Kai and Johnny D's road trip to Ohio...and back

In mid-2018, I feel firmly established in my mid-life and Kai is now a full-blown teenager.   Kai's getting bigger and I'm getting smaller (a good thing!).  We're both getting older (a mixed bag).

Kai essentially planned our entire trip, researching museums, parks, and other destinations of choice.  He compiled all necessary information (addresses, phone #'s, hours of operation) in the order that we would visit them.  He was also a big part of planning meals and purchasing food.

Another cool thing is that he really got into going "old school" and made a 7-disc "Trip Mix" of songs in alphabetical order, starting with "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" (Paul Simon) and ending with "Woman in Love" (Barbara Streisand), with a seriously eclectic variety of music in-between (Cage the Elephant, Jamie Foxx, Twenty One Pilots, Coolio, Beatles, Stones, CCR, Nancy Sinatra, Cream, Soundtracks, Ballads, SNL songs, Schoolhouse Rock, etc, etc...), as well as another disc of songs that he accidentally overlooked while making the first discs.  I threw in a bunch of 60s - 90's music, as well as some choice mixes and soundtracks, so we had well over 100 cds with us (we listened to nearly all of them!).

Our general plan was to go out as far as Dayton, Ohio to visit the National Museum of the United States Air Force Museum, with several museum stops along the way.  During our return trip, we were hoping to focus a bit more on camping and hiking in the northern states.

The only firm/rigid plan that we had was to visit a WWII mine sweeper museum in Omaha, Nebraska, which is only open on Saturdays from 10:00AM - 3:00PM.  So, I asked for my vacation leave, starting Thursday, 07/12, so we could arrive in Omaha in time.  That's a 24-hour drive, which Kai figured would be 2 12-hr drives for us.  I figured if we could pack up the car by Wednesday evening, we could get an early start and stay in Reno that night, perhaps drive into Wyoming on Thursday night, then stay in Lincoln on Friday night to cut one hour off the Friday drive.

Day One (Wednesday, 07/11/18):

We packed up most of our stuff on the previous night, so I was able to return home from work and make our weekly "Breakfast for Dinner" before getting in our car to start our journey.

We headed East on I-80 for an uneventful 3 1/2 hour drive to Reno (amazing how close it is to Berkeley, when there's no weekend or commuter traffic)

^We took a lot of "windshield" photos, splattered bugs and all.

We settled into a Super 8 and went to sleep around midnight.  We set an alarm for 5:00 AM, as Kai wanted time to visit an Aerospace Museum near Salt Lake City.

Thanks for stopping by, Jeff.

Day Two (Thursday, 07/12/18)

I was awakened at 5:55 AM by a vey stressed-out Kai: the alarm didn't go off!!!  Google Maps told us that it would take us over 7 1/2 hours to get to the Hill Aerospace Museum and that we would arrive at 2:30 PM (added hour for Mountain Time).  We knew that the museum would close at 4:30, so we jumped out of bed and checked out ASAP.

We continued East on 1-80 and stopped for gas just outside of town.

There we saw wild horses on the side of the road (or at least "cage free"):

I settled into driving mode and started to enjoy the changing landscape around me.

We approached the Utah border:

Thanks Sammy.

We entered the Salt Flats of Western Utah.  I started to reminisce about the last time I was here: 33 years ago as a 16-year-old with a recently issued driver's license, participating in my last-ever family camping trip before spending my remaining summers working. My parents had the strange idea that I would drive one car with my two younger brothers while they drove together in a rented pick up truck (its still amazing to me that my parents allowed me, a novice teenage driver, to drive great distances with their entire progeny in one car - they could've lost us all in one accident - fortunately, that didn't happen).

Heatwaves were doing trippy things:

Getting closer to the mountains around Salt Lake and enjoying the types of clouds that we rarely have in CA:

At Salt Lake City, we turned North on I-15 and soon arrived at Hill Aerospace Museum, which is part of Hill Air Force Base.  This was good news to me, as there was no admission fee, which made me feel that there was less pressure to "get our money's worth."  We actually made good time and arrived closer to 2 PM than 2:30.  We were greeted by the sight of F-35s flying overhead (the US military's most modern, much maligned jets).

I felt that we had plenty of time to check this relatively small, but well-displayed museum:

This is one of Kai's favorite jets from the Vietnam War era:

Post WWII - Korean War displays:

WWII Birds:

Kai's favorite WWII Airplane:

I got a kick out of this display (lots of motion sickness in my family):

This was a simple, yet powerful, tribute to "Utah's Fallen": dog tags swaying gently in the breeze (air conditioning) and sounding like many tiny wind chimes:

This is a good time to note the complexities of my family's relationship to the military (museums, history, etc).  My Dad was very much interested in World War II history, particularly regarding airplanes and Navy ships (he used to play the Victory at Sea soundtrack quite regularly).  He used to take us to several air shows, and my brother & I ended up assembling hundreds of scale airplane models, which hung from the ceiling of our shared room (it was quite a sight).  Kai picked up similar interests as well and it has been a source of multi-generational bonding.  Interestingly, I also inherited my Dad's love of 60's music, which led me to all that Hippy Stuff related to Peace and Love.  Kai and I being "Berkeleys" (as if being Californian wasn't bad enough) adds to the mixed emotions of how destructive war is.  It's not necessarily a Black-and-White subject for us.

