Tag Archives: Travel

62 Years and Counting-Part 2

16 Jul

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

Last time I wrote about our “day” at Disney’s Hollywood Studios and our anniversary “celebration” we had there.

The pin we both wore at the Hollywood Studios

But we weren’t quite done with our celebration!  Fred had reserved a space for us on the Disney Cruise Line ship Fantasy, for a seven-day cruise to the Eastern Caribbean – stopping in Tortola (British Virgin Islands) and then St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands, with a final stop at Disney’s island, Castaway Cay.  We recently returned from that cruise.

The Disney Fantasy – Credit Google Search and Disney website

We had taken this same cruise some years back, but we hadn’t been on any cruise in four years – we didn’t want to bother with all the covid restrictions, so we didn’t.  But that is essentially behind us now, and we are sailing again!  YAY!

We arrived at Port Canaveral at least an hour before our “boarding time,” so we drove along A1A for a while, remembering the last time we did so. 

Photo credit Google Search

 We returned to the Disney parking lot and then boarded the ship.

Disney Cruise Line Terminal – Port Canaveral

Photo Credit – Judy Wills

 Since it was still too early to get to our stateroom, and we had not had lunch yet, we went up to the “Cabananas” for our meal.  In any other cruise line, that would be the Lido deck.

A view of the Cabanas – Photo Credit – Judy Wills

Tiny tile mosaic wall in the Cabanas – Photo Credit – Judy Wills

Once again, I was greeted with that “tub” of boiled, peel and eat, shrimp.  Disney ships have that every day at lunch, and I am sooooo glad – because I LOVE shrimp!  This time, I decided it was time to take a picture of that tub of shrimp.  As you can see, there is a tub of shrimp, and a tub of crab legs beside it.  Oh my heart!!!

Shrimp and crab legs…yummmmm   Photo Credit – Judy Wills

The next thing we did was see if we could change our “late seating” assignment for dinner/supper to the “early seating.”  The late seating for the last meal of the day is 8:15 p.m.  Which means we wouldn’t be eating until about 8:45  or 9:00 p.m.  If I eat that late, I can’t sleep!  The early seating is at 5:45 p.m.  The people we spoke with told us that the ship was “full” but if we approached the head server at the desk at the Royal Court restaurant at 5:45 p.m., perhaps they could seat us then.  Turns out, they were able to do just that.  I have a feeling that they keep one table aside just for people like us, that want or need the early seating.  It was Table number 23…we were always seated at Table 23 each evening, in whatever restaurant we were in.  We were seated at a smaller table for four, and there was a young woman with her son seated already.  She said every time he crosses a milestone (in this case, graduation from 5th grade), they have a celebration.  This Disney cruise was the celebration for this milestone.  While it was a nice meal with them, we never saw them again during the entire cruise, so we essentially had a “table for two” the remainder of the cruise.

Table 23 – look closely and you will see Cinderella and Prince Charming

This is from the Royal Court restaurant

Table 23 from the Enchanted Garden restaurant.

I neglected to get a picture of the one from Animator’s Palate restaurant.

Next cruise…

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

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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Happiness is Flying Model Airplanes-Part 5

7 Jun

A Slice of Life

 Bill Lites

 My largest and favorite scale model R/C airplane is a big ¼ scale Bellanca Citabria.  The real high-wing aerobatic airplane is famous with flyers all over the country and my R/C model is a beautiful airplane, and it flies like a dream.  Someone told me that the unusual name of this airplane is really “Airbatic” spelled backwards.  How about that for someone with nothing to do but think up an unusual name for a new aerobatic airplane for his boss at Ballanca Manufacturing in 1964 (or maybe it was the boss himself).

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

Of course, I just had to have a ¼ scale Piper Cub in my stable of model R/C airplanes, as a constant reminder of that very first little hard-wood Piper Cub I built when I was eight years old.  This airplane is a model of the famous Piper J-3 Cub that was designed in the 1930s and has been one of the basic trainers used by people all over the world to learn how to fly.  My model uses a .91 CID four-stroke engine and looks, sounds, and flies very realistic in the air and on the ground.   Great fun!

