Rising Sun Nights and Flights (July 22-July 26, 2019)

Did have a wonderful few days at Rising Sun, Indiana with my wife Debbie. One night during a walk at dusk snapped this photo at left, and was very impressed with it.
I think its one of the prettier photos I have taken in some time and enjoyed seeing this.
It has been so hot and humid for the past few weeks here, but for the days we were at Rising Sun the temperature and the humidity both were way down.
That made for some remarkable walks around the area which is a very interesting place. There is always something interesting to see and do there it seems. 

For instance on July 25, we went out to lunch in Rising Sun. Saw the two seaplanes flying, and that was a blast. I have actually flown on them and there is a photo and video of that in an earlier post (last year as I remember). There were also a number of motorcycles riding around town on this weekday and some of those photos can be found below the photo at left.
While I was there, purchased a new shirt from Mac's Seaplane Service which is who took me flying last year. If you are in Rising Sun and want to do something completely different, be sure to look them up.

50th Anniversary of the first Moonwalk (July 20, 2019)

 Spent the morning at the National Museum of the US Air Force to celebrate the anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission. On this date, 50 years ago, man first walked on the moon. It was one of the most remarkable achievements in history and a dream of mankind for many decades.
What we got to see there was this spacecraft which is Apollo 15, which was the fourth mission to land a crew on the moon. That was done some two years after Apollo 11 and was also a remarkable achievement. In fact all the missions were which includes the unsuccessful ones. Apollo 1 resulted in the loss of the crew, and Apollo 13, which did not land on the moon was a remarkable achievement in that the crew survived a series of disasters and returned safely to Earth.
Apollo advanced the knowledge of man, added to our understanding of the universe and has given future generations the courage to reach for the stars. It was and still is one of the most remarkable achievements that I ever saw and fills me with pride and wonder to this day.   

Dayton Visit (July 18, 2019)

Don't go there often enough as its a very interesting city but yesterday rode the motorcycle to Dayton, Ohio. Here at left is a monument to The Wright Brothers. There are "A few" of them here, because here is where the aircraft was created and perfected (at least their version of it. I also went across the street and got the photo below of the fountains at Deeds Park. From there a nice view of Dayton and later a visit to Fifth Third Field, the home of the Dayton Dragons. It was a very nice ride on a very hot day and fun to see some interesting sights in the city. Looking very forward to my next visit there.   

Louisville Road Trip (June 28-30, 2019)

Good visit to Louisville, Kentucky for three days which was used to visit family there, as I am from there. Also a chance to show off a few sights to my wife as it is a historic and interesting city.
One of the places we visited was Cave Hill Cemetery which among many notable residents of the city, include Muhammad Ali, aka "The Greatest". Truly a legend of boxing and a very nice guy. I got to meet him a few times around Louisville and enjoyed the time with him though it was short visits. Still, a very nice gravesite and the writing under his name is certainly a good thought.     

Took this photo of Louisville from the Indiana side. Louisville is right on the Ohio River and is a very interesting place to explore. We did what we could while there. Some of the sights we saw are below. In Order they are: The Civil War section of Cave Hill, Clarksville, Indiana, downtown Louisville just across from the George Rogers Clark bridge, and Papa John Stadium. The stadium is the home of University of Louisville Football.
It was a good visit and we had a great time with family and friends. Looking forward to my next adventures there.   

Carriage Hill (June 25, 2019)

 I do a lot of exploring here via motorcycle and also via car, have been now some three times to Carriage Hill. Photo here was from the latest trip and started with a stop to the Visitor Center seen behind my motorcycle.
I am finding this a very interesting place. In a previous exploration kind of saw the old farm. It apparently was donated and is kept up at this site. Looks like a lot of fun buildings to explore at a future date.
There are also a number of trails there both for walking and for riding horses. In fact history and horses seems to be the purpose of this park. 

Fishing can also be done there, as there is a small lake at the site. There are a number of critters there such as this donkey, sheep (seen below) , horses, and pigs that I have seen so far. Neat thing is that they seem friendly as I have petted those without problems (though they do have signs that the "animals can bite".
It is a fun place and something that is also neat is that it is free. In fact there are a number of parks in the Dayton area and plan to visit all or at least most of them in the days ahead. I have added a few more photos below this post taken at Carriage Hill which is well worth a visit if you are ever in the area.   

Dayton Air Show (June 22, 2019)

Great time at the Dayton Air Show. Weather was a real concern, past few weeks has been a terrible combination of tornadoes, floods and heavy rain which included the night before. However, though it was cloudy at the beginning of the show, we were able to get around under dry conditions. Even better, later in the day and especially when the United States Air Force Thunderbirds came out, so did the sun and they along with other aircraft gave us a remarkable show.   

The acts were remarkable in the air. Seeing this sort of re-fueling demo was cool. As always Sean D. Tucker was amazing. He is just an artist in the sky. Harrier demo was great in fact to be honest it was all pretty wonderful.
The big bonus for the day was the Thunderbirds which put on one remarkable show and that was enjoyed by the crowd that was there which according to some new reports was an all time record for the event on this day.
I can tell you for sure, I am going to be back with them next year. My wife Debbie also had a wonderful time. I am including some more photos from the show directly below.   

Tipp City, Ohio (June 21, 2019)

Made a stop today on the motorcycle to Tipp City, Ohio. It is a very fun place to ride the motorcycle too (or the car as well for that matter..have been there on both). It is one of my favorite towns in the area with a lot of history and some cool places to see.
This is part of the canal system which was how goods were transported for a number of years in Ohio. The railroads pretty much made this method obsolete but it is still amazing to see the ruins of that system.
More photos of this and other Ohio places can be found with my Racing with the Wind blog which is also part of this site. I do plan to have photos of the Dayton Air Show which is scheduled for tomorrow on this site within the next day or two. Love airshows and am looking very forward to this event here.