Good morning, Judit! 

Once the museum closed, we checked the outdoor displays.  It was quite hot, but beautiful with the Rocky Mountains and puffy clouds nearby.

This is the first time either of us have seen a B-1 (again, mixed emotions regarding human ingenuity and destructive capability):

We grabbed dinner at IN-N-OUT (gourmet food, I tell you) and I had a much-appreciated Starbuck's coffee (this turned into a major theme for me - I'm not much of a Starbuck's fan, but it became very apparent that I am currently a caffeine addict with significant withdrawal symptoms when I don't have my fix.  It was very hard to find a good strong cup of coffee in these hinterlands).

Then we headed East on HWY 84 through the Rocky Mountains on what would turn out to be a wonderful, beautiful drive:

Soon we rejoined I-80:

Entering Green River, Wyoming:

^Shortly after this photo was taken the route made a sharp left turn and we were suddenly joined by a large number of big rigs, in both lanes.  We felt a violent bump, then I saw what looked like a piece of airborne tire through my side mirror - turns out that was actually the gravel guard (interior fender lining) from my front left tire area - never saw what it was that must've dislodged it).

More photos:

The sun set behind us as we approached our final destination for the day: Rawlins, WY.

It was nice to check in to another Super 8 relatively early after having what seemed to be a rather long day.  We had driven close to 12 1/2 hours over about 840 miles.  I decided to take a night walk around the small, historic town and looked up to clear, dark skies (saw a nice shooting star streaking by Jupiter).

I was looking forward to a more laid-back 8 1/2 hour drive to Lincoln the next day.

Hey Mark and Lance!  It was so great to see each of you last night.  And I had a ton of fun.  Thanks for checking in.

Day Three (Friday the 13th!):

We woke up a bit later than we had the day before and were in no rush.  Had a bite to eat at the hotel and took a little drive through Rawlins, a nice little old town and the county seat of Carbon.  There was an old steam locomotive at the small, local park and a charming old town area (caught a glimpse of the Wyoming Frontier Prison Museum as well).  We stopped by the local Army/Navy surplus store to see if they had anything that we couldn't legally purchase in CA, but there was a hand-written note which announced it was closed for a funeral.

We rejoined I-80 and headed east.  Before too long, I accepted a sign's invitation to take a Scenic Byway: highway 130, which had us driving due south.

I had a tinge of anxiety and self-doubt, wondering if it would be better to take the 80 mph-limit freeway and get to our destination for a little extra R&R; however, it was much more enjoyable taking a lonely 2-lane country road.

Flat, dry land and big sky soon gave way to hills and green vegetation.

I was really enjoying the curvy climb into conifers, with an exposed, mountain peak coming into view.

We soon pulled over to stretch our legs and enjoy a lush green meadow with a snow-fed bubbling stream meandering through its rocks and grass.

Kai started expressing his interest in exploring the aforementioned peak, so we found another pullout, which seemed to be relatively close to the summit.

Kai was eager to start hiking and urged me to hurry up and get ready.  I told him that I was packing food and water for the trip; he felt that this would only be a few miles over a couple of hours at the most.  I quickly put 3 Nalgene bottles, 4 cheese sticks, a few Kind nut/chocolate bars, and 3 pickles (Kai's staple hiking snack) in my pack and off we went.

We walked about 100 yards down the road and found a nice, grassy slope, which appeared to lead directly to our goal.  We found the stroll to be peaceful, relaxing, and beautiful.

We climbed up a short rise and started to enjoy the views.

It wasn't long before Kai found a patch of snow and performed the perfunctory "Nail Dad with a Snowball" ritual.  (He has REALLY good aim!)

We started to approach the rocky scramble to the peak.

After a short scramble, we connected with a trail; and quite a view of two lakes directly below us.

We weren't quite at the summit, so we followed the trail uphill.  The trail seemed to flatten out and we found a number of "rock pile" peaks to our right.  We were hoping to climb the tallest, but it was difficult for us to figure out which one it was.

The trail was well-worn, but there didn't seem to be a soul anywhere around.  Finally, we saw a couple walking towards us, so I asked if they knew where the summit was; they told us that Medicine Bow Peak was only about two hours away and they strongly recommended that we check it out.  They also noted that the weather was nice, with no signs of impending storms, so we should have no problem reaching the summit and getting back to our car before dark.  Well, we'd already gone this far, so why not keep going?

After what seemed like a "longer than we thought" meander, we reached a trail junction and took a little break.

Kai pulled out his phone a realized that we had a connection!!!  (We had generally been out of "bars" for the entirety of the day).  Kai looked up "Medicine Bow Peak" and proclaimed that it's 12,014 feet high!  Neither of us realized that we would be at such an altitude (I later realized that much of this area, though flat, is in the 6000 feet range).  The trail sign said the peak was still 0.9 miles away and the trail looked noticeably steeper.  We were both feeling a bit gassed, but decided to give it a try.  I had a headache, which I'm pretty sure was a symptom of caffeine withdrawal.  So, we proceeded upward and onward (my Dad used to say that a lot).