An R/C model airplane enthusiast from Michigan joined our Titusville Model Airplane Club sometime in 2001 and introduced the members in our club to the Simple Plastic Airplane Designs (SPAD) Coroplast R/C model airplanes.  These amazing model airplanes are very inexpensive to build, while being of a very simple and rugged construction.  They are designed and built to represent a verity of real airplanes and also used as expendable “Combat” contenders where a pilot tries to clip a 100’ streamer off the tail of his opponent’s airplane (with his propeller) without damaging either airplane (causing lots of mid-air collisions

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

The body is made from a 2”X2” section of PVC downspout and all the other components, such as wing and tail are made of Coroplast sheet.  The engine is mounted on a ¾“ thick block of plywood or hardwood, which is held in place with (4) screws.  The fuel tank, flight receiver, and flight battery are installed inside of the fuselage with Velcro while the control servos are installed on the outside of the fuselage.  The wing is usually held in place with big strong rubber bands.

Design Credit: https://www.spadtothebone.net/

Most of these basic SPAD airplanes are hand launched and belly landed because they have no landing gear.  It took a coordinated effort, and a lot of practice to get used to: 1. Start up the engine (in the starting station), then 2.  Run the engine up to full power, and 3. Launch the plane (underhanded), while holding the radio in the other hand (a neck strap to hold the radio helped).  It was a practiced procedure that we SPAD flyers all learned to do after a few failed attempts.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

I enjoy going to R/C model airplane airshows and fly-ins whenever I get the chance.  One of the biggest R/C model airplane airshows I ever attended was the 25th Annual Joe Nall Memorial R/C Model Fly-in held at Joe’s Triple Tree Aerodrome in Woodruff, SC in 2007.  The year I attended, there were over 500 R/C model airplanes there of all sizes and descriptions from all over the country.  A crowd of over 2000 avid spectators showed up, including as many as 60 R/C model airplane vendors.  What a spectacular all-week event that was!

Photo Credit: yahoo.com/search/images;Joe+Nall+Triple+Tree+Aerodrome

One of the most thrilling events I ever witnessed was when I attended the 2009 Dawn Patrol Rendezvous Fly-in at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, OH.  There were some 30 real and replica WWI biplanes and triplanes that flew in from many parts of the country to participate in that event.  There were many WWI reenactors dressed in period costumes who brought their antique automobiles, motorcycles, and bicycles to the event.  There were replicas of field hospitals with doctors and nurses for the French, German, and U.S. soldiers

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

There were also many WWI R/C model biplanes and triplanes at the fly-in, which ranged in size from the smallest (¼ scale) to the largest (½ scale) models that flew at intermissions.  Of course, the R/C pilots were also dressed in WWI costumes with leather coats, caps, and flight goggles to make their appearance fit in with the overall reenactment venue of the event.

Photo Credit:  yahoo.com/search/images;dawn+patrol+rendevoue 

The fuel powered R/C model airplanes of the past, that I grew up with, are losing their popularity in many model airplane clubs now-a-days, with the influx of inexpensive foam airplanes and the availability of more powerful flight batteries.  However, flying R/C model airplanes has been one of the most fun and rewarding things I have done over the years, and I plan to continue enjoying the sport of flying R/C model airplanes (fuel powered or electric powered) as long as I am able.  See you at the flying field.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

—–The End—–

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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Random Memories of Virginia

21 May

SUNDAY MEMORIES

RANDOM MEMORIES OF VIRGINIA

Fred and I recently made a trip to Williamsburg, Virginia, to visit our daughter, Janet and her family.  We had lived in that part of Virginia for nearly 13 years before we moved to Florida, where we now live.  It’s always nice to get back to Virginia, since we spent so much time there.  It is actually the place we lived the longest, continually, since we married, over 61 years ago, so it holds a special place in our hearts.

Credit Google search and Wikipedia Sign along Interstate 64

On our first day there, since the twins were in school, Tom was working from home, and Janet was at her job in Richmond, we decided to take a ride and see places we had been/lived.  As we were driving down the Colonial Parkway from Colonial Williamsburg, we began to reminisce about things Virginia.  Therefore, I would like to present my readers with some random memories of Virginia.

Credit Google Search

1.   Driving the Colonial Parkway brought thoughts of how much we enjoy that drive – in all seasons.  Spring brings new-green leaves on all the trees and some flowers – the redbuds, and especially the Dogwood blossoms.

Credit Google Search

Summer is lush foliage all through the drive.

