30 Dec 2018 - Foggy, Rainy - Lunch with Coach

30 Dec 2018
Another dreary day.  The rain continues off and on.  Fog today also.  Humidity is through the roof, or should I say on the roof, and the walls, and the floor...  Visibility is limited.

Late morning we traveled back towards Foley and then south to Gulf Shores and Lulu's Restaurant. Lulu's is owned by Lucy "Lulu" Buffett, the sister of Jimmy Buffett. There are three Lulu's, one in Destin FL, one here in Gulf Shores AL, and a new one just opened in June at North Myrtle Beach NC. Lulu's claim to fame is her delicious seafood gumbo.  The menu is primarily seafood but there are other choices as well.  

We arrived and Lulu's was not busy at all.  Mike "Coach" Horstman and his wife Cheryl were waiting for us.  As I mentioned previously, I served with Mike in the Iowa Air National Guard in Des Moines.  His wife worked at the Norwalk Medical Clinic Doreen and I used to use, so we had a lot of mutual acquaintances.  We just ordered appetizers and some drinks and talked for a couple hours!  I gave Mike one of my coins since he retired earlier in 2006 before I became Wing Command Chief in 2007.    Great to catch up with comrades and friends!.

After lunch we headed back to the RV via the Gulf Shores highway and camped out the rest of the day.  Doreen did some laundry.  Today (31st) we will hit a grocery store in search for some corned beef brisket, which we marry up with cabbage and have every New Years.  Years back my folks said it is "supposed to bring you money in the New Year".  Well, we are still working that piece of it and holding out hope Ha Ha!!

29 Dec 2018 - Naval Aviation Museum, Pensacola Pelicans in Paradise, Crystal Ice House

29 Dec 2018
Rain has let up but is not gone.  One of the folks camping here walked by this morning and commented that we no longer live on a 'lake front property'! The pond out our front door has gone down, thankfully.  Later I will get the hose out and wash the junk off our concrete so it does not get tracked in the RV. 

The good news is the temps are up.  Lows in the 50's and highs in the 60's. 

This morning we headed out to the Naval Aviation Museum again.  This time we will tour the inside
since rain is still predicted for today. A few thoughts and observations: The older we grow, the more we appreciate history and the more we appreciate those who preserve history for generations to come. George Orwell said, “The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.”  Also, writer and philosopher George Santayana said, "Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it."  The second quote is the reason I am totally against tearing down and destroying monuments.  Sorry, I am digressing here. 

Back to the subject at hand - I am very, very thankful the US Navy has preserved their history and heritage in the form of this museum.  The artifacts, many are aircraft, are absolutely beautiful.  It takes funds to maintain museums like this, and they are proud to say they receive their support not from tax dollars but from donations to the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation, Inc, a non-profit 501(c)(3) educational and fundraising organization.

A few days ago we entered the museum and watched the Blue Angels IMAX movie and then did the driving tour of the ramp.  Today we entered and made our way through the inside, which is divided into first and second floor areas and a separate building called 'Hangar Bay One'.

The museum is full of immaculate, old aircraft, each with it's own story.  There are also unique areas such as a POW exhibit, an Apollo space exhibit, women aviators exhibit, enlisted aviator exhibit, and the list goes on and on and on...  They even have a Cubi Bar Cafe which was a bar that was 'uprooted from a base at the Philippines' and transplanted into the museum, with all the artifacts that were in place in PI.  There was also an exhibit that highlighted the aviation training they did during World War II in Lake Michigan to practice carrier take-offs and landings.  And of course there is a focus on the Blue Angels aerial demonstration team.  Wow!!

I took a ton of pictures but will try to limit the number here. This is just a fraction of the aircraft and exhibits in the museum.

 The NAS Cubi Point Officer's Club bar and the plaques and memorabilia that decorated the walls. 

NAS Cubi Point Officer's Club bar, fully functional here!

Jenny

Snoopy's airplane, the Sopwith Camel!