Hey Ken!  I had to look up "BFE" (LOL!).  We didn't see any such cop car around Centennial, though I was enjoying the view so much in that area that I may have just overlooked it.  I was actually surprised how little law enforcement we observed during this visit, especially related to the frequency of such encounters we had during our winter trip through the South to open 2018.

Hey D-Stu!

So...we reached a ridge line and decided that all that huffing and puffing was worth the view (and we weren't even at the top yet!):

We looked in the other direction and determined that what we saw really WAS the top of the hill (though this one, like the others, really just looked like another pile of rocks).

We set out to climb those rocks...

...and reached the summit.

I was pretty happy (if only I had known what was still in store for the two of us that day...)

We sat on some rocks, enjoying our minimalist lunch and taking in the views.  The air was still and it was very quiet, with the exception of a mosquito here-and-there.

It's in Southern Wyoming, between Rawlins and Laramie.  Not too far from I-80.

Medicine Bow National Forest.

Wow, I didn't know about Flight 409 - how tragic.

It looks like we were on the opposite side of the mountain from the site of the plane crash.

We did end up hauling out a bit of trash.  Most of what we found appeared to be from snowmobiles (belts and other plastic/rubber parts).

This was a particularly interesting find, considering the not-so-easily accessible location where we discovered it.  A .50 cal machine gun link; we figured that some military pilot may have shot a few rounds over the forest (hopefully it had nothing to do with the plane crash):

Great to see you, Turtle!  Looks like you made it back to where you needed to be.

Can't wait to hear more about your mountain adventures.

^Hall, I'm currently hiding in shame in response to your recommendations.  I've got a few of these things in my day pack at all times, but have been lucky to not need much more.  I really have no problems with carrying a heavy pack, especially with way too much water, most of the time, so I'll get on this list before our next hike.

It often adds to the adventure to be under-prepared, but I don't want to end up like that guy from "Into the Wild."

SO....on that note:
 

We enjoyed a bit of time on the summit and it was getting late in the afternoon - about 4:30 pm, if I remember correctly.  I started shifting my attention back to getting to our hotel in Lincoln, Nebraska.  I figured that we could make good time retracing the trail downhill to the car and check-in not too much later than midnight.

Kai had a different idea: He thought that it would be faster and easier to head straight down the backside of the mountain to the grassy meadows below and walk to the car from there.  From my reckoning, he was pointing about 120 degrees to the right of our car (South-Southwest).  I pointed out that this would be a much longer trek, skirting the circumference of the mountain, not to mention that there would likely be more up-and-down than what appeared from above (I knew that there would be at least one ridge to cross - the "rise" with views mentioned close to the beginning of our hike).  I shared my concern that by going through unknown territory without trails, we may take too long getting to the car, thus jeopardizing our plan to visit the "Saturday only" ship museum in Omaha.

We held a passionate debate and came to a conclusion: we would head down the trail less slope at an angle of 80-90 degrees from our car and try our best to walk around the mountain's base as parallel to the trail as we could.  I must admit that I generally enjoy taking a loop, rather than retracing my steps, so I adjusted my attitude and started looking forward to new sights and experiences.

>>>>The only issue I would have is that my long hikes generally end with my going through a metal detector, and most of those things wouldn't make it through.

Very interesting...I wonder if this is related to Kai's need to travel via automobile.

Okay, so more pictures.  We enjoyed one last few of the oft-photographed view from the top as we made our way back down.

We eschewed the trail for boulder-hopping in a straight line down the slope.  I was quite pleased to be carrying 55 lbs less on these old bones of mine.  We soon returned to soft, green grass:

We startled an extremely large "double-wide" marmot, who wobbled rather quickly through the rocks below up (no photo).  Another smaller one chastised us with high-pitched shreiks.

Nice flowers in the grass and rocks

We found a nice corridor through the trees, which appeared to follow the contours of the mountain.  Beautiful green meadows with streams and ponds.  Not only attractive to us, but absolutely heavenly to the local mosquito population.  Whenever we stopped it was as if a loud dinner bell had been struck.  We were instantly swarmed by dozens of bloodsuckers.  Kai claimed 130 kills to his credit, including a few plastered onto his father's forehead with an authoritative slap.  Fortunately, they did not seem to leave any noticeable welts or tropical diseases, as far as I could tell.

Actually, there really wasn't much to complain about.  We enjoyed solitude in a peaceful location.  As I expected, there was a lot more vertical (up and down) than what was observable from above and we were starting to feel fatigued.  As we descended into the trees, we began to lose sight of reference points as well, so we decided to hug the rocks to our left a little more closely.  It was difficult to determine how far we had gone.

As we approached this particularly wet hollow, I saw a reflection through the trees.  Could this be our car?!  Could this be any car?  By this point, I was hoping to at least get to some sort of road so that we could more easily pick up the pace.

Thanks, Plf!

Hall, it really is good!  I feel so much better at this weight, though I have to admit that I sometimes feel like I don't have those extra reserves stored in my body, so I need to snack a bit more often.

...Well, it wasn't a car.  But, it was a nice looking little lake.