Credit Google Search

Fall has the gorgeous fall colors on the trees – golds, yellows, oranges, reds.  Beautiful. 

Credit Google Search and RVing with Rex

Winter is beautiful in its own way – snow on the trees and shrubs.

Credit Google Search

Not so nice is the snow/ice on the roadway.  The Parkway is made up of aggregate, and the ice on it isn’t very comfortable.

While unmarked, one can readily see the three lanes of the Parkway, as they were laid.  There are frequent signs for “Do Not Pass” along the way, especially when the road turns and the way ahead is not easy to see.

The Parkway has a 45 mph speed limit, which can be frustrating if one is in a hurry!  However, it is an easy thing to set the cruise-control for 45 mph and just let George (the cruise control driver) do the driving.  The Parkway is heavily patrolled, so it pays to pay attention to the speed limit.

I worked in the Colonial Williamsburg area at one time, and had a certain way I liked to drive to work.  From our house in Seaford, down Denbigh Blvd, to U.S. 60 or Warwick Blvd to Williamsburg.  However one of those mornings, I was nearly involved in a fatal accident.  Coming around a curve in the road, the car coming toward me slipped onto the dirt and gravel  – probably losing control of her car – and rammed/slammed into the front of the pickup truck in front of me.  By the time we stopped and I got out, the driver from the truck said the driver of the car was dead.  Turns out, she was just 18 years old, and on her way to her college class.  I was so upset by the entire thing, that I found I couldn’t take that route to work for many months – I kept seeing the accident in my mind.  So I started driving the Colonial Parkway – set my cruise-control to 45 mph and just rode until I reached the Colonial area.  It was a great way to get to work, and the reminder of the accident diminished in my mind.  Time heals.

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

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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Let’s Play a Game-Make it Up

23 Apr

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

Re-blog from July 2019

I have some quirky habits – well, I suppose most people do.  But for some reason, when we are stopped at a traffic light, I look at the cars around us – specifically their license tags – and try to make up words for them.

I think I started doing that with our own license tags, just so I could remember them if or when I would need to give that information to someone, such as the DMV or at a hotel where we stayed.

For instance, one of our tags in Virginia was QRI-727.  What would you make of that?  Well, my thought was:  query (or question)? Is that a 727 airplane?

We had one tag here in Florida that was UNH-935.  Since we attended (and Fred graduated from) the University of New Mexico, thus UNM, that was fairly easy: University of New Hampshire-935.  Get the picture?  I just wish Fred had asked the clerk to pull one that had UNM on it! 

Okay, let’s do a test-run.  See what you can make out of the following (that I made up):

            Y25-JVP

and     Y75-KPD

For the first one, I would have said:   Year25-John Victor Patrick

And the second one:   Year75-Kissimmee Police Department

            (That one was easy, since I have two friends who work at the KPD)

Then there are the vanity plates.  I have a lot of fun with them.  There was a married couple we knew in Texas who had Mopsy on her car, and Popsy on his.

And then I saw one vanity plate with just one word on it:   ytteb    I had a difficult time figuring that one out – until I spelled it backwards.  I’m assuming the driver’s name is: Betty.

We had one Air Force license tag that said AGPOP.

Really easy to remember.  Unfortunately, Florida law says that military plates have to be changed out every 10 years.  I can’t imagine who made up that law.  All it does is create more paperwork for some government agency, that is totally unnecessary.  But that’s the government for you.

Below are some sample license plates from Florida’s License plate designs

I guess the one that really inspired me to do this word search, was while we were living in Virginia.  I was stopped behind a car whose license plate had the words:  I SOIF.  That one had me baffled.  Soif?  Soif?  What in the world is soif?  Then, as I began looking at the back window decals – and the bumper stickers – of the car, I realized that I was looking at all kinds of surfboards!  Okay…now I get it – I SOIF means I SURF.  The guy in the car was a surfer.

Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay

So….has this inspired you to take a new look at license plates and try to figure out words?  It’s a fun thing to do, and Fred gets quite tickled at some of the ones I come up with.  Give it a try.  You just might like it – and it helps pass the time when traveling.

[Added April 23, 2023:  in seeing license tags from other states, I realize that a lot of states have more than the 3-n-3 numbers/letters that Florida has.  But it still might be fun to try to make something of the tags you see.]

