Are We Where Yet?!!

Month: June 2017

  • The Air Force Museum and Waffle House

    We left Amish Berlin in a sort of Bluebird Wanderlodge Caravan…several of us were heading onwards to Dayton, OH.  There we stayed in a KOA for a few days with the intention of visiting the Air Force Museum.  We also continued our new tradition of eating with friends and sitting around after dinner with a glass of sumthin.   Everyone brings their own,  and we select a picnic table next to one of the buses.     

    The KOA was perfectly situated and very nice.  Off in one corner,  on an isolated loop was a group of ladies (they call themselves “Sisters on the Fly” – and their membership is in the THOUSANDS) who meet every so often for a rally of their vintage Trailers (some as old as the ‘50s.). LADIES ONLY, though…Liz was welcome to sit in, but Dan, not so much.  I know most of you can agree with that…but maybe were perhaps a little reluctant to say so to us directly.  The Sisters were NOT RELUCTANT…but in a friendly way (there may have been adult beverages involved)!    

    They did say they occasionally have rallies called “Sisters and their Misters…”  At first, I thought that sounded like fun…but then I wondered if the “Misters” were eunuch slave-servants.  Last I looked,  Liz was perusing their website! 

    We pulled the Bikes down and pedaled to Breakfast a couple times…2+ miles each way to the Waffle House!   BOY,  we have missed the Waffle House!!! Just as friendly and delicious as ever…and simply not present except in the Southeast…and apparently in Ohio.  YUM!!! 

    In Dayton, we experienced TORRENTIAL Rain.  All the better for museum-ing!  The Airforce museum was ABSOLUTELY ASTONISHING and SPECTACULAR.  I have been to the Smithsonian Air and Space on the Mall, and to the Dulles facility…the Dayton museum is BETTER and BIGGER and has WAY MORE STUFF.  Now, it is of course Air Force and military-oriented,  but MY GOODNESS the stuff they have.     

    What I found particularly interesting are the representative specimens of all the “failures” that happened along the way.   The crazy planes that seemed like a good idea,  but needed a more powerful engine, or better flite controls,  or whatever…things that were just plain ahead of their time or an evolutionary dead-end.  Like the flying pogo stick – a jet that took off vertical and landed horizontal.  Needed a more powerful engine and computer-controlled stability. So relegated to the museum.  Eventually, the Harrier, with vectored thrust, was the engineering concept that actually WAS practical…and is still in use today. 

    There were several attempts at “Parasite Fighters” that dropped out of a bomber to provide protection and then were supposed to connect back up — in flight!  All failed due to turbulence from the bomber making reconnection extremely hazardous — and the advent of long-range fighters and mid-air refueling  made the whole idea as obsolete as it was absurd. 

     

    Or the MANY early versions and attempts to build craft that rose like a helicopter and flew like a plane. Rotating wings,  rotating engines, both rotating horizontal and vertical blades…what ultimately became the V-22 Osprey whose rotating engines do allow it to take off like a helicopter and fly like a plane.  

    XB-70 Valkyrie

    Perhaps the best example:  the sole remaining XB-70 Valkyrie. This was to be a Mach 3 strategic bomber,  and was groundbreaking in all sorts of aeronautical ways. Hardly a “failure, “ indeed an engineering marvel.   But,  as the prototypes were rolling out,  the world changed … airplanes, no matter how high and fast and just plain AWESOME,  were simply more vulnerable and WAY MORE EXPENSIVE than Missiles.   

    I have to admit, we got a little bit more from our visit than most museum visitors…one of our fellow Wanderlodge pilots was an engineer on the XB-70 program.  We learned about the structure and uniqueness of the plane from an inside point-of-view.  Also some details about the circumstances around the crash of the sole other prototype.   

    CLEARLY, progress consists of two steps forward and one back.  We tend to remember the successes that change our lives and the world.  But someone had to dream up those successes,  and some of those dreams were failures, too.

    I know most of you tune me out, and for good reason, but LISTEN UP

    A serious recommendation … This museum is worth a visit to Dayton…and you will need 2-3 days to explore all the halls and exhibits.  In addition to AWESOME, it will help YOU  fill in the rich color and detail between the “main” tourist destinations.   

