Our RV Adventures

Today was a stay-home, work around the rig day.

Jan went down to the park laundry to wash some rugs that are really too big for our rig’s washer/dryer, while I started working on my list of things to do before we leave here in about a month.

First I cleaned the area underneath the old wheel well flanges so I will have a clean surface under the new ones, and then started removing the old rivets.

I also cleaned and coated the battery terminals on the toad and the rig. I also planned to to drain and flush the water heater, but quickly I ran into a problem. I couldn’t get the drain plug out.

I tried using a 12’ length of pipe as a cheater bar, but even that didn’t work.

I was afraid that if I twisted too hard I might break off the connector. So I sprayed it with penetrating oil and then I’ll try it again tomorrow.

Next I cleaned the rocks and mud out of my leveler pads, and then tomorrow I’ll put silicone spray on the leveler tubes themselves. I’ll probably also spray the slide tracks at the same time.

That was about it for today. Hopefully I’ll be able to get the water heater drain plug after It has soaked overnight.

Thought I’d serve up a replay of our visit to Washington D.C. back in August of 2009

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Enola Gay and Enterprise…

Posted on July 7, 2009

This morning we visited the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy part of the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.

It’s out by Washington – Dulles Airport and only about 10 miles from our RV park, so it was a quick drive, or at least as quick as you can get anywhere around DC.  But since the museum did not open until 10 am we stopped off for breakfast at IHOP on the way.

This place is just amazing.  Everywhere you look there are airplanes.

The planes are on 3 different levels, floor level, and hanging from two different levels above.  There are two levels of catwalks that get you at eye-level to the upper ones.

When you first walk in and look down, the first thing you see is an SR-71 Blackbird.

I always enjoy seeing planes that I worked on when I was with a Department of Defense contractor, and this is one of them.  I got to play with one of these at Otis AFB on Cape Cod, MA after it had a problem coming back from a flight over Russia.

Seeing a UH-1 Huey gives me mixed feelings since I was on one when it went down, but I survived, so I guess it’s OK.

I worked on the A-6 Intruders at England AFB in Alexandria, LA.

I worked on F-4B and D models at the Marine Corps Air Station in Beaufort, SC, where the Parris Island Marine Corps Training Depot is also located.

The Enterprise never flew in space.  It was first used in the Approach and Landing Tests in 1977, where the Enterprise was carried up on the back of a 747 and then released.  This was done to test the landing procedures for the Shuttle as is came back from space.

I helped install some video equipment onboard the Enterprise in early 1979 when I worked for NASA at Johnson Space Center.  But the further tests were cancelled and the Enterprise never flew again.

Later in ’79 it was mated with an external tank and SRB’s to test the Shuttle Launch Pad at Kennedy Space Center.

Originally the Enterprise was going to be reconfigured to actually fly in space, and would have been the second shuttle to fly after Columbia.  However changes in the Shuttle design after the Enterprise was built made it uneconomical.

Then, after the Challenger explosion in 1986, it was once again considered for retrofit to flight status.  But once again it was decided it would be cheaper to construct the Atlantis from spare parts.

So that’s how the Enterprise ended up in the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum.

They also have the ‘Enola Gay’,  the B-29 that dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan.

This is the Hiller Flying Platform.

I never worked on one of these; they were tested in the mid ’50′s, but I always wanted one.  I had a flying model of one, but it didn’t fly very well.

Of course, neither did the real one, which is why it was cancelled and never produced.

They also had a Concord supersonic airliner there.

It’s so big I couldn’t get it all in one shot.  I’m still wondering how they got it in the building.

And this is a copy of the “Sounds of Earth” recording that was sent into space on the two Voyager spacecraft in 1977 that eventually traveled beyond the solar system and out into deep space.

It contained pictures, greetings in 55 different languages, and music.

I had no problem with this.

I did have a problem with the fact that, along with the recording, they also told where we are located in the galaxy.

This was very dumb!

Remember “To Serve Man” is a cookbook.  (If you don’t get this reference, let me know).

We had a great time at the Hazy Center and saw some very unusual planes.  Sometime this week we look forward to visiting the other part of the Air & Space Museum that’s located in downtown Washington, DC at the Smithsonian.

Tomorrow we plan to ride the Metro train into DC, take one or more bus tours, and visit some of the monuments.

Hopefully we won’t experience a repeat of the crash a couple of weeks ago that killed 9 people.

Especially since we will be riding the same Red Line route.

More tomorrow…maybe

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Thought for the Day:

I am passing this on to you because it definitely worked for me and we all could use more calm in our lives. By following the simple advice I heard on a Dr. Phil show, I have finally found inner peace. Dr. Phil proclaimed "The way to achieve inner peace is to finish all the things you’ve started." So I looked around the rig to see all the things I started and hadn’t finished, so, before leaving this morning, I finished off a bottle of Merlot, a bottle of White Zinfandel, a bottle of Bailey’s, a package of Oreos, the remainder of both Prozac and Valium prescriptions, the rest of the cheesecake, some saltines and a box of chocolates. You have no idea how freaking good I feel. Please pass this on to those you feel are in need of inner peace.

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