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson and a great-granddaughter. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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2022 Road Trip-Part 16 A

15 Feb

#Road

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Day 16 (5/31/2022)

This morning after breakfast, I headed southwest out of Columbia 15 miles on US-1 to visit the Craft Axe Throwing Company located in Lexington, SC.  I have heard about axe throwing, and I’ve read about it. My son tells me he has done it, but I have never been in one of these places to see what it’s all about.  When I got there, this place didn’t open until later in the day, so I just continued another 60 miles southwest on I-20 to visit my first museum of the day.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

This took me across the border, not to a museum, but to Broad Street in downtown Augusta, GA where I stopped to take a photo of the Confederate Monument.  This impressive 76-foot-tall monument, also known as the Richmond County Confederate Monument, was erected in 1878, and is dedicated to all those Georgia Confederate soldiers who died in the Civil War.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

Just a few blocks from the Confederate Monument, there in Augusta, I saw a mural on the side of a building that honors the musician, James Brown, and his contribution to the music world as the ‘Godfather of Soul’ music.  It appears that the mural by artist, Cole Phail, was the winner of a Greater Augusta Arts Council contest in 2020, and named his mural ‘The Spirit of Funk.‘

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

Now I headed 35 southwest on US-1 looking for the ‘Old Quaker Road’ historical marker located in Wrens, GA.  I couldn’t find the marker, but the internet tells me this marker designates where that important road ran thru this area in around 1769.  As it turns out, this area is also where the ‘Famous Indian Trail’ connected Augusta with many of the Cherokee, Creeks, Choctaws, and Chickasaws Indian tribes in the mid to late 1700s.

Photo Credit: www.bing.com/old+quarker+road+historical+marker+wrens+ga

It was another 30 miles southwest on SR-88 to where I visited the Old Jail Museum located in Sandersville, GA.  This museum is housed in the old 1891 Victorian era sheriffs’ home and jail, and really doesn’t look like the ‘Old Jail’ I was expecting on the outside.  I was sure it had been given a major facelift at some point, but no, that is the way it was built.  Looks like the sheriff lived in style.  The museum is filled with historic jail artifacts as well as historic local county, and state memorabilia dating from the mid-1800s.  The old jail has a gallows yard at the back of the house. That’s not a pretty sight.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

It was just a few blocks from the Old Jail where I planned to visit the Sandersville Railroad Museum.  However, what I found was the privately owned Sandersville Railroad, which is a relatively short section of track used for freight between Deepstep and Tennile.  The Sandersville Railroad was formed in 1893 with only 3-miles of track.  The railroad continued to grow, over the years, until now it provides rail transport services to a variety of companies on its 37-mile rail system, which also has links with the Norfolk-Southern Railroad.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

Now I headed west 30 miles on SR-24 to visit the Museum on Main located in Scottsboro, GA but it was closed.  So, I continued west another 35 miles on SR-57 to visit the Griswoldville Historic Battlefield located just outside Macon, GA.  This historic site is dedicated to the memory of the northern and southern soldiers who fought at the Battle of Griswoldville, when General Sherman made his famous ‘March to the Sea’ from Atlanta to Savanah in November of 1864.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

—–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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2022 Road Trip-Part 15B

9 Feb

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Day 15 Continued (5/30/2022)

After another trip down memory lane at the Morrison Motor Car Museum (I especially liked the DeLorean display), I headed southwest 25 miles on I-85 to check out the Charlotte Motor Speedway.  There were no races going on today (looks like I missed the Coca Cola 600 race there at the Charlotte Motor Speedway by just one day), but I got this cool photo of the track entrance.  I love watching NASCAR racing and just get a thrill seeing one of these famous racetracks.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

It was only a couple of miles from the Charlotte Motor Speedway to the Hendrick Motorsports Complex there in Charlotte, where I wanted to visit the Hendrick Motorsports Museum, Performance Shop, 40/5 Race Shop, 9/24 Race Shop, and Engine shop but they were all closed for the after-race holiday.  I was disappointed as Jeff Gordon (No.24) was one of my favorite NASCAR drivers.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

Now I drove into downtown Charlette to visit the NASCAR Hall of Fame located in their new ‘Uptown’ facility.  This Hall of Fame (Shrine) is dedicated to the memory of NASCAR racing history and the drivers and race teams that made the sport possible.  The NASCAR Hall of Fame offers 50 interactive experiences including an ‘iRacing Simulator’ that tests your racing skills on your favorite NASCAR racetrack, NASCAR Cup winning race cars, and much more.

