi in it. Really sweet.

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Anyone remember those old “E” tickets at Disney? They are long gone now, but we remember those tickets from the 1970’s when we first went to Disney World (which only had the Magic Kingdom at that time). Little pieces of papers littered the ground just everywhere you looked. Disney finally got smart and stopped that nonsense! However, they have brought them back – as magnets! And so I have them on our refrigerator door. Gives us a great opportunity to explain them to our grandchildren.

 

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And since we sail with the Disney Cruise Line as often as we do (our favorite cruise line, by the way!), we have reached the Gold level – five cruises with Disney. And we got this great magnet for it! We used to feel really honored to have sailed that many times with Disney – until we met a couple who had sailed 18 times with Disney!! Yikes!

 

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One last magnet for this posting – we had seen this magnet on several cars, and liked it. When we finally saw it at Downtown Disney, we snapped it up. And now it resides on our refrigerator door. I think it’s adorable!

 

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More next time.

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

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My 2016 Mid-West Trip~Part 9

31 Aug

A Slice of Life

 Bill Lites

 

Day 9 (Sunday)

 

The day started nice enough in Indianapolis, but as I traveled south I ran into some fairly heavy rain storms. I made a short sidetrack off I-65 to check out The Atterbury-Bakalar Air Museum located adjacent to the Bakalar Air Force Base just outside Columbus, IN. Even though I could not see in the building, it was quite small and I’m sure the museum was made up of local memorabilia about the history of the Bakalar Air Force Base.

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I drove on into Louisville, Kentucky where my first stop was visit the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory located just across the Ohio River in the West-Main District of downtown Louisville. A guided tour was included, as part of the admission price to the museum, and it was very interesting and well presented. They showed us how some of the wooden bats were made by hand in the late 1880s (30 hours). We also got to see how a Louisville Slugger wooden bat is made today, from start (billet) to finish, ready for a game (30 minutes). I was amazed to find out that the Louisville Slugger factory produces as many as 1.6 million wooden baseball bats per year. And if that’s not enough, they are only one of over 30 some wooden bat manufacturing companies in the United States and Canada. It you happen to be a baseball fan, checkout Wikipedia under “Facts about Louisville Slugger Wood Bats” for some amazing information about wood baseball bats.

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This section of West Main Street, in the downtown area of Louisville, is called “Museum Row” and is a little rundown. It appears to have become an art enthusiast’s dream, with several art galleries and tea shops. I was not impressed with the “Artwork” some of the galleries choose to display on the sidewalks.

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My next stop was at the Kentucky Railway Museum located in New Haven, Kentucky. This was one of those museums that sell short railroad rides similar to those I’ve seen in Florida and Colorado. The inside of the museum itself was very small and filled with local train memorabilia. They had a considerable amount of nicely restored rolling stock but I don’t believe it was accessible to the public.

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Since the other railroad museum and the automobile Museum on my list in the area were both closed today, I headed for the motel in Radcliff, Kentucky. I was surprised to see on the map that the Fort Knox Gold Bullion Depository was only a few miles from Radcliffe, located within the Fort Knox Army Base. I asked the desk clerk at the motel if I could get a tour of the nation’s gold depository, and he informed me that security was very tight around the facility, and that they did not allow people to stop their cars on the highway in front of the building or even take pictures of the grounds.

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I just had to drive by and take a look at this famous facility. I headed down East Bullion Boulevard, and as you might guess, the local gentry have used the local gold depository in advertising of all types, just like at home with the “Space Coast” title.

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I passed several such signs for businesses, such as “Gold City Towing” and the “Gold Vault Inn.” Then when I drove past the treasury building itself, where most of the American public visualizes the housing of all that gold, it is really a very unimpressive structure. Wikipedia says that much of America’s gold is actually stored in a massive vault under the Depository building.

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Then it was back to the motel to warm up my yummy dinner of Outback grilled Pork Chop, garlic mash potatoes and asparagus. It was every bit as delicious as it was the night before. The only thing missing was the restaurant music and the sports on the TV, which I can do without while I’m eating.

