December 30, 2014. Max Makes It to the World War II Museum, New Orleans, LA.

 

 

December 30, 2014.  Max Makes It to the World War II Museum, New Orleans, LA.   Annie Farkley and I met with Larry Decuers, Curator of the WWII Museum, this morning.  We delivered Dad's dress uniform.  Larry could not have been more gracious.  He took us to the head of the ticket line and gave us free admission to the complex.  He then guided us to the exhibit where Dad's uniform will be displayed.  He said the exhibit is changed every six weeks.  The uniform will be displayed in the building housing WWII airplanes.

Speaking of planes, the Curator showed us the plane most likely flown by my friend, Scott Wright.  There are three pictures of it above.  It is called the Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bomber.  It was an effective aircraft.  The Curator said it took out three Japanese air carriers in the first five minutes of the Battle of Midway.  It was replaced in 1944 by the Curtis SB2C helldiver.  SB2C, according to Larry Decuers, was an acronym for "sonnavabitch, second class" because it was much more difficult to handle than the Dauntless.  The Dauntless dove at targets from an altitude of 20,000 feet, reached dive speeds of 250 MPH and was carrier based.  Imagine trying to land one of those aircraft on a floating, bobbing landing surface, then trying to catch the tail hook on one of three cables atop the deck of the ship.

The Museum opened in 2000 as a D-Day museum.  It was located in New Orleans because that is where the Higgins landing craft were manufactured by Andrew Jackson Higgins.  The landing craft made possible the landing of nine divisions in Normandy on D-Day, giving the Allies a toe-hold in Hitler's Fortress Europe.  The Museum is now a sprawling complex consisting of four structures. The most recent exhibit, Road to Berlin, opened just this month.  There were the two of us there today along with 5,000+ of our closest friends.  If you are near New Orleans, the museum is a must see. 

I am indebted to Larry Decuers.  I promised to provide information about Dad and his relationship with Wernher von Braun.  Von Braun was the head of Hitler's rocket program who deliberately surrendered to American soldiers at the end of the War.  It was Dad's division to which he surrendered.  Several months earlier, he had injured his left arm and shoulder in an automobile collision.  Dad, a medic, treated von Braun and they became friends.  I think it was the von Braun connection that peaked the museum's interest in Dad's uniform.  I promised more information on that relationship when we get home.

It has been a good day.  We are in Gulfport, MS, tonight.  Tomorrow, we plan to move on to Gulf Shores, Alabama.  There, we will stay a while if they will let us.  Things are about to slow down.  Good. 

December 29, 2014. Battle of Vicksburg, Mississippi, July 4, 1863.

 

December 29, 2014.  Battle of Vicksburg, Mississippi, July 4, 1863.  Of the 17,000 federal soldiers buried at Vicksburg, 13,000 are unknown.  How could that be? 

December 28, 2014. 200 Miles of Rain and Poverty, Little Rock to Vicksburg MIssissippi

December 28, 2014.  200 Miles of Rain and Poverty, Little Rock to Vicksburg, Mississippi.  It rained overnight in Little Rock.  It rained all day and it is raining now.  The water table, here on the banks of the Mississippi River is close to the surface.  That means the ground is soaked and soft.  Several of the sites here in Magnolia Campground are closed due to flooding. 

It was nearly dark when we arrived in Little Rock last night.  We didn't really know where we were in relation to the City of Little Rock.  We awoke to find ourselves nearly in the shadow of the Clinton Presidential Library.  We did not wait for it to open, but did drive by for a picture or two.  Chihuly refers to Don Chilhuly, renowned glass artist.  The picture above is taken from Wikipedia. 

The drive to Vicksburg is through one of the poorest parts of the states of Arkansas and Louisiana.  The towns still feature homes which are referred to as "shotgun shanties", so called because it was said that you could shoot your shotgun through the front door and blow the contents and occupants out the back door.  Typically, the shotgun shanty consisted of three rooms, a living room, a bedroom and a kitchen-dining room.  My scoutmaster, his wife and five children lived in a shotgun shanty in Trumann.  There were probably hundreds of shanties in Trumann.  We saw scores of shanties today, many of which appear to be inhabited. 

We crossed the Mississippi River from Louisiana to Mississippi at Vicksburg.  The plan was to visit the battlefield today.  We decided to postpone that activity until tomorrow because of the rain.  We stayed in T-Harvey this afternoon and watched the Chiefs defeat the Chargers.  No matter.  The Chiefs were eliminated from the playoffs all the same.  Their season is now over.

We will visit the battlefield tomorrow, then move on to New Orleans and the WWII Museum on Tuesday. 