Photo Credit: nascar hall of fame north carolina – Bing images

Before leaving Charlotte, I headed over to the Jackson Homes area to visit the Carolina’s Aviation Museum located adjacent to the Charlotte-Douglas International Airport but they were closed.  I was surprised to find a museum of this size, situated right next to an international airport closed, but that’s what the guard at the entrance gate to the North Carolina Air National Guard Base told me.  So, I took a photo of their ‘Gate Guard’ and headed for my next museum.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

Now I headed south 30 miles on I-77, across the border, to visit the Comporium Telephone Museum located in Rock Hill, SC.  This small museum displays artifacts and memorabilia that records the history of the telephone and other technologies for communications in the Rock Hill area dating from 1894.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

Leaving Rock Hill, I headed south 45 miles on I-77 to visit the South Carolina Railroad Museum located in Winnsboro, SC.  This museum has several pieces of restored antique rolling stock and other railroad related artifacts.  However, the museum is best known for its weekend hour-long train rides pulled by their restored 1927 Baldwin 4-6-0 steam locomotive #44 on a section of the Rockton, Rion & Western Railway.

Photo Credit: https://www.coladaily.com/sc-railroad-museum/

Next, I continued south another 30 miles on US-321 to visit the South Carolina Military Museum located in Columbia, SC.  This turned out to be another museum located on a military base that is closed to the public except by special pass.  It was after 5:00, and I couldn’t get a pass today anyway, so I headed downtown to the Elmwood Park area to check out the world’s largest ‘Fire Hydrant’ located in the ‘Busted Plug Plaza.’  Standing 40 feet tall, this piece of ‘Art’ weighs 675,000 pounds and may be the reason it is leaning (not sufficient foundation).  

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

Just a few blocks from the Busted Plug Plaza, I stopped on Hampton Street to take a photo of the ‘Never Bust Chain’ that appears to link two large office buildings together across an alley.  Built in 2000 by artist Blue Sky (Warren E. Johnson), who is also the designer of the aforementioned World’s Largest Fire Hydrant.  The ‘Never Bust Chain’ is said to be intended to ‘Bring Together Industry & Art Culture’ while others in the city describe it as a whimsical artistic prank.  However, it should be noted that the ‘City Fathers’ must have had to approve its installation.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

I was getting hungry by now and had looked up places to eat there in Columbia.  The one I selected was the “Lizard Thicket” restaurant located in the Elmwood Park district on Elmwood Avenue (US-21).  This restaurant specializes in regional Southern home-style cuisine (Soul Food) and I ordered their fried pork chops with collard greens, black eyed-peas, and creamed corn.  It was served with freshly baked cornbread muffins and strawberry jam.  What a delicious taste treat!

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

With a full tummy (I had enough left over for dinner tomorrow) I took my brown bag and headed for the motel there in Columbia.  Greta (My Garmin) found the motel with no problem, and I got checked in.  I got my things moved into my room, recorded my activities for the day, and went to bed.  No need for TV tonight.  I was too tired.

—–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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2022 Road Trip-Part 14B

25 Jan

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Day 14 (5/29/2022) 

Since I couldn’t find anyone to talk to at the Planet Chopper, I just continued southeast another 25 miles on US-52, across the border, to visit the Thunder Road Museum located on the west side of Mount Airy, NC but it was closed.  I was disappointed as I remembered the 1958 movie “Thunder Road” with Robert Mitchum, about the running  of bootleg moonshine in the Tennessee & Kentucky hills during the 1950s, and I was looking forward to seeing the museum’s car collection.  Bummer!  But, it was only a few miles east to where I visited the Andy Griffith Museum there in Mt. Airy.  This attraction includes the Andy Griffith Playhouse, as well as the Museum which displays a large collection of artifacts and memorabilia related to the life and times of Andy Griffith, who was born and raised in Mt. Airy. 

Photo Credit: Bill Lites 

Now I headed southeast 35 miles on US-52 to visit The Winston Cup Museum located in Winston-Salem, NC.  This museum displays a marvelous collection of NASCAR Winston Cup winning cars. Visitors can walk thru the history of NASCAR racing with the very cars that won those races dating from the inception of the Winston Cup Series of races.  What an impressive collection of racecars! 