Kai pulled his phone out and was able to access Google Maps, with a minimal image of our location in relationship to the highway.  We made an educated guess where our car was located and saw a dome (which was probably a large round rock pile) directly in front of us.  We had a choice: take what was probably a flatter route to the right of the dome and have a long walk along the highway or hike up to the ridge to the left of the shoulder of the dome and, hopefully, look directly down at our car.  We decided to take the shorter route and hike up to the top of the ridge.  It didn't seem necessarily tall, but we probably gained about 400 - 500 feet and had to walk through brush, downed trees, and rock spills.  At one point, I nearly fell over backwards as I was hopping large rocks uphill.  I was really running out of gas.

But, sure enough, we reached the top and saw the road (and our car) below us.

We were relieved to walking downhill, while knowing exactly where we were.  We even stopped for a little bird watching (pine siskins and mountain bluebirds).  We arrived at the car, tired but happy that we successfully completed our spontaneous adventure.

Well, I'll tell you what REALLY got me worked up:  I chowed down on some perishables in the cooler (egg, yogurt, apple, carrots), then checked the Google Maps route to our destination for the night.

My heart sank and my anxiety spiked.  Maps said that we wouldn't get to the hotel until about 4:30 AM!!!  The hike really did take a long time.  And we would lose an hour as we entered Central Time.

It was too late to cancel our hotel reservation, so we proceeded.

Our spirits were lifted significantly when we spotted two mouse, a female and a bull, right next to the road!  We had seen a mother and baby during our 2014 trip at Grand Tetons, but never one with a full rack of antlers.  Very cool!

Here are a couple of shots near the town of Centennial.  It was a steep, straight road from the National Forest to this small town with a speed limit of 35 mph and a relatively sharp turn to the left; no wonder they used to have a police car with a dummy in it.  I was too busy staring at clouds to watch the road, of course.

We rejoined I-80 at Laramie and Kai confirmed via internet that there were no Starbucks open this late (I was still feeling that caffeine withdrawal).

Kai continued to do a little internet research and asked me to pull off of the freeway after we crossed the state line into Nebraska.

He had located an active Minute Man III ICBM launch site about 100 feet from I-80.  I imagine that we've now been added to another top-secret watchlist.

We drove on and I pulled over at a truck stop to get gas and a cup of coffee.  I filled my travel mug and took it to the cash register; the sympathetic cashier told me that it was "on the house."  Did I look that bad?

Shortly after I rejoined the freeway, we entered into a dense fog.  I probably couldn't see much more than 50 - 80 feet in front of me and started thinking about those news stories of Central Valley thule fog and the multi car/big rig pileups which seem to occur regularly.  I decided to follow a passing 18-wheeler, hoping that the driver had enough experience to know what she/he was doing.  I stayed as far behind as I could, while keeping the rear red lights in view.

The road was straight and there was not much to look at, other than the hypnotic red lights in front of me.  I had saved my coffee for a moment like this and it didn't do a damn thing to me (I guess that's why it was free).  I started snacking on kettle corn and Pirate's Booty, which kept me interested for a few minutes, but sleep kept trying to pester me.  I found a rest stop and took a power nap.  Our car was so packed that I couldn't push the seat back, so I leaned on the armrest between seats and quickly drifted off.  I was awaked by Kai's head landing on mine - he had apparently turned over from facing his door to resting on my head.  I felt much more awake after that and got back on the freeway, tagged onto another truck, and started playing the Allman Brothers at high volume.  Minutes became hours and finally the fog lifted and the sky became brighter.

There were cool patches of mist rising from the rolling corn fields to either side of me (didn't come out too well in the photo)

At a little after 6:00 am, we arrived at the hotel, checked in, set the alarm for 8:40 am, and promptly went to bed.  It was a pretty long day....

^Kai just turned 15 1/2 years old last week.  I'm checking into driver's ed courses.  He can't start driving soon enough.

I posted so many photos of that one day - mainly because it was such an epic, long day for us.  At the end of the trip, we determined that this was our so-called "Death Hike."  Not because it was necessarily the biggest hike that we took (phone pedometer said we hiked a little over 13 miles), but mainly because we made it so difficult for ourselves by lacking good planning.

BTW: I think that Kai and I ended up taking about 5,500 cell phone photos between the two of us during this trip.  I'll try to cut it down a bit for at least some of the remaining days.

Day 4 (Saturday, 07/14/18)

Seemed like I had just closed my eyes and the alarm suddenly went off.  I jumped out of bed and grabbed a quick bite of Raison Bran, yogurt, and watery hotel coffee before we jumped in the car and drove to Omaha.  About 30 minutes outside of Lincoln, we passed a sign: "SAC MUSEUM next EXIT"  I couldn't believe it: This was not part of Kai's itinerary!  Well, Kai made the necessary updates (we would return later in the day).

We arrived at Freedom Park at 10:00 am and, of course, were the first ones there.

We took a good look at the USS Hazard, a WWII minesweeper, which I believe is the only one of its kind still in existance.

Some of you may know that Kai spends most Saturday's volunteering at a WWII landing craft support ship, LCS-102.  It is also the only one of its kind that's still around.  I enjoyed listening to him talk with a couple of volunteers about the joys and challenges of restoring and displaying these large (and rare) pieces of history.  A brotherhood that transcends age and geographic distance.

