Saturday
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Today started cool and beautiful in The Basin in Big Bend. Sunrise on the peaks around us was a delight. The swelling in Steve's knee was much better and the colors were even more interesting than they had been the night before. The good news was improved flexibility. He was ready to ride. Breakfast was fab. And the hawks were great entertainment. The coffee was even pretty good. That's too dang uncommon.
The climb out of the Basin is very steep and the turns are very sharp...a great morning eye opener. And the road north is the picture of austere beauty. The ride north to Midland is all but rifle straight and the austerity to beauty ratio leans hard to austerity as Midland grows closer.
In Midland Steve pressed on to Lubbock...and I took in the Commemorative Air Force Museum. It is well done. The collection is smaller than I expected but they have a Storch...the German WWII STOL wonder (Sub 300 foot take off or landing in still air...very cool.) The Zenair CH701 Sky Jeep is the modern successor to this incredible airplane.
http://g.co/maps/5j5p2
Today started cool and beautiful in The Basin in Big Bend. Sunrise on the peaks around us was a delight. The swelling in Steve's knee was much better and the colors were even more interesting than they had been the night before. The good news was improved flexibility. He was ready to ride. Breakfast was fab. And the hawks were great entertainment. The coffee was even pretty good. That's too dang uncommon.
The climb out of the Basin is very steep and the turns are very sharp...a great morning eye opener. And the road north is the picture of austere beauty. The ride north to Midland is all but rifle straight and the austerity to beauty ratio leans hard to austerity as Midland grows closer.
The Nose Art Gallery is really the highlight of the place. No photos allowed but I saw this one there... The other exhibits of the museum were well done. I saw a 28 cylinder radial engine for the first time. Holy smokes, what a beast.
Since I had arrived late in the day it was a pretty quick dash through the rest of the exhibits...they were arranged chronologically mostly...and mainly told the story of the WWII air war, so naturally the end of the line was a replica of Big Boy (one of the two A-Bombs dropped on Japan)...and an eight foot tall photo of Nagasaki...post bombing. I have seen the photo before...in books...but that size, on a wall...the vehicles in the streets still looked like ants but the entire 8 x 10 foot frame was unspeakable devastation. I could not help but feel desperately sad. So much effort. So much money. So much genius. So many lives given to the cause of building machines to kill people. I love the technology...the ingenuity...the perseverance...but the cause makes me so sad. We have got to come up with something better to motivate us.
Outside the museum hanger there is a memorial chapel. It is very beautiful. A soaring roof line. No walls. All stone floors, altar and benches. A little man-made creek runs down the center isle. It was the perfect end to the tour...almost. The motif was decidedly Christian. I wish you could expect the Commemorative Air Force leaders to want to recognize the spiritual bent of all those Americans who the museum claims to represent, including the Jews, the Buddhists, the Muslims and the rest. Maybe someday that will be so...but not today...not in Midland Texas.
Outside the museum hanger there is a memorial chapel. It is very beautiful. A soaring roof line. No walls. All stone floors, altar and benches. A little man-made creek runs down the center isle. It was the perfect end to the tour...almost. The motif was decidedly Christian. I wish you could expect the Commemorative Air Force leaders to want to recognize the spiritual bent of all those Americans who the museum claims to represent, including the Jews, the Buddhists, the Muslims and the rest. Maybe someday that will be so...but not today...not in Midland Texas.
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