‘

Photo Credit: Bill Lites 

After that exciting trip down memory lane, I drove over to the ‘Old Salem’ part of town to see and learn about some of the old Salem home and building restorations.   Wikipedia informs me Salem was originally settled by a Moravian community in 1766, and the area has now been restored into a living history museum that tells the story of how that small community lived and worked in the 16th and 17thcenturies. 

Photo Credit: Bill Lites 

Before leaving the Old Salem area, I stopped to get a photo of Mickey’s World’s Largest Coffee Pot, which has become an Old Salem landmark.  

This 7-foot, 3-inch-tall coffee pot was originally designed and built in 1858 by two Moravian tinsmith brothers Julius & Samuel Mickey to advertise their coffee shop and has been an item of legend in the Old Salem area over the years. 

Photo Credit: Bill Lites 

It wasn’t far from Old Salem to where I stopped to take a photo of the last Shell Oil clam-shell Service Station in America.  I had never seen one of these stations, but maybe that is because they only lived in North Carolina before I was born.  The story goes that local distributors, Joe Glenn and Bert Bennett built six of these clam-shell shaped stations in Winston-Salem during the early 1930s to help boost their businesses.  After the stations closed in the 1950s, the ones that remained standing were used for various types of small business shops until the 1980s when they all but this last one disappeared.  I believe this one is still standing only because it is on the National Register of Historic Places. 

Photo Credit: /www.bing.com/images/search/oldshellstation/  

Now it was time to head for the motel there in Winston-Salem for the night.  On the way to the motel, I saw a Chick-fil-A and stopped to have an order of their Grilled Chicken Nuggets with Bar-B-Q sauce and a big cup of iced tea.  It was quick and delicious. 

   https://www.bing.com/chick+fil+a+grilled tenders  

Then it was on to find the motel, which Greta (My Garmin) did expertly.  I got checked in and got my things into the room, after which I took the time to record the day’s activities and fell asleep trying to watch TV.  ZZZZZZ. 

—–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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2022 Road Trip-Part 14A

18 Jan

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Day 14 (5/29/2022)

This morning after breakfast, I headed southeast out of Charleston, WV 60 miles on I-64 to visit The Veterans Museum located in Beckley, WV.  This is a small ‘All Wars’ Museum that displays military artifacts following the history of U.S. Military involvement in wars from the Revolutionary War to the present conflict in the middle east.  They also have a scale model of the Battleship West Virginia (BB-48) on display.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

From Beckley I headed south 40 miles on I-77 to visit the Mercer County War Museum located in Princeton, WV.  This museum is housed on three floors of the old renovated 1928 Princeton Municipal Building. The museum is another of ‘Those Who Served’ museums that displays local artifacts honoring southern West Virginia, Mercer County, and local Princeton members of all U.S. military services who served in wars dating from the Civil War to the present.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

While I was in Princeton, it wasn’t far to where I visited the Princeton Railroad Museum located in the old restored early 1900s Princeton Depot.  Known as the “Richest Little Railroad in the World,” the depot served as one of the stops on the Virginian Railway’s Hampton Roads to Deepwater route from 1909 to 1959.  This museum has two floors filled with local railroad artifacts related to the development of the railroad from the early 1900s.  The restored 1949 Virginian Railway caboose No. 308 is displayed outside the museum for visitors to go thru.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

Leaving Princeton, I headed south another 40 miles on I-77, across the border to visit the Great Lakes to Florida Highway Museum located in tiny Wytheville, VA.  This turned out to be a small museum situated in an old restored 1926 gas station.  This small one-room museum displays antique gas station artifacts and tells the story of the early highway (US-21) that was used to connect the states of Ohio and Florida during the early 1900s.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

Before leaving Wytheville, I drove downtown to check out Edith Bolling Wilson birthplace.  This museum is situated on the second floor of the old restored 1860s Wilson home and is filled with antique artifacts of the life of Edith, from her birth in 1872 to her death in 1961.  As I’m not an American History scholar, I had no idea what an influential person Mrs. Wilson was in her later years.  It turns out she not only was First Lady to Woodrow Wilson, our 24th President, but it is said that she was also a descendant of Pocahontas, and was somehow related to Martha Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Robert E. Lee.  What a lady!