This was interesting: a mine cable-cutter which is powered by a shot gun shell.  When it hooks a mine cable, the shell goes off, ramming the blade to snap the cable so that the mine rises to the surface and other ships can destroy the mine.

There was also a very small training sub, the USS Marlin, built in the 50's (Missouri River in the background)

This may be the only submarine museum that I've been in that lets visitors climb to the top of the conning tower.

These looked like monoliths to me.

It was very laid back; a free park with nice docents.  We left with plenty of time to grab a cup of strong coffee in downtown Omaha (Thank you Jesus!) before going back to visit the SAC Museum.

We took I-80 back to the Strategic Air Command and Aerospace Museum.  It's basically about how the USA was trying to figure out the best ways to deploy highly explosive weapons, while limiting others' (Soviet Bloc) capabilities to do the same to us.

The museum building appeared to be quite modern and was obviously tailored to fit the displays, which had already been collected years before its construction.

We got back in the car and I realized that I needed a nap.  Pulled over and found a bit of shade behind a building made of corrugated metal.  It was very hot and humid, but I slept hard for about 30 minutes before we set out on backcountry roads through rolling corn fields into Iowa, then Missouri, and took a quick detour to St. Joseph, Kansas so that Kai could set foot in a new state.

We continued south on HWY 29 to Kansas City, then headed east on I-70.  The sun set as we crossed Missouri and a fierce thunderstorm emerged as we entered the outskirts of St. Louis.  We exited the freeway and headed for the Gateway Arch.  It was about 10:00 pm and still raining heavily, so there was plenty of room to stop at the passenger drop off zone directly in front of the arch.  The rain suddenly ceased and we climbed up the stairs to get a better look.  I supposed it lacked the gleam of sunlight, but our visit under the current circumstances was surreal.  It seemed like this was some sort of mysterious alien spacecraft, which had appeared in the middle of the night.

Taking in the shape and size of this monument was a real trip.

From some perspectives, the arch looked like it was starting to twist in a proto-pretzel shape:

...While from other angles, it was obviously straight and not twisting at all

The rainwater was coming down the outer face in smooth sheets

It was a pretty cool stop.

We jumped back in the car and drove up a cobblestone street onto a bridge which led us over the Mississippi River into Illinois.  A few minutes later, the rain REALLY starting to come down.  So hard, in fact, that I could barely see the center or outside lane lines (didn't help that the paint seemed to have worn down and most of the reflectors were missing).  In stark contrast to my previous driving in fog, I realized that I needed to be as far away from the big rigs as possible to avoid the blinding spray they left behind.  I stuck to my guns and the rain eventually dissipated.   We continued across IL via HWY 64 and somewhere along the line, I wisely stopped at another rest stop to take a nap in a quiet rural area.  Woke up and soon crossed the Wabash River into Indiana.  Passed by a large Toyota plant while driving north and stopped to spend the night in Vincennes.  It was a big drive (I reckon about 11 -12 hrs), but we at least went to bed when it was still dark outside.  

Hey, thanks everyone!

Alan: Let's just say that several trip photographs "disappeared" from our phones.

Joy: I'm pretty sure that it was a two-seater. The navigation radar-jammer guy's compartment isn't so easy to see from this angle. 

The SR-71 was my favorite jet as a kid.  I had the chance to see one fly by a few times during an air show at Travis afb in the mid-70s.  The oft-overused word "AWESOME" is the best way to describe the experience.   I learned during this trip that its wheels are infused with aluminum to keep them from melting at such high supersonic speeds.  The USAF museum has the precursor to the SR-71: a fighter-interceptor; I think it's called A-12.

Day 4 (Sunday, 0715/18)

We slept in until 9:00 am and had plenty of time to eat the free breakfast at the hotel.  We leisurely drove the streets of Vincenne, an obviously historic town, with signs pointing to the Red Skelton Museum and the mansion of William Henry Harrison, who was briefly* my favorite US President, because he had the same last name of my favorite musician (*pun only slightly intended).  I just looked up that it was founded in 1732 by French fur traders and was under the rule of France, Britain, and, finally the USA (there was even a Revolutionary War Battle there).  But, that is not why Kai had taken me there.

We were visiting the Indiana Military Museum.  It was raining while we were driving the short distance to the museum, but once we entered the parking lot, the rain stopped, so we decided to check out the outdoor displays before the rain might possibly return.  I was hot, wet, and muggy.

This was almost the polar opposite of the SAC Museum, which we had visited the day before: a varied collection from may eras (Civil War to the Gulf War, with artifacts from several different countries), spread across several acres of what appeared to be a rural industrial area, which had been abandoned several years ago.  And, as opposed to a government-owned arsenal of aircraft and weapons, this was essentially a single person's personal collection that he started many years ago as a child whose next-door WWII Veteran neighbor was about to throw away some German WWII gear (helmet, flag, belt, and canteen), but offered them to the boy instead.  The collection grew as the boy grew to be an attorney, then a judge, finally being encouraged to start displaying his collection in a museum in 1984.  The museum moved to the current location about 5 years ago.