The type of aircraft Amelia Earhart flew, the Electra

A tribute to the late President Georage H.W. Bush

Full motion simulators you can ride

Skylab exhibit

Mercury spacecraft

A look from the second floor 

Lighter Than Air vehicles

The optical landing system used on aircraft carriers

A large model of the USS Enterprise

The Raft.  A story involving enlisted aviators that were shot down and survived in a raft

 

The Blue Angels

P40-B Tomahawk

Presidential Helicopter, Marine One

Luner Rover

Lunar Landing Module

A-7D Corsair

POW exhibit

POW exhibit focusing on Vietnam

Women in Naval Aviation exhibit

George W. Bush's aircraft. TBM Avenger

Trainer aircraft recovered from Lake Michigam

Another aircraft from Lake Michigan

After the museum we stopped by the lighthouse again so Doreen could pick up a long sleeved shirt she saw there in the gift shop.

We then headed to the Pensacola Pelicans.  No, not their minor league base, although if it was the season and they were in town we would go to a game.  Similar to the Des Moines concrete pigs, the Pelicans in Paradise is a public art project started in 2004.  There have been 41 Pelicans since it started and they have been placed in various places in downtown Pensacola.  They are reinforced Fiberglas, brightly painted and sit on heavy 'perches'!  Each has a designer and sponsor.  Here are a few:

After visiting the pelicans we drove to the Crystal Ice House. This historic building is one of four original ice houses in Pensacola. It was built in 1932, before the days of refrigeration. Customers would drive or walk under the overhang and signal with a certain number of fingers how much ice they needed.  The building is white stucco mixed with mica so it glistens in the sun.  You can see from the picture it is locked behind a chain link fence and in need of  repairs.  It is nice that old and unique buildings like this are being preserved.  

 We headed back to the RV for a late lunch, the Iowa vs Bryant basketball game and some relaxing.  Tomorrow we will have lunch with Mike and Cheryl Horstman at Lulu's, owned by Lucy Buffett, the sister of Jimmy Buffett.

28 Dec 2018 - Building an Arc

28 Dec 2018
Another short one tonight

As predicted, rain came, and came, and is still coming but slowing as of the Iowa State Game tonight.  Our RV is in the middle of a pond, which will eventually dissipate.  We were going to the Naval Aviation Museum today while it was raining, but we decided to stay put today and go tomorrow. 

These pictures don't paint the picture on the rain.  Off the edge of our paved spot the rain is about 5" deep - well over Doreen's ankles.  Good day to stay put!

We cleaned today.  A lot of sand getting tracked in down here so have to stay on top of it..  We ran the sweeper from one end to the other.  Swiffered the tile portion.  Doreen cooked a nice meatloaf with whole potatoes in the Instant Pot for supper.  Tuned into the Iowa State vs Washington State football game now.

Our kids and grand kids were all together in Ankeny at our son's house tonight and had their Christmas.  We joined in on Facetime and that was fun. 

Tomorrow will do the museum and then Sunday we are having lunch with Mike Horstman and his wife Cheryl.  Mike and I served together in the Iowa Air National Guard.  He has since retired and now lives down here. 

That's it for tonight! 

27 Dec 2018 - Weather and Shopping

27 Dec 2018
Short report tonight!

Down day today.  Rain and storms predicted so we deliberately did not plan much.  We made a few phone calls this morning, AT&T Wireless was one of them.  Since my wireless data cycle ended on 24 Dec the data usage display on both the myAT&T and their web site has been messed up. Like every time I have to deal with their customer service, I spend an inordinate amount of time on the phone and  it still takes multiple calls and multiple days to resolve.  Well, I have two tickets open now and hopefully they can get it fixed ASAP.

Later in the morning we headed out to Home Depot, Walmart and Whataburger! 

Our grandkids from Battle Creek MI love Whataburger, so we stopped in their honor.  I had the jalapeno and cheddar burger and Doreen had a plain cheese burger.  They were pretty good sandwiches.

We were supposed to have nasty rainy stormy weather for the next five days, but like everything else, things change.

The storm system extends from Texas all the way up to Minnesota and is creating havoc.  It looks like the worst of it is going north of us, but they are still predicting 2+ inches of rain in the next couple days.  We will adjust accordingly and do inside stuff as much as possible.

26 Dec 2018 - USS ALABAMA

26 Dec 2018
We hope everyone had a great Christmas!  This morning we headed for Mobile Alabama and the USS ALABAMA Battleship Memorial Park.  I've seen the battleship and the USS Drum submarine before but it's been years, and I don't recall there being a memorial park here at that time, plus Doreen has never seen it.

It was about an hour drive from the campground to the Memorial Park. We arrived to a mostly-empty parking lot, but it got much busier the longer we were there.