  • Amish, Ohio

    Sign outside a Flea Market

    We spent our first week in Amish Country,  which reminds us exactly why we are choosing to travel around the USA in the manner we are.  You would NEVER choose to visit ANY of the places we have been lately if you were looking at a tourist map or planning a 2-week vacation from work.  That kind of travel makes a minimalist,  abstract line-drawing of the target.  Our travels now are like an impressionist painting…more and more dots of color and eventually the full picture is apparent in all its glory!

    So,  how to describe our time in Amish Country. 

    Well,  to begin with, of course,  we stopped in Shipshewana and addressed some bus issues.   The center of the RV industry coincides with this center of Amish heritage.  We visited the RV Surplus places and explored options for repairing the furnace,  which was returned to us in non-working order.  The fella who had it for a month said “too old,  no parts.”  I decided to take one more crack at it myself…after discussing the symptoms with another fella at one of the surplus places. He felt it was the controller board,  and  I was able to locate a replacement—this particular part is still used in furnaces sold today!  I installed this part,  and IT APPEARS TO WORK!!!   Cannot really be sure until it gets cold…I REFUSE to run the A/C so that it is cold enuf in the bus to test the furnace!

    Go Hawks!

    After repairs, we managed to squeeze in a BBQ with friends Wes Westerfield and Betsy Meisenheimer, whose place in Buchanan Michigan is not too far from Shipshewana. They drove over to the campground and gave us a chance to try out the special Blackhawks grill tool given to us by Liz’s sister Janet.  This was a prototype,  we hope,  for MANY FRIEND-VISITS along the way…feel free, all of you, to pull up  a chair wherever we are!

    I also made some repairs to the extendable step (opens by air-pressure when the door is opened, and was refusing to retract). Found a broken wire, and fixed it. Also replace the waste valves,  which had dried-out rubber seals and leaked. And I replaced some exterior hose hookups.   Altogether,  I fixed 4-5 issues and we broke nothing (that we know of, yet).  That level of reverse entropy is  the very definition of a good week in the bus!

    Ohio House on a Hill

    So,  now about Amish Country…

    What a spectacular and culturally unique place to visit.  For a couple of weeks, max. A little too wholesome for long exposure (you’ll will soon see what that means).  Our week in Berlin, OH was as part of a small rally of folks with Bluebirds.  We met some really nice folks whom I am sure we will run into again as we and they travel. 

    Compared to Ohio Amish Country,  The SOUND of MUSIC is a bawdy cabaret show!

    We had some organized events such as a dinner-theatre evening and a couple of Amish meals.  The theatre featured a play about an Amish kid looking for his way.  He was a baseball phenom (think the Natural) with a 100mph fastball and a magnificent swing (developed hitting horse apples with a fence-rail). Well,  a fancy NY Agent signed him up for the fictional Las Vegas Vipers team,  who ultimately played the Yankees in the World Series.  Along the way,  the protagonist found the evils of drink, gambling and fast women.  After hitting bottom (spent the night of game 7 in jail!), he was encouraged to go back home by a Cuban rookie, where everything he ever needed was before him,  including Hannah…the girl who waited for him.   The plot was SO SWEET you could get diabetes,  but fun!

    Ice Cream Shop Wisdom

    We also attended “Berlin Moo Days,” A celebration of all things dairy.  Including home-made Ice Cream created in a thumping,  one-cylinder piece of farm equipment. 

    While in Berlin,  we had a wood sign created for our campsites.  An Amish guy had a wood-carvery and claimed he could make anything into a sign.  We asked if he could do a one showing a depiction of the bus, with our names… My imagination had a picture of a guy carving by candlelight for 24 hours straight to get us a sign before we left Berlin.  His response was unexpected…

    He said of course!   If you can give me a file (.EPS or .JPG) of the bus…he would put it into his laser-cutter.  Now my wood-carving vision was replaced with one of steam or diesel powered Amish lasers…  So I did a file…but he was out of wood blanks.  He offered us one that he had done for someone else that had an error…would do our sign on the back.  For almost $0.  Needless to say, we took him up on the offer and after I helped him (a little) to import the file into his software (he said his son is much better with computers and was not there), we have a great sign – for the “Harrises” on the front and for the “Millers” on the back!  The latter could be useful if we need to travel incognito ?

    Also in Berlin, Liz visited a fabric and quilting outlet store.   She bought some basic equipment, a book and some fabric remnants…she plans to start quilting!  I have no doubt she will be creating masterpieces before long…and if she needs help or consulting,  we know to just swing back through Berlin, Ohio.