—–To Be Continued—–

 

 

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My 2016 Mid-West Trip~Part 8

24 Aug

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

 

Day 8 (Saturday)

It was a beautiful day for my trip from St. Louis, MO to Indianapolis, IN.  My first stop was to visit the Indiana Transportation Museum located in Noblesville, IN. This museum turned out to be a very small and mostly a collection of neglected rolling stock.  However, there was a tour guide who showed me around, and informed me that much of the museum’s train equipment was in one state of restoration or another. He added that the restoration process was slow going because they did not have that many volunteers to do the work.

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I spent a lot of time with Greta trying to find the Rolls-Royce Allison Heritage Trust Museum located on the southwest side of Indianapolis. She kept taking me around in circles that always ended up at the same intersection, in front of a deserted building. I finally found the Rolls-Royce facility, a mile or so down the road, but did not see a museum sign anywhere. I couldn’t find any evidence of it, and I might be wrong, but the museum (if any) might be closed to the public.

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Next I headed for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum situated just west of Indianapolis in Speedway, IN.  In order to get to the museum I had to drive through the tunnel, under the speedway racetrack, to the infield where the museum is located.  The museum has a fantastic collection of race cars, many of which have been winners in races at the Indianapolis 500 race, and other races at the speedway, dating from the early 1900s to the present day.

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One of the tour guide to saw me taking pictures of the cars and said, “Would you like me to take your picture with one of these race cars?” When I told him I would like that, he said, “Just sit on the bench in front of this one, it is the car Juan Pablo Montoya won the last year’s Indianapolis 500 race with (and $2.5 million).”

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I tried to find the World War II Memorial, which is the centerpiece of the World Memorial Plaza in downtown Indianapolis, but Greta kept telling me she couldn’t find a match for the address I had giving her. So, after several tries, I gave up the hunt for today and headed for the motel.

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Tonight I treated myself to meal of some really great Outback Stakehouse grilled Pork Chops, garlic mashed potatoes, asparagus and a house salad with ranch dressing on the side. They were some of the best pork chops I’ve had in a long time. Freshly baked bread with lots of butter and Strawberry jam was my desert. Makes my mouth water just thinking about how good it was!

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Tomorrow morning I’m heading out early for Louisville, Kentucky.

—–To Be Continued—–

 

 

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My 2016 Mid-West Trip~Part 7

17 Aug

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Day 7 (Friday)

Since most of the museums on today’s list were on the west side of St. Louis I started with the Historic Aircraft Restoration Museum located at the Creve Coeur Airport. I had been unable to find their hours of operation on their website; I called ahead this morning and was told that they were only open on Saturday and Sunday. They also informed me that any other day of the week the museum was only opened to the public with a 24-hour advance appointment, which left me out in the cold. I was a very disappointed as the museum consisted of three hangers which I’m sure houses many beautifully restored airplanes. Maybe next time.

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Not too far down the road was the St. Louis Museum of Transportation located in the small community of Twin Oaks. This was a fairly large museum consisting of restored cars, trains, and aircraft. The most interesting item at the museum, as far as I was concerned, was their 1/3 scale train ride. The train was modeled after an early 1900s steam engine with open train cars for passengers that circled a portion of the museum grounds. Everything associated with the train ride was 1/3 scale, including crossing safety bars, flashing lights, railroad crossing signs, and the load & unload station. I took a ride and the little kid in me really enjoyed it.

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Next I headed for the Greater St. Louis Air & Space Museum located in Cahokia, but Greta had a hard time finding it. I reset the location three times for her but she never could get me there. Finally I stopped at a motel and ask for directions, which they printed out for me from MapQuest. I tried to follow the written directions, read the street signs and drive at the same time, but that didn’t work. So I tried a final time to input the location to Greta, and what a surprise, she took me right to it. However, when I got there the Greater St. Louis Air & Space Museum I saw at that location was a joke! It was one rundown Hanger with a beat-up C-47 sitting out in front with no engines, and they were closed.

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(This is the sign on the gate where Greta took me)

When I got home and looked up the museum’s website. I couldn’t understand what had happened. All the photos on their website showed something very different from what I had seen and photographed. There was some information about two museum site locations (hangers), so maybe Greta took me to the other location. Whatever, that doesn’t explain her taking me to the address I had for the museum. Mysteries seem to never cease with Greta. I may have to turn her in for the GPS system on my IPhone.