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

Leaving Wytheville, it was less than 10 miles east on I-81 to where I planned to visit the Mansion at Fort Criswell, VA but the address Greta (My Garmin) took me to was nothing but a sign pointing which way to go on a rutted wagon trail that was closed off with a barbed wire fence.  Their website describes the place as an elegant mansion filled with mid-1800s furnishings, but that trail didn’t work for me.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

So, I picked up I-77 and headed south 20 miles to check out the Planet Chopper (?) located at the intersection of Woodlawn Road and Coulson Church Road in Woodlawn, VA.  I pictured a motorcycle museum or shop, but what I found was a three-story travelers bunkhouse, store, and motorcycle repair shop, all closed with no one in sight.  It appears to be a motorcycle B&B and support organization to help riders enjoy touring the surrounding area on their bikes or on rentals.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

—–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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2022 Road Trip-Part 13 B

11 Jan

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Day 13 Continued (5/28/2022)

After that interesting adventure at the Ark Encounter, I headed south 30 miles on I-75 to visit the Toyota Manufacturing Plant located in Georgetown, KY.  I had hoped to get a tour of the plant.  However, the plant had suspended their tours because of Covid-19, and I was disappointed.  So, I just continued south another 25 miles on I-75 to visit the Aviation Museum of Kentucky located at the Blue Grass Regional Airport in Lexington, KY.  This museum displays a collection of 15+ beautifully restored military and civilian aircraft, a repair facility, and an aviation history library.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

Now it was about 30 miles southeast on I-64 to where I visited the Bluegrass Heritage Museum located in Winchester, KY.  This museum is not about music.  It displays ancient Eskippakithiki Indian artifacts, and early pioneer to present day memorabilia related to the history of the local ‘Bluegrass Region.’  An Eskippakithiki Indian village replica helps visitors see how the Native Americans lived and worked during the early 18th century time period.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

Next, I headed east about 100 miles on I-64, and across the border, to visit the Museum of Radio & Technology located in Huntington, WV.  This museum has many artifacts and lots of memorabilia on display that tell the story of the evolution of the radio and a number of other technologically associated devices that have changed our way of communicating from the early 1800s to the present.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

While I was in Huntington, it was just a short drive to where I visited the Callis P. Huntington Railroad Museum.  This is really two museums.  The one I visited is their outdoor museum which displays the 1949 Baldwin steam locomotive (# 1308) and several other restored static pieces of rolling stock representing the C & O railroad activities dating from the early 1900s.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

Just a short distance from the Huntington Railroad Museum, I swung by the Taylor Auto Collection, there in Huntington, long enough to take a photo.   I was told the museum was closed because Jimmie Taylor had passed away.  That was such a shame, because Jimmie had a very nice collection of beautifully restored early 1900s cars in his museum.  What was strange to me, was that this is the second time during one of my road trips that I have arrived at a museum that was closed because the founder had recently passed away.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

Leaving Huntington, I headed east 20 miles on I-64 to visit the Blenko Glass Museum located in Milton, WV.  I had tried to visit this museum during another road trip a couple of years ago, but they were closed that day and I missed seeing their beautiful collection of blown glass objects.  Well, today they were open and what a fabulous display they have for sale in their museum and showroom.   I would have bought DiVoran one of their lovely glass pieces, except she has several glass pieces from our trip to Italy, and is always trying to reduce the clutter of other glass objects she has.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

Now it was another 20 miles east on I-64, across the Kanawha River, to where I wanted to visit the Nitro Museum located in Nitro, WV.  This is another one of those museums I missed getting to visit on that other road trip a couple years ago, and now I missed it again.  I hope to one day be able to get inside this museum, as I am interested in all things that explode, and I think this museum would be fun.  Oh well, maybe next time.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

Now it was less than 10 miles southeast on SR-25, and back across the Kanawha River, to visit the C & O Depot Museum located in St. Albans, WV.  This museum is situated in the old restored 1896 C & O train station and displays antique railroad artifacts and memorabilia related to the Kanawha River Valley area and its growth, from the early 1900s, mostly due to the C & O railroad activities.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

Now I headed southeast about 15 miles on US-60 to visit the Clay Center located in Charleston, WV but it was closed by the time I got there.  This huge Arts & Sciences Center would have been interesting, but I just didn’t have the time today, so I just took a photo and headed for my motel there in Charleston.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

I gave Greta (My Garmin) the motel address and she took me right to it.  I got checked in and as soon as I got settled into my room, I heated up my leftover Colorado Omelette from IHOP and enjoyed the delicious meal again (just half of what you see in the photo below).  Yummm!  What a treat.   Then I recorded my day’s activities and tried to find something on TV to watch, but to no avail.  So, I just went to bed since it had been a very long day and I really was tired.