    McKinley Monument

    While in the Berlin area,  we found some attractions that you would not pick out of a guide book that were nothing short of SPECTACULAR.  How about the William McKinley Library and Museum?  This is in Canton, Ohio, and frankly sounded a little more interesting (and quirky) than the Pro Football Hall of Fame.  And it was both!  More of a museum of artifacts than a library,  but fascinating stuff.  Including an animatronic McKinley and Wife who narrated their story. 

    Topping that was our visit to the Warther museum in Dover, OH.  Ernest (Mooney) Warther was a WORLD FAMOUS carver of wood and ivory.  His particular focus was WORKING steam train scale models – his life’s goal was to present the history of steam-powered trains in his carvings.  Absolutely astonishing in the detail and craftsmanship.  I have some pics and some movies of the models…they do not do them justice.  

    Mooney did not make a DIME from selling carvings…he gave them away or put them away.  Many are in the museum,  some were given to Presidents!    Mooney made his actual living making and selling Knives…which he was forced to manufacture to make unavailable, specialized tools for his carving hobby… and kitchen knives for neighbors.  We bought a spectacular and very unique Cheese Knife.

    Mooney’s grandson David also carves…in his case the history of sailing ships from the ancient Phoenicians and Egyptians to the Clipper Ships of the 1800s.  The detail in these models were as astonishing as his Grandfather’s Trains. 

    Almost all were carved from antique Ivory; a few from wood  and a few other materials such as abalone and bone.    Antique ivory is certified (with appropriate paperwork) to have been acquired from before the world ban on ivory. So it is found mainly at estate sales, but also garage sales, flea markets, etc.  David ONLY buys and carves ivory with known origin, and sometimes the story of origin is as interesting as the piece produced.   

    David himself was working at his shop/museum. He showed us how he creates ropes for the rigging on his models from ivory.  Who knew that Ivory in a thin strand (the diameter of a cat’s whisker) becomes flexible like rope?   David said that ivory is a unique material…with properties of both wood and metal.  And apparently rope as well.

    David,  too,  does not sell his models.  He ONLY creates them for display in his museum. 85 sailing ships made (each taking 6-8 months). 85 on display.   He makes his living creating raw materials and parts for musical instruments from ivory, bone, abalone etc.  His sculpting with these materials has made him one of the world’s experts on the properties of these esoteric materials,  and probably the only source for specialized pins, gears, frets, inlays, etc. for high-end instruments.

  • Summer Dreams…

    4 parking spaces—RIGHT IN FRONT!

    We are beginning the next leg of our trip (is it a trip?  Or is it just life…beginning the next leg of our life?) with a few “plans.”  Plans being a very loose term in our vocabulary.  Describing more of a direction and date-range than anything VERY specific. Lots of flexibility in route and stops.   

    The trip began with an EXCELLENT omen.  I had arranged for parking near Wrigley with a woman who has a lot – unused when Cubs are away.  But, we were able to secure 4 parking spots in a row,  directly in front of our apartment to facilitate loading the bus.  That NEVER happens on our street!

    Generally speaking,  we are continuing our loop of North America, proceeding counter-clockwise across the Northern Tier.   Between now and Thanksgiving, here’s our route (which we provide in advance in case anyone wants to meet us somewhere for some “Stoop-sitting”):

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    June 15-21  Millersburg/Berlin Ohio for a Bluebird Rally.  Fun to meet people with old buses.  I know,  sounds weird,  but trust me…it’s FUN.

    July 2-8  Chatauqua, NY. National Geographic Seminar series AND progressive Dinners with the McDowells.

    July 9-17 Montreal, Quebec, Canada.  JHI Meeting.  JHI is the international group my company belonged to over the years, and for which we have travelled extensively and through which we have met MANY friends all over the world.  I am speaking at their Americas Conference  — and in return JHI is picking up our Bar Tab.  It has been pointed out that I WIN ON THAT EXCHANGE.

    July 19-22  Cottage Country in Northern Ontario. Visiting a friend, we get our first taste of the TransCanada Hwy. Eventually, we plan a trip to Alaska.

    July 23-26 Toronto, Ontario Canada. More fiends to visit.  Note that “fiends” was a typo but upon reflection,  one I decided not to correct…

    July 30 Chicago for the 3600 Magnolia BLOCK PARTY (28th anniversary of the Block Party where I met my bride in 1989!)

