Places We Have Called Home In 2020

Home Is Where We Park It:   NOMADS Project, New Hope United Methodist Church

February 9, 2020

Doctor Says It Is The Flu

Packing Up – Where Did All This Stuff Come From!

390th Memorial Museum

The good news is Barbara doesn’t have a cold.  The bad news is according to the doctor she has the flu.  Imagine that.  Maybe next year we’ll both reconsider getting flu shots.  Anyway, she is on heavy duty drugs prescribed by the doctor and he says she will be up and about by Tuesday.  Time will tell.

We’ve started packing up.

A bag full of my stuffed animals and turtles.

Odds and ends from all over.  Were did all this stuff come from?

Half of our canned goods waiting to go over to it.

My clothes, or at least most of them.

A little bit from here, a little bit from there boy does it all add up.  We can only pack so much or we’ll have no room to move around.

This is our secret moving weapon.  We figure we’ll just fill it up, pull it over to IT, empty it and come back for another load.  Now if we only had two or three more that would be great.  We’ll just have to make due with the one that we have.

Now for some sightseeing.  When we went to Pima Air and Space Museum a week or so ago there was also another museum on the grounds that we went through.

 

Entering the Lobby you are reminded of the mission of this museum.

The Welcome Sign makes the mission of the Museum clear. as well as

The Memorial that is in the lobby which also clearly states the mission of the Museum.

Regarding the 390th Bomb group, they were a part of

the 13th Combat Wing, which was a part of

The Mighty Eighth Air Force.

Mission Statistics for the 390th.

Preparation for a bombing run, this one over Berlin.

 

The 390th Bomb Group flew

 

The Mighty B-17 Flying Fortresses.

Those who flew these mighty planes came from every corner of America. With an average age of just 19 years old, many had never seen or set foot in an airplane before the war. Little did they know what physical and psychological tests they would soon endure.  On the ground and in the air, fliers experienced intense anxiety and fear. Time and again, they suffered the loss of close friendships.  The physical tolls were heavy, as well. Flying in cabins that were not pressurized, at temperatures colder than 30 degrees below zero, and in equipment that was still being perfected, more B-17 crew members suffered from frostbite, electric shock and hypoxia than injuries due to enemy fire.

The flyers knew that their chances of being killed

 or becoming a POW were far greater than their chances of coming home.  As I read the above account of Jack who was captured it sent chills up and down my spine.  I cannot begin to imagine the fear that overwhelmed him.

For you the war is over!  Words no flyer ever wanted to hear.

Liberation for some.

 In addition to its outstanding bombing record, the 390th was credited with shooting down in one day — Oct. 10, 1943 — 62 enemy fighters. This was the highest kill rate in a single day for any bomber or fighter group in the European Theater of Operations. In all, the group was credited with destroying 377 enemy aircraft during the war.  But less we forget this was due not only to the those who actually flew the Mighty B-17 but also to

 

There was one big difference between the Heavy Bombardment Group and other branches of the armed forces.

Their one mission was to DESTROY!

Did you catch that, 4 million bombs of all types were dropped.  In addition 421,499 rounds of .50 caliber ammunition were used.

The 390th flew from Station 153 in Framlingham, Suffolk, England between July 1943 and the end of the war in Europe.

Living quarters on the base.  The Nissen Hut.

A bicycle was the primary form of transportation for one and all.

Constructed in six hours.  That must be like the YTube Video of building a Jayco lightweight trailer in thirty minutes!  I bet the Nissen hut would last longer.

How difficult it must have been, wake up beside a friend in an adjoining bunk but by nightfall he might be gone forever.

We’re going to call in a night.  There is one other exhibit in this fascinating Museum which I will share with you tomorrow night.   Trust me, you don’t want to miss it.  Here is a hint of what is to come, think nose.

So that was our day on The Road of Retirement.  Barbara thankfully went to the doctor and so is on the mend.  Yipee!  I managed to do some more packing.  I also spent the day watching one of my favorite sports, drag racing.  Today was the season opener and it was a good one.  Time now to wrap things up and get my beauty sleep.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s two intrepid travelers.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have never been before

See you on down the road!

 

 

 

 

Places We Have Called Home In 2020

Home Is Where We Park It:   NOMADS Project, New Hope United Methodist Church

February 8, 2020

One Down With A Cold, The Other Hanging On

Plans to Make It Our Own

It finally all caught up with us.  The stress, the anxiety, the cold weather.  Barbara now has a nasty cold but I’m hanging in there hoping it doesn’t jump from her to me.  Time will tell.

We both decided that today was going to be a do nothing much day.  We decided to just sit back, relax and take it easy for a day.  We needed a day to ourselves before we begin packing up and getting ready to move.