Oh yes, it appears that our friend, Fred, has a pharmacy in one of the small towns through which we passed today.  Fred is ubiquitous.   Chances are, he will show up again somewhere on this trip. 

December 27, 2014. Coughing Through the Snow in a 255-Horse Unopen Sleigh.

 

December 27, 2014.  Coughing Through the Snow in a 255-Horse Unopen Sleigh.  Annie and Malachi have taken to the road again, upper-respiratory ailments notwithstanding.  We are a coughing duet, each irritating the other in increasingly loud and louder waves of hacking, rattling, and wheezing.  Annie has developed it to an art form, withholding the most irritating racking until her mouth is near my ear.  She, of course, accuses me of the same thing.  But, she is not correct and I am, of course. 

So, why didn't we postpone the trip until we felt better?  We are going to feel better soon.  And, when we do, we will be someplace warm, where we can enjoy feeling better.  So, there.

The temperature was 31 degrees when we left the house at 8:30 this morning.  The plan was to drive far enough south to avoid an overnight freeze.  We drove through snow for the first 200 miles, then rain for the next 200 miles.  We are stopped tonight in Little Rock, AR.  Tomorrow, we will drive 200 more miles to the Vicksburg National Battlefield Museum.  The Battle of Vicksburg was by far the most significant federal victory in the western theater of the Civil War.  It may have been the second most significant battle of the entire war.  Lincoln would say, "The Father of Waters again goes unvexed to the sea." 

Most historians would say the Battle of Gettysburg was the most important battle of the war.  Interestingly, General Lee's army withdrew from the field at Gettysburg on July 3, 1863.  General Pemberton surrendered Vicksburg on July 4, 1863.  It was a good week for the Union forces and President Lincoln. 

Annie and I stopped in Vicksburg on June 10, 1968.  How do I remember that, you ask?  We were married on June 8, spent June 9 in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and spent June 10th touring battlefields in Vicksburg en route to New Orleans.  Pretty good, huh.  A guy doesn't forget much of what he did on his honeymoon.

Oh, we saw a Fred's Dollar Store along the way.  Fred's is a regional dollar store.  There used to be one in Trumann, AR, when I was a boy there.  I bought thousands of rubber bands for a dollar so I could to roll-and-wrap my newspapers.  That made it easier to toss them on the porch of customers from a fast-moving bike.  This store also reminded us of our good friend, Fred.  Fred is a faithful reader of this blog. 

The Farkleys are excited about their stop at the WWII Museum in New Orleans.  I have exchanged emails with the curator and he has agreed to accept Dad's WWII dress uniform.  I wondered what would happen to the uniform when I am gone.  Now, I know it will be preserved for generations into the future.  We will meet with the curator on Tuesday, December 30.  He wrote that he is interested in hearing Dad's story of the War.  I am eager to tell what little I know.  Dad, like so many WWII veterans, didn't talk about the War.  They came home, went to work and supported their families.  Living the horror of war was enough.  He, and they, had no need to discuss it.

More to follow.

October 26, 2014. That's All, Folks.

 

 

 

 

 

October 26, 2014.  That's All, Folks.  Today was a barn bonanza.  We toured all seven colonies.  Remember that I told you the colonies started in the 1850s,  The Amana believers were primarily farmers.  As you might imagine, this area is overgrown with barns.  I spent more time eliminating pictures than usual.  For each picture shown above, two were eliminated.  Oh, the General Store picture was taken to show you how new construction is designed to fit with the existing architecture. 

We will start home tomorrow.  The trip hasn't been as long as we planned.  That's okay.  We have traveled about 4000 miles in T-Harvey.  We have discovered a few glitches.  For example, the stabilization bars aren't working correctly.  The heat pump also has a stutter upon startup.  We'll get those taken care of.  But, the size is perfect and the fuel mileage has been good. 

T-Harvey runs on diesel fuel.  Diesel costs about twenty percent more that gasoline.  That means that you need to get 20% more miles from a gallon in order to compare favorably with gasoline.  We got 13-14 mpg from Harvey.  We get about 16 from T-Harvey. 

I discovered, the hard way, that drivers of diesel-powered vehicles need to be alert to the availability of diesel.  I allowed T-Harvey to get low on fuel.  I left the interstate to look for fuel in a small town.  There were three gas stations there.  Two had gasoline only.  The third offered diesel, but it was closed.  I got back on the interstate and backtracked 13 miles to an interchange where I knew diesel was available.   By the time I got there, the empty light was flashing and Annie was squirming in her chair like a sinner in church.  She also sounded like a sinner.  I haven't had anyone talk to me like that in a long time.  I won't get low of fuel again.  I promise. 

So, that's all for now.  Check on us in late December and January.  The plan is to be somewhere in Florida.  I'll talk to you then.