Cloudy, wet and cold!

It was Wednesday before I felt like doing much, hate being sick. But we did get out to the RV Hall of Fame for our first visit. They were having a huge event on the premises, something for dealers, but the museum wasn't busy. I took a few photos and rather than clutter this post you can see them in our SmugMug album.

We stopped at Firehouse Grill and Lounge for a late lunch. It was pretty good and we liked the ambiance and decorations.

With all the storms coming and going, there have been some pretty sunsets, I manged to catch the tail end of this one. Should have gone outside earlier. LOL!

Stu has stayed busy with indoor chores (and a few outside when the weather cooperated). One thing was replacing the reading lights over our bed. He reads with his Kindle Fire that has a backlight, I read with my Kindle Touch that doesn't so a light is needed. Initially he replaced the bulb in mine, still wouldn't work. So he pulled it out and cleaned up the contacts and when he saw how bad they were he pulled out his, too. Both were beyond cleaning so being in the RV Capital of the US, he picked up a couple of new fixtures and installed them.

Right now it's cloudy, wet and COLD! We went down to 38 degrees last night with the same or colder forecast for tonight with a high of 55 degrees. Brrrrr.....

Sadie never saw her little pug friend again, suspect the weather had something to do with that. That's not to say that she hasn't had her outdoor time, even if she did have to wear her favorite sweatshirt to stay warm.

We have been staying in touch with our online friends,  Dick & Melissa Secor . Initially both Melissa and I were sick, then the weather was too bad for a nice outside visit so we made plans to meet at Bob Evans for lunch. They had never been and we've always loved it. We hadn't been inside for ten minutes yesterday when the deluge started and quickly turned to hail. (We had more hail later in the day but nothing damaging.)

We love meeting RVers in person that we've followed in blogs. We spent over two hours chatting, stopping only for a bite or two of food. They've lived in some interesting places and just returned from a two week trip to England. We really enjoyed hearing about it all and before we left we made plans to hopefully touch base this winter in Florida.

Stu has spent this morning getting all the outside chores done so we can make a quick move in the morning. It takes me maybe 15 minutes to do the inside stuff which I start as soon as I get out of the bed. LOL! We'll splurge with breakfast out once we get registered at Mor-Ryde for our repairs. Keeping our fingers crossed that 1) they can fix the issue and 2) that it will be covered by their or our extended warranty.

Once we're done there, we will come back to Elkhart Campground for a night or two to pick up our mail and get ready for the trek eastward to Maryland for the month of October.

One last note for those of you interested in my attempt at writing my first novel. You can read an excerpt on my writing blog HERE. I'm about 10-12k from finishing the first draft, then starts the real work - editing!

Frontiers of Flight Museum- Dallas TX

While we're stuck in the Dallas area we thought we'd do a little sightseeing. The weather was raining and cold last week, not good for motorcycle riding. We had previously gone to the Audie Murphy/American Cotton Museum so on Saturday we took Freddie and headed into Dallas to the Frontiers of Flight Museum.

Note to self....don't do museums on Saturdays....LOL! Like many museums of today, this one had a great educational play area for kids AND they allowed parents to book areas for birthday parties. At last count there were five while we were there. There was something for all ages, playground type items for the younger and partial plane to get up into and explore. What a blast (and some of it was interesting to us older folk, too.)



The museum was divided into several areas on two levels. It started with early flight (The Wright Brothers), moved through hot air balloons and blimps, on into early war planes, continued through the wars and up into space. The upper level was still under development with sections for local commercial airlines as well as historical uses of local Love Airfield.

I took way too many photos and Stu grabbed a couple on his iPhone, particularly of a WWII vet who was speaking. He had a funny story to tell but I'll let Stu post that... Here are some of the photos, the rest are on SmugMug.



There was one downside to the experience....there was a charity auction being held there that night and they were setting everything up while we were touring the exhibits. Not only was it noisy, which interfered with listening to the various audio exhibits, but exhibits were semi-obstructed by signs - tables - chairs - auction displays AND the actual exhibits were moved out of their original positions. At times this made it difficult to understand what you were seeing. At other times it totally destroyed the impact of the exhibit.

That said, both Stu and I entered feedback on their website. We both got back letters of apology, offering us tickets to revisit the exhibit. Class act! Regardless, we felt it worth the visit...we spent close to three hours there and if not for the disruption, would probably have spent even longer!

Till next time - keep on rollin',
Donna & Stu

National WWII Museum, New Orleans LA

As I've aged, my interest in history has expanded but I will probably never be a history buff. When my New Orleans friend, Lee, mentioned the D Day Museum (The National WWII Museum) as a place to visit, I knew it would be something Stu would really enjoy. I never thought I would enjoy it as much as I did....

Lee had told me it would take a full day and somehow I couldn't imagine that...we got there around noon and stayed until closing at 5:00....and we were only half way done. That said, at times the experience was so overwhelming emotionally, that doing it all in one day would be tough. We do plan to revisit the area and seeing the rest of the museum. We can't wait too long though, the future expansion plans call for a 6 acre complex!



We started out with the traveling exhibit: Lives Remembered: Photographs of a Small Town in Poland 1897-1939 [Photographs of a Small Town in Poland 1897-1939 illustrates Jewish life in Europe before the Holocaust.]



Then we started the tour chronicling the escalation of WWII and our entry into it. There are short videos, booths where you can 2 minute personal stories, displays of every type and size imaginable. All the photos are on SmugMug, here are a few.



New Orleans was selected in part due to the heavy involvement of Andrew Higgins and his boat company. The LCVP (Landing Craft Vehicle Personnel) played a major part in D-Day and the landings on Normandy Beach.



The displays were never ending and always interesting. We walked around corners, into alcoves, up stairs, down hallways....history surrounded us.



We had just started the displays for the Pacific when the announcer started the closing countdown. We managed a couple of exhibits before finally realizing we were going to have to leave and return another day.

We headed to downtown for some dinner and stopped in an outdoor cafe with some great blues music.



A walk followed and the evening was topped off at Cafe du monde with beignets & coffee.

Here are some further links of interest:

• National WWII Museum
  
• Interview with Stephen Ambrose
• The Big Easy
• Stephen Ambrose, historian
• Higgins Landing Boats Memorial
• LCVP - Landing Craft Vehicle Personnel
  

Till next time - keep on rollin',
Donna & Stu