I could see Kai's future develop in my mind's eye: not only that he may someday acquire so much military paraphernalia that we may be able to store it somewhere other than our house, but that he may, in fact, become a judge or attorney as his profession - he certainly has a lot of his mother in him and she is at least a third- or fourth- generation attorney; not that it's a family tradition, but its more how they are hard-wired.  Unlike Kai's social worker father, whose ancestors are ministers, and who generally loses all familial debates (see Exhibit A: The Medicine Bow Incident of 07/13/2018).

Anyway, the grounds were full of aircraft, tanks, guns, missiles, light vehicles, even the conning tour of a nuclear submarine, the USS Indianapolis.

Kai was very interested in this Soviet T-34-85 tank from WWII, in the process of being restored.

This reproduction of a WWII German bunker fit it's surroundings perfectly, and actually had the feel of the real thing (reminded us of some of the California-Oregon-Washington coastal defenses that we have explored).

They also had a WWI trench set up in the field nearby.  It was weathered and seemed to be part of the landscape.  Kai found a few blank casings in the barbed wire, so we figured that people would stage reenactments there.

The museum itself was in a relatively small, nondescript red-brick building with nearly all of its windows covered.  We were greeted by a gentle, kind couple who made us feel quite welcome.  They noted that their Sherman tank, which was in the "Blues Brothers" film was being worked on in a different building (Kai loves that movie - that's my boy!).  The room itself was, indeed, small and it was packed with items, most of them with a written story attached.  It certainly didn't feel cluttered; in fact, it all seemed lovingly displayed (if that's an appropriate way to describe objects of warfare).

Some of it was kind of funny:

Others elicited more contemplative thoughts.  This statue was found on the property of a German construction company, which had a part in clearing rubble from WWII torn Germany, more than 60 years after the war had ended.  It is believed to be part of a Great War Memorial, which, unfortunately had been surpassed by an even more destructive war some 20 years later.

This is  a single shot 45 caliber Liberator pistol.  It was created by the USA to be given to the French resistance.  I understand that there was a conflict between the UK and the USA regarding distribution, so they weren't as widely used as intended.  On a topical note: shortly after we returned from our trip, I heard on the news that there was a recent conflict regarding the planned distribution of instructions/programs for people to be able to create 3-D printer Liberator guns.  Go figure.

Finally, this is an original sign placed across the Korean Peninsula by US troops when Japan surrendered in 1945.  In 1947, a US-Soviet survey team replaced signs like this with permanent markers written in Korean, English, and Russian.  This old one was signed by all members of the team.  And the beat goes on...some decades later.

Hey 4winds, Racket, and FOM!  Thanks for checking in.

Once again, it seems to be taking me longer to add to the story than it was to live it out on the road.

Day 5 (cont):

From Vincennes, we drove south on 41 into Evansville, Indiana, which was another old-looking (historic) town; actually, this seemed a bit more city-like, with riverside industry and an ornate county courthouse, which would've been an oft-photographed landmark in any European destination (unfortunately, I was too busy dodging other cars to take a photo of it).  We were here to visit another ship: the LST-325, a WWII Landing Ship Tank, which, as you may surmise, was a ship that transported tanks, other vehicles (jeeps, trucks, etc), troops, and supplies to be dropped off directly onto beaches.  Among other missions, it was involved in the Invasion of Normandy, specifically Omaha Beach, in June 1944.

Kai and I were hoping to explore this ship on our own, but it was accessible by tour only.  That actually makes sense, as the LST-325 is fully operational, so I imagine that the crew would like to keep people from messing with working controls, etc.  We were taken down into the hold where the tanks were stored (lighter vehicles were tied to the upper deck).  This is the front door (with ramp), which would allow vehicles and troops to unload right onto the beach.  The ship has a flat bottomed hull and uses a cable with anchor and winch to pull itself back out to sea.

I looked through the exit and thought somberly what it must have felt like to be a soldier about to expose himself to an open, bullet-ridden beach, with very little chance of surviving the ordeal (depending on which wave of attack you were part of):

Well, my daughter says it's time for bed, so "Goodnight" 

We departed Evansville and headed east, across the Ohio River and into Kentucky (my first visit to this state). 

Unfortunately, the General George Patton Museum at Fort Knox was still closed for remodeling, but we still went to nearby Radcliff to see a rather large tank, the M103 (built in 1958):

Caught a glimpse of Fort Knox itself, as we headed north on the Dixie Highway towards Louisville.

During this day, we saw more than a few tanks displayed on the side of the road and/or in front of VFW posts.  I enjoyed driving down this corridor between tall deciduous trees (we don't really have this in CA).

We passed a sign that said something about a Civil War fort and we decided to take a U-turn to check it out.  We followed a curving country road through more thick trees.

At the end of the road was a parking lot for Fort Duffield Park.  A sign noted that Fort Duffield was the largest and best preserved Civil War earthwork fort in Kentucky.  The sun was relatively low in the sky and we were the park's only visitors (which is the way we like it)

We walked a gated road up the forested hill.

We reached the fort and followed a guided trail.  The scene was still and quiet, save for a few songbirds calling from the trees above.

In 1861, General William Tecumseh Sherman ordered the fort to be build on this tall hill to protect a supply base at West Point, where the Salt River joins the Ohio River.  All trees and vegetation were cleared within one mile of the fort at the time.  I was glad that the trees had returned; and there was still a nice view of the river valley below;

We followed what was left of the serpentine wall.

