Dayton, Ohio: Learning about Aviation History

This is our first trip of the season,  This is a trip that we had planned for many days.  We are taking our grandson, Hunter, on a trip to New York City and Washington, D.C.   We hope to plant in him patriotic pride in the fact that he lives in the United States of America.  

We had taken our motorhome to get some repair work done and did not get it back into our driveway until one day before we left on the trip.  There was so much to do but so little time to do it in.  Thursday was a long day of packing and trying to get ourselves familiar with a motorhome.    We managed to get everything done and were on the road by 7:30 a.m. today.  It was a nice day to travel.  For the first time that we could remember, there was no road construction in Indianapolis.  The traffic wasn't too bad until we got on I-70 east of Indy.  From then on the highway was filled with 18-wheelers, 4-wheelers and many, many other wheelers.  We lost an hour at the Indiana border so it was 2:00 p.m. before we checked into the Dayton Tall Timbers KOA.  We are in site 99.   They wanted us to unhook our dolly before they escorted us to the site because there were several sharp turns to negotiate; however, Carol felt he could make those turns and they trusted his judgment.  He did make every turn but when we turned into the site, the escort didn't notice that he was close to the sewer outlet and Carol couldn't see it, so he ran over it.  That wasn't a problem for us because we weren't going to hook up to sewer today.  It just means that it will need to be fixed before the next camper sets up.

Finally set up, we headed out to the National Museum of the Air Force.  The museum tells the story of aviation from the Wright Brothers to date.  It was very nice and I think Hunter really liked it.  The problem was that we only had one hour to explore 17 acres of exhibits, displays and aircraft.  Because we are going to the Smithsonian Air Museum, we were able to see enough to feel satisfied.

This is the picture you get when you are traveling with an 11-year-old

This is the plane that dropped the second bomb on Nagasaki in WWII.

This is a replica of the bomb "Fat Man" that was dropped on Nagasaki.

You can see the machine guns strategically in the eyes and crossbones of the plane art.

A Japanese "Zero."

I didn't know that  Brazil fought in WWII but here is what there uniforms looked like.

Even more unbelievable is the fact that Mexico also fought in WWII>

No Air Force Museum would be complete without a B-52.

The museum closed at 5:00 so we went back to camp and Hunter enjoyed a beautiful pool.  While I was fixing supper, Papaw and Hunter played chess.  Papaw won this one but they plan to play again and Hunter may win the next one.

It has been a nice day of travel and rest here in Dayton,  We didn't bring Sandy and we miss her but she is better off at the Kennel.  We replaced her with an 11-year-old-going on 16 boy.  It has been fun so far.