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(This is not the museum location Greta took me to)

Finally I headed for the St. Louis Gateway Arch. I had left visiting the Arch until last because the Internet had said their hours were 8 AM – 10 PM. I have always wanted to ride the elevator up to the top of the Arch, but today it wasn’t going to happen. I had noticed as I came across the bridge, over the Mississippi River, that it looked like there was a lot of construction going on around the base of the Arch. When I pulled into the parking lot I was told that parking was $15, and that Arch tickets might be sold out for the day.

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I was a little surprised at this statement, because it was only 4:30 in the afternoon. The parking attendant was very nice and informed me that today the Arch was closing at 6:00 PM and the last tram ride was at 5:45. I hadn’t known I needed to buy a ticket online before I left home, and would have to drive several blocks to the Courthouse to buy a ticket. Even if I was able to get a ticket, the chances would be slim that I could drive to the Courthouse, find a place to park, buy the ticket, and get back to the Arch parking area and walked to the tram location in time. As I was discussing all this with the parking lot attendant, I noticed a group of at least 75 – 100 school children, all dressed in the same uniform, heading for the Arch tram location. Even if both trams were working, I just knew my chances of getting a ride in one of the small 5-person trams would be likely impossible today. That’s when I called it a day and started looking for someplace to have dinner.

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After all the frustration of this day, I treated myself to a wonderful dinner at the local Cracker Barrel. I had enjoyed their Grilled Catfish so much a couple nights before that I decided to try their grilled Lemon Pepper Trout tonight. It was wonderful, and the collard greens and carrots were great. Honey on one of their famous buttermilk biscuits was my dessert. Once my tummy was full, I was ready to head for the motel for some TV and a good night’s rest.

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—–To Be Continued—–

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My 2016 Mid-West Trip~Part 6

10 Aug

A Slice of Life

 Bill Lites

Day 6 (Thursday)

 

I was surprised when leaving Oklahoma City, on I-70, to discover that it was a Toll Road. As it turned out, by the time I got to Kansas City it had cost me eight dollars in tolls. On the way I stopped in Tulsa, OK to check out the Tulsa Air & Space Museum located adjacent to the Tulsa International Airport. This was a small museum with only about six nicely restored airplanes.

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However, they did have a very unusual Spartan 12W as part of their collection. The Spartan 12W is an upgraded, tricycle gear variant of the Spartan Executive aircraft. I’m going to see if I can talk to my friend Terry (the airplane buff) to see if he has ever heard of, or seen, a tricycle geared Spartan 12W aircraft.

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Just as I was about to cross the border out of Oklahoma I stopped in the small town of Afton, OK to visit in the Afton Station Route 66 Packard Museum. As part of the museum’s name implies, their claim to fame is a nice collection of beautifully restored Packard automobiles, dating from the 1920s through the 1960s. So, it surprised me to see a 1990 Maserati TC sitting off by itself in a side room.

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The museum is located on the old Route 66 Highway and they have every conceivable Route 66 type of memorabilia for sale in their gift shop. It brought back lots of memories from my childhood, when I was raised in Albuquerque, NM with the two-lane Route 66 as our main street (Central Avenue) through town.

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Just down the road a few miles was the National Rod & Custom Car Hall of Fame. I was amazed at the display of some 50 one-of-a-kind custom cars in this collection. I discovered that most all of them were designed and built by Darrell Starboard, who is a famous car show participant with his magnificent original designs.

There is no way to describe the beautiful workmanship of these cars. I would have to compare Darrell Starboard with Bert Rattan, as far as forward-looking design concepts are concerned, in their respective fields.

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By the time I arrived at the TWA Museum located at the Kansas City International Airport they were closed. When I googled that museum I discovered that it was mostly memorabilia items recording the history of TWA’s hub, at what is now the Kansas City International Airport, from the 1920s to the 1990s.