We heard some chattering and saw the brief flash of black-and-white of an unidentified woodpecker before it quickly vanished into the tall leafy trees.

We allowed ourselves some time for quiet contemplation before returning to our car via a single track dirt trail.

This stop was my favorite part of the day.

We continued into Louisville and Kai guided me to a city park, which had another M103 on display.

I was soon jonesin' for another cup of coffee and my navigator located a convenient Starbuck's location nearby.  We drove through a very nice neighborhood of old stone houses with large green front lawns and big trees to a small strip mall.  As I stepped out of the shop enjoying my hot beverage, I noticed that we were across the street from Churchill Downs.  Not necessarily an attractive photo, but I thought it was kind of a cool, random experience.

We left the Sun behind and continued Northwest, entering Ohio via Cincinnati (another new state for me).  We continued onward past a well-lit and very large statue of Jesus, finally resting at a Super 8 near the Dayton Airport.  We were finally reaching the apex of our road trip!  Unlike the previous couple of days, this drive seemed relatively short and relaxed (about 375 miles over the course of the day).

^Oops!  We continued Northeast, not Northwest...

Hey MarkD!  Thanks for checking in.  I'm super busy with end of summer wrap-up with one kiddo and back-to-school stuff with the other.  (I was hoping to post a few photos tonight, but time is flying).

Lloyd: We aren't totally sure what those two things are.  Kai's educated guess is that they may be a 22,000 lb Grand Slam bombs from WWII.

Day 6 (Monday, 07/16/18)

We started off the day getting to know a quiet, but friendly local

We took a short drive to the National Museum of the United States Air Force.  It seems like just about every airplane museum we have visited over the years has had at least one airplane (but usually more) which is on loan from this museum, so we couldn't wait to see what they had on display.  This museum is absolutely massive, with 4 large hangar-like buildings full of everything from the first powered airplanes to space craft.  We were able to get through the whole collection in one day, but I bet we could've entertained ourselves for another full day.

The first building covered the early years of flight:

As a kid, this was my favorite "good guy" plane of WWI - the Sopwith Camel.  Hanging upside-down from the ceiling above it is a replica of a Fokker DR-1 tri-plane, made famous by the Red Baron

America: fighting bad hombres for nearly 100 years.

I enjoyed this inter-war depiction of the American Eagle:

I paused at a small holocaust exhibit between the "Early Years" section and the much larger WWII portion of the first building

Thanks for your post, Jambone.  Kai is talking about touring Civil War battlefields next summer, so we'll definitely want to pick your brain about that potential venture.

A few years ago, Kai, my father, and I visited Manassas National Battlefield Park, while we were spending time with my brother in DC.

As you can probably imagine, our plan for the day was to go to the National Air & Space Museum Annex at Dulles Airport (talk about a HUGE museum) and made a spontaneous decision to check out Manassas after the museum closed (I noticed it on a AAA map while navigating the drive out to Dulles).

It was another case of enjoying a beautiful, historic location by ourselves, but there was one caveat: Kai and I ended up being covered by dozens of teeny tiny tics and we had to disrobe in front of our car lights to clear them off (yuck!).  On the positive side, I experienced a gorgeous walk through the most surreal firefly inundation ever - it was like floating, glowing snowflakes (or perhaps more like passing through stars).

Thanks for the support, Jay.

Joy - Thanks for the heads up!  That place looks amazing (and it's far enought North that we will most likely want to visit it - It really isn't that far from where we were during our most recent drive).

Bluelight: I don't quite get what you're trying to say.  I took Jay's comment as supportive encouragement.  I like Jay.  And I like you too.

BTW: During back to school night last Tuesday, I visited Kai's Latin class and received a brief lesson.  So the word "patronizing" is an interesting word choice" it is derived from the Latin word "patronus" (advocate) which in turn is derived from the Latin "pater".

And this is a "Pater et Filius iter iternis" thread after all. 

NOTE: the above phrase may be more pig latin than the real thing....

Jambone: I forgot to respond to you.  I really appreciate your offer.  Kai almost always wants to avoid the organized group things, but he has appreciated learning from the experts (and especially gaining access to everything possible).  We'll definitely want to follow up with you.

"Luke" was one of our name finalists for Kai's potential name (I have a good childhood friend named Luke and my immediate family names are Paul, John, Mark, David; my wife wanted something a little less Christian and Kai seemed to be the perfect choice)

I'm going to try to finish posting some photos of the Air Force Museum, then start a "Part 2" thread.

We certainly enjoyed visiting the WWII exhibit, as these were my father's favorite planes.  We took several photos of each and every airplane, though I'm sharing some of the things that touched me in different ways:

I really liked the eagle design on this rare P-35, which was the first single-seat fighter in United States Army Air Corps to feature all-metal construction, retractable landing gear, and an enclosed cockpit.

Thinking of the Grateful Dead

I have to say that this may be the new crown jewel of the museum, the Icon of perhaps the most iconic WWII airplane: The Memphis Belle.  Beautifully display and wonderfully restored.

On a somber note, this is the B-29 that dropped the second atomic bomb on people and, hopefully the last one ever to do so.

