National Museum of the USAF

After Columbus, we spent a few days with Chrissy and Shaun and made a visit together to the oldest and largest military aviation museum in the world. We were here years ago, but it's so expansive and the displays often change, so it's worth multiple visits. We learned more about the Holocaust and WWII.

During WWI, homing pigeons delivered messages in tiny tubes pictured below (left) between front-line outposts and command centers. To the right, is "John Silver", one of the most active pigeons in the Army. During a firefight, he was shot and lost a leg, but still managed to deliver his message. He was nursed back to health but had to retire from active service. He lived out his days in Hawaii's Scholfield Barracks and died just shy of his 18th birthday.

This F-82G is pretty wild. It looks like two planes connected in the middle!

Learning about the underground missile launch stations was very interesting. Chrissy's dad actually served in one during his time in the military. It was wild to see how large the missiles are (above)!

This space suit weighs 250lbs! The mirror on the left hand allows astronauts to check the panel on the front of the suit while making adjustments with their right hand.  The dial on the left hand side controls the temperature of the internal liquid cooling suit.

Chrissy and I walked thru three Presidential aircrafts!

The Columbine III served as Dwight D. Eisenhower's personal airplane from 1954-1961.

The cockpit of the Columbine III

The Independence was the second aircraft built specifically to transport the President of the United States. President Harry S. Truman used it from 1947-1953.

The control panel

And THEN there was Air Force One!

The Sam 26000 was the first jet aircraft built specifically for use of the President of the United States and key personnel. When the President was on board, the call sign changed to "Air Force One" to avoid any confusion with other aircraft.

Over 36 years, this jet carried eight Presidents: Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Clinton. In 1963 when President Kennedy was assasinated, Vice President Johnson was sworn in as President on board this plane. A section of seats were removed to transport Kennedy's body and President Johnson back to Washington D.C. for the funeral.

I found the old corded phones at every seat pretty amusing. Who were they calling? I assume other passengers within the plane.

Back at Chrissy's, we met their new cows.

They have an exchange student living with them this year. Matu is from Argentina and has much in common with Wade. They make great "brothers". 

All the boys went fishing in the creek togeher.

It's always a great time reconnecting with Chrissy, Shaun and Wade! 

Illinois museums

While driving thru Illinois, I searched for a place where we could stretch our legs and Asher could fish. I found two museums in Rockford which share a good-sized parking lot along the Rock River! Perfect! Our first stop was the Burpee Museum of Natural History where we stood face to face with the cast) fossilized skull of a Dunkleosteus! (Pictured above and below.) These prehistoric fish were somewhere between 16-27ft long and with jaws like a snapping turtle, their bite force was likely on par with giant crocodiles! Remains were first discovered in Ohio's Lake Erie shore in 1867. As massive as these are, consider it's size was estimated to be 1-4 tons, while a megalodon was 65 tons!

Next we met Jane, a juvenile Tyrannosaurus Rex, rebuilt with bones found in Montana. We learned you can tell the age of a dinosaur much like a tree. When you look at a slice of bone under a microscope, you can count the growth rings. It turns out Jane was around 11 years old when she died.

Their skull collection was impressive. It's amazing to see the armor these beasts wore.

Here we saw the comparison between prehistoric species and their modern-day ancestors. From left to right, see the white skulls of today's Black Bear, Cougar and Gray Wolf compared to the Short-Faced Bear, Smilodon, and Dire Wolf!

This area was my favorite part. There were live animals and deceased specimens to check out. 

Insects and nests

Next door is the Discovery Center, which is also part of our ASTC membership. We spent time learning about our bodies and organs, participating in challenges and testing our athletic abilities.

Asher went thru a really crazy growth spurt while we were in the center!

Afterwards Asher was able to throw a line in to fish in Illinois' Rock River.

A visit with Ann in Malta

When we lived in Las Vegas, I worked for an advertising agency, and spent 7 years sharing a cubicle with my dear friend, Ann. She was from Montana, a little town called Malta, just an hour from the Canadian border. For years I learned more and more about this place she described as “Mayberry”. A safe, small town where everyone knows each other.  I’d always been curious about it, but never so much as when she left Vegas to move back. While planning our trip, we decided to cut thru southern Montana to reach North Dakota. Later I realized it added less than an hour to take the Hi-Line thru northern Montana to see Ann! So that’s exactly what we did!

 We spent a weekend camped at the town’s Trafton Park (dry camping for $5/night). As we walked along the Milk river trail, Ann told us this used to be a German POW camp during WWII. She pointed out the stone entrance and stone “ovens” that were still standing. I found out the town had applied to house POWs to help with the beet harvest while the farmers were off fighting in the war. Around 300 prisoners from age 18 to 60 (though some may have lied and been as young as 14) harvested 3,000 acres of beets in the year that they lived here. 

On Saturday we heard the squeal of tires and found out the town has a drag strip that draws people from Canada and other parts of the state. 

One of the biggest attractions in Montana is the Dinosaur Trail, consisting of fourteen locations across the state featuring dinosaurs that were unearthed very near each museum. Malta has two of these museums and they are right next to each other! Ann took us to the Phillips County Museum, which you can actually walk to from our campsite, if it wasn’t 100 degrees! It was fantastic! There are meteorites and currency from all over the world, antiques, rocks, gems and a very special DINOSAUR! Elvis, a nearly complete 33ft long Brachylophosaurus was found just 10 miles from Ann’s dad’s property! 

Currency on display from early America and other countries. Take a look at this paycheck from the railroad for $0.10! Yes, ten cents! 

I found the jail register fascinating. One person was convicted of adultery spent 2 days in jail before he escaped and had to spend 3 more months in jail. Another was convicted of making whiskey and paid a $200 fine plus spent 60 days in jail. In the early 1900s, the fine for a DUI was $150, today it's $800 in the same county. Another sentenced to life for murder. 

I was surprised to find out this telephone switchboard which was in use in Malta until 1965. 

Who knew there were so many different kinds of barbed wire???

I tried my hardest to find a Greater Sage Grouse, but failed. Wouldn't it be cool to see this bird displaying in the wild?

A camera from around 1900

Right outside the museum sit three wagons, the original travel trailers!

Next to the museum is a historic house that remains as it was in the past. It was neat to see the furniture, appliances and belongings that were popular in that day.

After an aerial acrobatic show, we had a water balloon fight then enjoyed a dinner of elk burgers from a hunt. What a delightful time together!

Temperatures the next day were going to reach 104, so we decided we would head to Fort Peck for electric (air conditioning). That morning Ann picked me up early and we went birding at Bowdoin Lake National Wildlife Refuge. (See next post)