A Slice of Life
Bill Lites
I guess I must have gotten my “Travel Genes” from my father as he was on the road a lot, for his work, when I was growing up. Then as a teenager I worried my parents when i made several long trips on my motorcycle. When I joined the U.S. Navy they took me all over the world, and by the time I got out, I was hooked on travel. After DiVoran and I were married, and I was going to college in California, it didn’t bother me a bit to travel across the “Great American Desert” to visit my parents living in Albuquerque, or to drive to northern California to visit DiVoran’s parents in Livermore.
After I finished college we moved to Florida for my work on the Apollo Manned Space program. Over the years I ended up working for several of the major aerospace companies, and traveled quite a lot for my jobs. I retired from the Manned Space program in 1996, after 35-years, as what I called myself, “An Aerospace Nomad.” I had been shuffled around various areas of the country during all that time and I was ready for a change. I was working for Lockheed (LSOC), in Florida, when NASA decided to change their Space Shuttle processing contractor. I was going to have to change who I was working for again, and that was the last straw for me. I was just 58 years-old when I retired. I felt like the “Aerospace Hassle” had made an old man of me before my time. I was ready for a rest from the fast pace and constant pressure of the NASA schedulers.
I’m sure my first year of retirement was like a lot of men, wondering if I could adjust to all that time with nothing in particular to do. I also wondered if I would be called back to the job like many men I knew were. If that happened, what would I do? I would just have to wait and see how I felt about that, if and when I was called back. As it turned out, I was able to adjust fairly well. It took a while to take care of all the repairs around the house, but I managed. A couple of years later I started volunteering, one morning a week, to help at the Car Care Ministry at our church.
A year or so after that, a friend talked me into volunteering, as a Tour Guide, at the Warbird Air Museum here in Titusville one morning a week (that wasn’t hard). I am interested in all kinds of airplanes, and this allows me to keep up with the warbird community as well as the on-going evolution of the aviation industry. I love the time and the comradery I get to spent with the friends I have made over the years at both of these weekly volunteer occasions.
Then in 2012, in addition to the volunteer work, I took up a new hobby – travel (one of my favorite things to do) and blog writing. While browsing thru the gift shop at our Warbird Air Museum, one volunteer day, I happened upon a book titled “GUIDE TO OVER 900 AIRCRAFT MUSEUMS.” This guide book covers museums in the U.S. and Canada. I thought, “WOW! This is just what I need to help me find museums to visit.” As you might have guessed, I have developed a love of going to museums. All kinds of museums. Airplane Museums, Auto Museum, Train Museums, Maritime Museums, or any other kinds of museums I happen to come across.
Using that guide book, I have established a method for my travel plans. I usually try to make one (two week) trip in the spring and one (two week) trip in the fall of each year. Note: My 2020 trips have been interrupted by shoulder replacement surgery and Covis-19. I have had to postpone this summer’s trip twice (from July to September) because of travel restrictions, but I am determined to get at least one two-week trip in before the end of the year.
—– To Be Continued—–
Bill is a retired Mechanical engineer living with his wonderful artist/writer wife, DiVoran, of 63 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
Old Things R New 