...And a Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka; Japanese pilots were ordered to sacrifice themselves in a hopeless attempt to stop the unstoppable US forces from taking Japan

Hey Lance,

I really appreciate your post and I pretty much share all of your observations, questions, and concerns.  In fact, that's one reason that I have slowed down quite a bit on our travel story at the point of our visit to the US Air Force Museum (another is that I'm a bit overwhelmed that we have 885 photos of this particular museum!).

It's all quite complex and a bit more than I can thoroughly contemplate and explain right now, but here are a few related thoughts:

From a very early age, Kai has had a deep interest in scary/powerful things.  When he was less than two years-old, he was obsessed with garbage trucks, which I imagine is not uncommon.  What I observed is that he used this interest as a way of learning many important concepts, like schedules (garbage day once/week), sorting/colors (grey can=garbage, green=recycling), and local geography (yes, his overly-indulgent father complied with requests to follow garbage trucks from time-to-time; sometimes all the way to the dump).  He also noted regional differences of refuse disposal when we traveled (blue garbage trucks in Chicago and no sorting of trash pickup). I thought that the extremity of the interest was a bit beyond the ordinary, but I was fascinated by his enthusiasm to learn everything he could about the subject.

Over the years, his interests have turned to rattlesnakes (frequent visits to the local reptile stores and a Daddy story about rattlesnakes every night - looking back, I don't know how I could've come up with so many different tails, I mean "tales"), tornadoes, and volcanoes (see Crater Lake at the beginning of this thread); among others.

I see Kai's current military interests in a similar vein and have observed how it has evolved as he develops into a teenager.  There are seemingly endless exercises in history, geology (esp using Google Earth), technology (military may be Mother Necessity's primary employer), family geneology, connecting with people of different backgrounds (especially  Veterans who have served over many years), operational tactics, and, of course, ethics/morality.

I suppose that I have had similar experiences with sports (why else would I know where Green Bay is?) and Grateful Dead (Alpine Valley?  Those Wisconsin places!).

Over the last several months (including during our lengthly drives), we've talked more and more about the complexities of war, the military, and violence.  Kai is extremely informed regarding the damage that can be done by an M-16 (AR-15) or a MOAB, so we have some pretty heavy discussions about the gravity that employing (or having) such weapons entails.  Should civilians have access to powerful weapons?  How do we feel about mutual assured destruction?  What happens if other countries have more/better arms than we do?

Well, crap.  I need to attend to family matters.

Like I typed: It's a complex matter.

I think I'll try to start a new thread soon....Part 2

OK, I'm going to post a few (or maybe a bit more) photos, then start a Part 2 thread:

I ended up spending a lot of time admiring the beautiful mid-50's design of this B-58 Hustler, which set several long-distance speed records in its time.

The B-36 Peacemaker is absolutely HUGE!  This is the fourth (and final) one in existence, which we have happened to see in person.

The original tire, created during WWII, was proven to be impractical and was replaced by several smaller (though still large) tires.

This is the biggest camera I've ever seen; carried by the reconnaissance version of the B-36.

The experimental aircraft exhibit ended up being my favorite (surprisingly).  Very cool to see how people tried to problem solve with new designs (sometimes successful, sometimes not).  It seemed like they had every example of aircraft between X-1 and X-15 (and maybe beyond...I can't remember too well anymore).

This P-75A was designed for WWII, but I believe that the P-47 was so effective that this was made obsolete before it was even completed.

This is a P-59 Comet, which I believe is the first jet created by the USA,  In front of the impressive backside of a XB-70 Valkyrie (which may be the main reason why we visited this museum in the first place)

Joy: Here's that YF-12 that I was telling you about.  It's super rare (only 3 built), but I notice that it has two seats as well.  Your A-12 is the one that had only one seat.

This was supposed to lift off vertically and become a supersonic aircraft.  It ended up being an expensive hovercraft (obviously a prank from the inventing country Canada!)

Here is the Northrop YF-23, which lost a contract bid to the most sophisticated jet aircraft ever made, the F-22 Raptor.

Here are a few more...

Missile Gallery

This was another surprisingly interesting area for me: The POTUS planes.  This is the first airplane designed for the purpose of transporting a US President, a VC-54C Skytrain, which was assigned to FDR (Skytrains also played a key role in the Berlin airdrop, which was featured in another interesting exhibit)

Here's the Air Force One, which was used by Presidents JFK, LBJ, and Nixon.

It was pretty heavy thinking that this was the place where LBJ was sworn in and where John F, Kennedy's body was taken back to DC.

It was close to closing time, so we decided to spend the last minutes looking at the smaller exhibits in the WWII area.  Here's a flight jacket worn by Tuskagee Airman Col. Edward C. Gleed.

There will be no more toasts made, as there is only one cup left standing.

Lt. Col. Dick Cole, born 09/07/1915, was Jimmy Doolittle's co-pilot and is the last surviving member of the Doolittle Raiders.  We had the honor of seeing him earlier this year and hearing some of his amazing stories (including being in the first B-25 to attempt to take off from a relatively small aircraft carrier, the CV-8 Hornet).

Of course, we were pretty much the last people to leave the museum and we returned to our car to decide where we should go next.