April 3rd - Sunday - Beautiful Day - High 86 degreesYesterday Lou and I were up early and on the road to Lakeland at the crack of dawn, it took us about an hour to drive up and on the drive up, it was very obvious that a tornado had visited the area on Thursday. Upon our arrival at the airport, we were amazed at the amount of recovery work the staff and volunteers had accomplished to have the grounds in the condition they were in. It was a bit muddy getting out of the fields into the airport proper, but everyone worked with the problem and it all worked out.
Lou and I toured the museum while we were waiting for the grass to dry and it was amazing. I even found a display of quilts along with many of Howard Hughes accomplishments. I am a sucker for museums and so enjoy spending time in them and going with Lou is like having my own personal guide and one of the best; however, he soon heard planes overhead, so we had to go outside to see the real thing.
We were off to the flight line to see the many displays of homebuilts, seaplanes, vintage aircrafts, warbird aircrafts, and the light planes. I was tickled to finally get to board a KC-135, that is the huge refueler that flies overhead here at MacDill day and night as they train the pilots for overseas. I have a picture of it posted along with the interior cockpit. The young Air Force Officer was more than willing to answer all of my questions and I was elated to be able to talk to him about it. He told me they practice their approaches right over our heads, and do up to seven per pilot per night.
You can also see in one of the pictures, a view of some of the planes that were damaged in the two tornadoes that struck the airport on Thursday. Some had already been taken away. Some can not be repaired. Very sad. One we saw would have been a two million dollar plane.
We also got to see the F-22 which is a fighter jet and had a crew of one person and comes at the cost of $143 million dollars. When it took off, I couldn't believe how fast it was gone out of sight.
If I remember correctly, the take off weight was 83,500 lbs.
There were several fellows that did tricks with their planes and that is always fun for everyone to watch and turn on the "smoke" for everyone to enjoy, but personally, I enjoy the big guys and the ones that make the noise.
There was another group from Lancaster, PA and they had the black and white planes, but I do not know their names and I thought they were nearly as good at the Blue Angels. I think they stated their planes came from the Czech Republic.
Of course, the main attraction, was the Blue Angels and they were on the docket for 4:00 and it was nearly 4:30 by the time they were ready and Lou and I had decided we could see them better from the parking area, we had been there since 8:00 am and the temperature was 86 degrees and that is a long time to stand and walk, so we started back to the car and he was right, the view there was great and we enjoyed the breeze and the comfort of a place to sit!!!
All in all it was a memorable day and we came home tired and ready for a cool shower, dinner and our bed last evening.
Today, we found that a couple that we spent last winter in Key West with, has come to MacDill, to stay until we leave here. We have both gotten out our calendars and have planned things for our remaining time here. Our time is going to go quickly now. Next weekend we are going to my niece's for a picnic, we have a luncheon planned with one of Lou's grandson's that is visiting from Syracuse on the 13th. We want to get to Scott's to see the great- granddaughter. Want to see Jean on our way to Patrick AF Base. Supposed to have this one jack replaced when they call from the Winnebago place also.
Kids, keep that snow melting!!!!
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