    August 2-4  Monroe Wisconsin with friends and native (Monroe) son Rich (and Becky) Beem.

    August 16-22 Casper, Wyoming. Bluebird Rally and total eclipse of the sun.

    August 28-Sept.5  Yellowstone Park (including 3 nights in the park)

    Sept. 6-12  Idaho (Boise, McCall, etc.) visiting college buddy and fellow skin-head (which refers to our baldness, not our politics), Dick (and Tyra) Stubbs. 

    Sept. 15?  Vancouver???

    Sept 30->??? Vancouver Island???

    Oct.–>Nov. 15 Driving South along the Pacific Coast.

    Bus to be stored in Los Angeles area around Nov 20.  Then,    Fly home for – Dentists, Doctors AND BURRITOS.

    If YOUR whereabouts might (or could, with some finagling) coincide with any of the above at the same (or similar) times, PLEASE CONTACT US. We can coordinate timing and lodging (assuming you don’t want to sleep on the top of the bus) since many RV places have cottages.  We’d LOVE to meet up! 

     

     

     

  • Chicago for month…and we survived!

    Thot for the day
    (We now have a baby upstairs…)

    Well, we survived a brief visit to Chicago.  Words chosen carefully. 

    “Visit”  because we frankly feel more at home now in the bus.  At least the first several nights at our apartment in Chicago,  I woke up in the middle of the night with that disoriented feeling of not being sure where the bathroom was.  And, when our FANTASTIC  tenants on the floor above walked around at 3:00 AM (they have a new baby), I remember wondering what kind of critter was on top of the bus.  This disorientation reminded me very much of our international travels over the years,  where the same confusion happens in the third hotel of a trip.   

    I will say, however,  that our Chicago “Hotel” has a KICK-ASS shower…one I can fully stand up within,  and where the water pressure and volume are AWESOME.  Possibly the best “Hotel” ever…and we have stayed in quite a few! 

    Chicago: It is possible to survive a visit to this beautiful place!

    “Survived” because wherever we go on our travels,  people always ask us about the well-publicized violence in our favorite US city. When we disclose that we call Chicago “home,”  they want to see pictures of our concrete bunker, barbed wire and armed guards.   And,  they are happy for us that we escaped with our lives.   

    This is a good conversation starter because it gives us a chance to say “Don’t believe everything you read…” and then we can talk about all the GREAT THINGS we love about Chicago.  For example,  BEST BURRITOS IN THE WORLD.  And we have been across 1,000 miles of the Mexico border,  so we have some perspective on this!  And the changes in our neighborhood with all the activity around Wrigley Field are pretty impressive…which they should be since our neighbor (The Cubs) is spending $500M (yes, that is 1/2 $BILLION) sprucing up the place! 

    We LOVE visiting Chicago  — and summer is the BEST time to visit — for lots of reasons.  Some of them the same as why we have lived there for >30 years.  While we were in Chicago: 

    • The Cubs swept 2 home stands.
    • We had “stoop” parties often.  Teaching our neighbor who is from Iceland the meaning of “Stoop.”  This is derived from “Stupid” as in, ”Drink a lot of beer with your neighbors and just act Stupid.”
    • We caught up with as many friends as possible.  We had an Open House, which helped with that, cuz we have more people to see than we had evenings to see them. 
    • We attended a couple of super-friend Kathy Brown’s Super-Dance Classes where our friends and fellow students put up with our rust. I did not realize how much I missed someone nagging me about “ELBOWS…FRAME…”
    • We met and visited our new Docs.  Insurance issues required us to change all of  them – especially galling for Liz; don’t get me started on THAT — and Dentists
    • Sated ourselves on most of our favorite Chicago Delicacies – Hot Dogs, Burritos, Italian Beef Sammies, Pizza, Burritos, Burritos.   Some of our favorite haunts even remembered our “usual” orders after 5 months of absence.

    Unfortunately,  Chicago and Illinois DO have one well-earned bad rap.  Politics.  If it is possible,  Illinois politics make what is happening is Washington seem ethical, congenial, consensual and productive.  And, if possible,  Illinois is even more bankrupt than Washington, with the caveat that Illinois Pols cannot print money to solve problems. We left before it became too depressing…when we are away the local bickering is easy(er) to ignore, though the national and international can still dominate and depress if we let it (we don’t).