The memorial park is amazing. They have many static display aircraft, tanks, artillery and various ground military vehicles. There is a Korean War Memorial, a Vietnam Memorial, a Service Dog War Memorial, a 9/11 Memorial and memorial to fallen Coast Guardsmen.  The feature is the USS ALABAMA battleship and then you migrate through the Medal of Honor Aircraft Pavilion and finally the USS DRUM submarine tour.

B-52 Bomber

Aircraft, tanks and artillery

Various Coast Guard vessels

You start the tour in the gift shop paying admission, and then transition to the USS ALABAMA.  The ship began her life on February 1, 1942  at the Norfolk Navy Yard in Portsmouth, Virginia.  Battleship USS ALABAMA (BB-60) and was commissioned August 16, 1942.  She served during World War II in the North Atlantic in 1943, then later that year, went to the South Pacific to fight the Japanese. A crew of 2,500 manned the 45,000-ton ship and it led the American Fleet into Tokyo Bay on September 5, 1945, the day after the Surrender documents were signed. She earned nine Battle Stars for meritorious service and shot down 22 enemy aircraft during her three-year tour of duty as the “Heroine of the Pacific.”  It is 680 ft long with a beam width of over 108 ft and weighs 35,000 tons but equipped for battle weighs over 45,000 tons.  The battleship's claim to fame is her 16"/45 caliber guns accurate to 21 miles!!  She also has many other 5"38 caliber, 40mm and 20mm guns.

In 1947 the USS Alabama was decommissioned iand was scheduled to be scrapped in the early 1960s. A group from Alabama saved the ship from the scrap yard and created the Memorial Park in Mobile. On January 9, 1965 the USS ALABAMA Battleship Memorial Park opened to the public.

Touring the USS ALABAMA is a challenge.  The spaces are not large and there is a lot of climbing ship's ladders to see the various levels.  Here are just a few of the Battleship pictures we took.

The USS ALABAMA

Many levels and compartments to tour.

Diving air pump

Navy diving display 

Chief Schellhase at the trigger.

The breach of a 16' gun.  Tight quarters

The big guns!  Accurate to 21 miles.

A view the 20mm cannon operator would have.

Thick walls protect the Captain

The Captain's berth.

The navigation bridge

The ship's bell

Fire control radar, used to direct fire of the main guns

A 'Mark 8' 2700 lb armor piercing projectile shot from one of the 16" guns.  

 

The USS ALABAMA routes and battles she fought

After touring the battleship we made our way to the Medal of Honor Aircraft Pavilion building.  In there they have many Navy and Air Force aircraft on display, including an F-16 from the Alabama Air National Guard.  Some of the aircraft are on loan from the museum at Pensacola.  Here are a few pictures:

Douglas AD-4 Sky Raider

Alabama Air National Guard F-16 could use some TLC and a new canopy.

President George H.W. Bush Presidential helicopter on display.

Coast Guard rescue helicopter

Grumman A-6 Intruder, flown by Rear Admiral Jeremiah Denton Jr, POW (see below)

Rear Admiral Jeremiah Denton Jr was imprisoned in Vietnam from 18 Jul 1965 to 13 Feb 1973 and there is a very nice display honoring him and all POW's here. 

A Christmas tree made out of socks

Straw mats and other items depicting how POW's lived

We then left the museum and made our way to the USS DRUM submarine.  On the way we passed a memorial for submariners.

A memorial to the submariners

Navy PB Mark 3 - Used by the Navy SEAL Teams

 The USS DRUM was commissioned on 1 Nov 1941 and earned 12 Battle Stars during World War II.  She is over 311 ft long, over 27 ft wide, and is staffed with 72 seamen.

On the deck of the USS DRUM

The conning tower, periscopes, radar, etc

The ship's bell

Doreen's knee would likely not tolerate the additional climbing involved and I have seen the inside of the sub before, so we dispensed with the interior tour and headed out.

We stopped at Felix's Fish Camp Grill on the way back and had lunch.  I tried three different types of baked oysters along with some seafood gumbo and some jalapeno cheddar hush puppies.  Doreen had a huge chicken sandwich and half of that came home with us.

On the way back to the RV park we passed many cotton fields.  We want to stop and pick up some of the cotton that has blown near the road, but we will do that another day.

We have heavy rains and storms predicted for the next few days, the same storm system that is bringing rain and snow to the upper Midwest.  We will focus on some inside touring tomorrow.