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On the other side of the airport was the National Airline History Museum which was also closed. This is one museum that I was really sorry to miss visiting as I am interested in the history of all the different U.S. airlines. It appears that this museum and the TWA Museum are closely linked, as both display mostly aircraft used by TWA over the years. This is not hard to understand since what is now the Kansas City International Airport was the TWA hub for so many years. The museum’s website indicates it has set an ambitious goal for itself, with the restoration of several large projects. A 1934 Northrop Delta 1D, one of America’s first single engine commercial transport airplanes.   A Lockheed Constellation, known worldwide as one of the first international piston-engine passenger aircraft. A Lockheed L-1011 Tristar, one of America’s premium international jet airliners, and a Douglas DC-8 jet transport just to name a few. Any one of these projects would be a challenge for any museum to take on.

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The last museum on my list today was the Kansas City Automotive Museum located southwest of the city, just off I-35, between Lenexa and Olathe, KS. The museum was closed, but I was able to look through the windows to discover that this was a small museum consisting of 12 nicely restored cars dating from the 1950s and 1960s. There are just not enough hours in the day for me to see everything I want to see along the road I am traveling.

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I had a quick and easy dinner at Taco Bell tonight. Three Crunchy Beef Taco Supremes with lots of Verde Salsa to spice things up. Then it was back to the motel for some TV and a good night’s rest.

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—–To Be Continued—–

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My 2016 Mid-West Trip~Part 4

27 Jul

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Bill Cross Plane

 

Day 4 (Tuesday)

 

I made good time on my trip from Houston to Fort Worth today, and my first stop was to visit the C.R. Smith Museum. This museum records the history of American Airlines, which was founded in 1930, and how the airline has developed from its inception, to the present, under the leadership of C.R. Smith.

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They had a beautifully restored 1935 DC-3 in American Airline colors (of course!). That reminded me of my very first flight on an airplane. That took place in 1945, when I was 6 years old, and my family was moving from Dallas, Texas to Albuquerque, New Mexico. And would you believe it, that trip was in a plane that just happened to be an American Airlines DC-3. I wondered if it could be possible that this is the very airplane I flew in all those many years ago? I have heard of stranger things than that happening.

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Several museums that I had planned to see in Fort Worth were closed today so my next stop was to visit the Vintage Auto Museum and Grill in Weatherford, Texas. This is a very unique museum, in that it includes a bar and grill all under one roof.

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One of the museum’s favorite automobiles is the 1964 Lincoln Continental Convertible that President Lyndon B. Johnson used to drive around his Texas Hill Country ranch, when he was there resting from his White House duties.

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I forgot to mention a minor incident I had yesterday. As I was leaving Texas City, heading north on I-45, a truck kicked up a stone that hit my windshield, (left of my field of vision) leaving a chip in it. I told myself, “I’ll have to be sure to mention that chip to the Thrifty Rental Car folks when I turn the car in at the end of my trip.” That thought was based on the fact that DiVoran and I have two chips in the windshield of our 2003 Mercury Grand Marque that you can barely see, and have been there for years with no problem.

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But, by the time I got to the motel last night, a crack had migrated about 4 inches out of the chip, toward the center of the windshield. When I got up this morning, the crack was not any bigger.   No problem, right? Well, as the day wore on, the crack kept getting bigger. There didn’t seem to be any system to it. I’d drive along for a while and there would be no progression of the crack. Then all of a sudden, it would grow an inch or more.   So, by the end of the day now, the crack was over 12 inches long, and had progressed right across my field of vision. I was afraid that if the windshield was hit again, it might shatter and I could be in a heap of trouble. Since I had some time left in the day, I called Thrifty, explained the problem, and asked them for the closest office where I could take my rental car for a replacement. That turned out to be not far, at the DFW Airport. Thrifty set up the exchange and by the time I got to the airport, that office had my replacement car ready.

 

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So, then it was back to the motel, with my new car, for leftover Baby Back Ribs, sweet potatoe and cole slaw. It was all almost as good as it had been the night before at Longhorn Stakehouse.

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—–To Be Continued—–

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My 2016 Mid-West Trip Part 3

20 Jul

A Slice of Life

 Bill Lites

Bill Stars Plane

 

 

Day 3 (Monday)

The day trip from Houston to Galveston took longer than I had expected. My first stop was to visit the Lone Star Flight Museum. This was a very nice museum with about 20 aircraft (in one very large hanger) most of which were restored to flying condition.