Photo Credit: ihop colorado omelette – Bing images

—–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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2022 Road Trip-Part 13 A

4 Jan

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Day 13 (5/28/2022)

After a quick breakfast this morning, I headed southwest 30 miles on I-75 skirting Cincinnati, OH, where I picked up I-71.  I had wanted to visit the Creation Museum, but it was too far out of my travel route so, I just continued south another 30 miles on I-75/I-71 to where I visited the Ark Encounter located in Williamstown, KY.  I had hoped to beat the crowd, if possible, but there were lots of people already waiting in line to buy tickets by the time I arrived at the attraction. 

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

The wait to purchase a ticket was short, and the agent gave me a ‘Double’ discount for being a Veteran and over 65 years old.  I was pleased with that start of the day.  However, the wait for the bus to the Ark entrance was another story.  It was like being at Disney.  The lines went back and forth forever, it seemed.  Once we arrived at the Ark, I was blown away by the size of the thing.  At 510 feet long, 85 feet tall, and 51 feet wide; it is huge!  They told us it took 3.3 million board feet of lumber, 1000 workers, and six years to build.  This photo doesn’t begin to show the size of the Ark, as it is far behind me.  Just try to see the people down near the right end of the Ark.  You can hardly see them for how tiny they are by comparison!

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

It was a pretty good walk from where this picture was taken, where the bus dropped us off, to where we actually entered the Ark.  There was a sloping ramp for wheelchairs on the outside, and elevators for those who needed them at the main entrance.  Then it was one long ramp after another to reach the first level.  

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

The Arc was divided into three levels.  The first, or lower level, was specifically designed for, and held, models of large caged animals.  I never did see where they would have kept the really big animals, like the elephants and giraffes.  The cages for these animals emitted very realistic sound effects of the various types of animals.  Food storage bags for these various animals were arranged, floor to ceiling, on the other side for easy access.  

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

Tons of animal food storage bags gave the impression that it took a hugh amount of food to keep all those animals fed.  It was amazing at how organized the animal cages and food storage bags were.  I guess it needed to be that way in order to be able to take care of that many animals for a long period of time.

The second, or middle level, held the smaller animals, reptiles, and birds.  There were also sound effects of the many various types of birds.  Food storage containers for the many types of small animals and birds lined the walls from floor to ceiling on this level also.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

The top level was set aside for living quarters, food preparation area, and workshops for Noah and his family.  There was a large amount of food containers and clay oil jars lining the walls.  Many of these items were located close to the food preparation area for ease of access.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

I would have thought that food preparation for Noah and his family was the least of their problems.  My guess would be that feeding and caring for all those animals would have taken up most of their time every day.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

The Bible doesn’t mention that God told Noah how long he would be in the Ark.  Noah must have planned for a long voyage, or, he was used to a very comfortable living, as the family living quarters were quite luxurious for the ‘zoo boat’ they were in.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

And of course, Noah needed to preserve as much history as he could for future generations, so there was a library, or study, of sorts.  This room was filled with scrolls, charts and writing materials for Noah to record the past history, his experiences in the Ark, and the New World he and his family would find at the end of their voyage.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

And, of course, there would always be the need for a workshop, to make repairs to any part of the Ark as the need arose.  You know, like broken animal pens, leaks on the boat’s hull, and other such mundane  tasks.

Photo Credit: Bill Lites

There was a lot to see and read on each level.  I didn’t read everything and only spent two hours going thru the Ark.  A person could easily spend the whole day in the Ark and the other things that are a part of the Ark Encounter attraction, such as the Ararat Ridge Zoo and even a camel ride if you dare. 

Photo Credit: https://arkencounter/ararat-ridge-zoo

—–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

Tags: , , , , ,

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