Welcome to 1928 (August 8, 2019)

 An amazing and interesting day at the Dayton-Wright Airport which is located in an area known as Austin Landing. Got to take a flight on a 1928 Ford Tri-Motor which was flown in by the EAA. It is one of very few (I think the number is six) still flying from the era. The Ford was one of the first real airliners and had a number of firsts in its history. Flying on it was quite remarkable and a real experience. Easily the oldest plane I had ever been on, it was quite a ride. The engines made it quite noisy and the ride was also very bouncy (probably due to weather) though read both of them were common to the plane back in the day. 

No air conditioning of course, but it was a wonderful experience nonetheless. As the pilot said just before takeoff "Welcome to 1928" .
The flight lasted some 15 minutes as we flew over the area. I really enjoyed the experience and feel thankful and grateful to have done it.
Wandered around before the flight. My wife Debbie and I explored the other planes visiting there from the Collings Foundation. The brought the B-17, The B-24, The B-25, the P-40 and the P-51 to see (for a small fee) or to fly on (for a larger one ) and those photos as well as of the Tri-Motor and the P-51 in the air are among the photos below.

Ford Tri-Motor

B-17

P-40

P-51

B-24

B-25

Tri-Motor in Flight

P-51 in Flight

Inside the Tri-Motor

Tri-Motor cockpit

 

A look at Dayton Tornado Damage (August 3, 2019)

 Picked a nail up in my rear motorcycle tire and took it to Joe's Cycle Shop in Dayton on the 2nd. While I had seen some of the damage on tv and from the highway of the Memorial Day storms , this was my first up close look at just a fraction of the damage. The tornadoes damaged some 1000 buildings (businesses and houses). This is just some of the damage on North Dixie Drive where the shop is located.
I took these photos wandering around the area of the motorcycle shop which amazingly (as were a very few other buildings was "largely" untouched. The bike shop I was told did get some roof damage.   

Young's Dairy( July 28, 2019)

Nice Sunday motorcycle ride. Had been down these roads before with my wife Debbie in the car, but thought they would be fun to explore with the motorcycle. I was totally correct in that guess.
While the spring was very, very rainy, corn is growing. They grow a lot of it here in Ohio, and this is just a small sample. Rode from Enon to Young's Dairy Farm. Fun place and a favorite of Debbie and me. Visited with the goats and the cows in a short visit. Back over the same roads to Enon again, and once again visited the Indian Mound. Ride covered some 35 miles and was a fantastic time.   

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.