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I was surprised to see they had a German Me-262 Schwalbe (Swallow) jet fighter on display.  I ask one of the volunteers if the Me-262 was in flying condition and he said, “Yes.”  Then he told me it was on loan from another museum, and it was actually one of the three beautiful new Me-262 reproductions built by the Classic Fighter Industries at Paine Field in Everett, Washington.

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The next stop was to visit the Galveston Railroad Museum which had a very nice collection of rolling stock. Their train station restoration was amazing and reminded me of several stations I had visited on my travels to and from duty stations while in the U.S. Navy. A large variety of train memorabilia, including original dinning ware, from the 1920s through the 1960s was also on display.

3

 

I was disappointed when I couldn’t find the Texas Seaport Museum where I hoped to see the Tall Ship Elissa. Greta took me to the Galveston cruise ship terminal which was bustling with cruise line passengers, taxis and limousines.  The entire dock area was blotted out by the mass of the cruise ship tied up alongside the terminal, taking on passengers. The Elissa is a two-masted, iron-hulled brigantine sailing ship originally built in 1877 in Aberdeen, Scotland by the Alexander Hall & Company. The ship is one of the world’s oldest sailing ships, and is maintained and sailed annually around the Gulf of Mexico.

4

I stopped and took a photo of the famous Willis-Moody Mansion there in Galveston. I had read that the mansion is a 31-room Romanesque historic residence that was built in 1895 by Narcissa Willis. It was later bought by the entrepreneur William Lewis Moody Jr. and is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. I decided not to take a tour of the mansion and headed back toward Houston.

5

The route Greta proposed for my return to Houston took me past the small town of Texas City, TX. I was old enough (9 years old) to remember the tremendous disaster that happened at the Port of Texas City in 1947.  So I decided to stop and see if they had a museum or memorial honoring the many people that were killed as a result of that disaster.

6

The small Texas City Museum is said to have a section set aside for the 1947 disaster, but the museum was closed. However, there was a Texas City Remembers park that honored the people killed in that horrific disaster.

I stopped to pay my respects.

7

 

I made it back to Houston in time to visit the site of the Battleship USS Texas

(BB-35). I had toured two other U.S. battleships and a U.S. cruiser, so opted not to tour this ship. However, Wikipedia informed me that the ship is a New York class battleship that was commissioned in 1914. The USS Texas was involved in many actions during WWI, and again during WWII including support of Allied landings on North Africa, Normandy, Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

8

As I was leaving the Battleship Texas site, I noticed right ahead of me was a very tall monument. So I stopped to see what it was all about. I discovered it was the 567 foot high San Jacinto Monument, located on part of the San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site. This impressive monument was built to commemorate the decisive 1836 Battle of San Jacinto during the Texas Revolution. It was completed in 1939 and is the world’s tallest masonry column (13 feet taller than the Washington Monument). Leave it to Texas to be and have not only the biggest, but also claim to have the tallest!

9

Next it was over to the William P. Hobby Airport to see if Greta could find The 1940 Air Terminal Museum. And what do you know; she took me right to it! I was surprised to learn that according to Wikipedia, Houston’s Hobby Airport has been around since 1927, and has had several names; W. T. Carter Field, Houston Municipal Airport and Howard R. Hughes Airport, just to name a few. This building was the first airport passenger terminal built in Houston.

10

Opened in 1940, this art deco structure served as the Houston Municipal Airport Terminal until 1954 when it was renamed Houston International Airport. As the air transportation business expanded across America, Houston’s airport expanded with it, and in 1967 it was renamed, again, to what we now know as the William P. Hobby Airport. Too bad the museum was closed, as I would like to have browsed through the history of this beautiful air terminal building.

11

 

On the way to the motel, I asked Greta to see if she could direct me to the ArtCar Museum. As it turned out, this was a small museum that displays mostly post-modern age cars, modified by artists/owners to the specifications of their own idiosyncratic images and visions. I was sorry to find this museum closed for the day, since I would have loved to seen some of those “Artists” handy work.

12

Dinner tonight was Baby Back Ribs, a sweet potato with cinnamon butter and cold slaw at Longhorn Steakhouse.  It was all wonderful, and put me in the mood to kick back with a relaxing TV show and a good night’s sleep. I couldn’t find any good TV shows, so I just checked out tomorrow’s weather and went to bed.

13

 

—–To Be Continued—–

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