Barbara pulled up pictures of the kitchen and began making plans as to where things were going to go.

I sort of laughed and told her, that will last for about a day or two and then I guarantee you’ll be changing everything up.  It was the same with Graybeard in that it took her almost a full year before she was finally comfortable with where things were in the kitchen.  It’s all part of making it our own.

In terms of making it our own

I’ve begun making my own punch list of items that need attention.  Some are classified as immediate, others in the near future and finally when everything else is done.  The list keeps getting longer, and longer, and longer.  It’s no different then what I did with Graybeard when we first started.  I’m looking forward to now making it our own distinct LV that will be a reflection of who we are.  How long will it all take?  As long as it takes.

So that was the long and short of our day on The Road of Retirement.  Tomorrow we’ll begin packing up as much as we can in boxes and bags in preparation for moving everything beginning either Tuesday or Wednesday.  It all depends on the weather and when it is back with us.  Stay tuned and we’ll let you know how it all goes.

Thanks again for checking in with us again today.  We always appreciate your company and your comments.  Catch you tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s two intrepid travelers.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have never been before

See you on down the road!

Places We Have Called Home In 2020

Home Is Where We Park It:   NOMADS Project, New Hope United Methodist Church

February 7, 2020

Temperature Who Cares We Were In A Hotel Room!

It Is Ours Now

We really weren’t too concerned about the temperature last night, we stayed in a hotel room!  Warmth at night and a hot shower in a huge shower stall.  It was nice but I’d rather be home in my own rig.

We were supposed to pick up our new LV at 10 am so there was no rush to get out this morning.  We went down and had some of the excellent breakfast supplied by the hotel.  Well fortified we got on the road.

We were headed north in the direction of Flagstaff.  No, we didn’t have to go that far.  We only had to go about fifteen miles north to the RV park.

Some more neat road art along the way.

Our exit.

Our destination.

There it was waiting for our arrival.  Yup, for now it’s name is it until Barbara can come up with something better.

We paid the balance of the agreed price, Jerry handed us the title and we were off to

Motor Vehicle to get our temporary AZ plates.  Based on past experiences in NJ we were dreading this stop.

Surprise, surprise within about forty five minutes Elaine called Barbara over to do the paperwork.  Then another fifteen minutes and we had our temporary plates.  We headed back now to put them on.

Sorry, forgot to take pictures while the slides were out.  But here are some with them in.

Front to back.

Back to front.

Barbara’s kitchen.

Paperwork and final inspection done we got on the road for the two hour drive back to Tucson.  It was a different experience to say the least.  Smooth, quiet, no issues merging into traffic, overall an enjoyable ride.  We’re looking forward to putting miles of smiles on it as we travel around this great country of ours.

Oh, we did have one issue.  Barbara almost ran out of gas with the car!  She pulled into some obscure gas station with the fuel light on and breathed a big sigh of relief.

This is where we left it for the next few days.  I’m having them flush the cooling system,  replace all the radiator and heater hoses, replace all the belts, lube the chassis and give the front suspension a good going over to make sure we’ll have no issues down the road.  It is after all a 2005 coach and some issues are to be expected.  I knew that going in.

That was our day on The Road of Retirement.  We’re excited, overwhelmed, and don’t know where to begin.  I guess we’ll follow the advice of a good friend of ours who once stated:  How do you eat an elephant?  One bite at a time!  We’ve made our lists and now it is time to get to work on checking things off one bite at a time.

Thanks for coming along with us today.  We always appreciate your company and comments.  Catch you tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s two intrepid travelers.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have never been before

See you on down the road!

 

 

Places We Have Called Home In 2020

Home Is Where We Park It:   NOMADS Project, New Hope United Methodist Church

February 6, 2020

Temperature 26 degrees the last night

Week Two, Day Four

The Big Day is Around the Corner

The second and final night of the big freeze.  Though it got down again to twenty six degrees, knowing I had plenty of propane I let the furnace run throughout the night.  The result being that when we awoke this morning it was comfortable inside of Graybeard.  The only complaint that Barbara had was when she opened the cabinet to get our breakfast dishes and found them freezing cold!  Oh well, these two mornings are now no more than a distant memory.

Week two is now in the books for our New Hope project.  To say that we are all dragging is putting it mildly.  Two are on the way to the chiropractor,  another has vowed to sleep in until Monday morning, and still others are planning on just kicking  back.  As for us we have no time rest.  This weekend is going to be a busy one.  More about that later.

The town of Tucson finally came through with the dumpster they had promised us.  Once delivered we went to work filling it up.

Remember all that Boy Scout stuff we dragged out of the closet?  Barbara made a phone call and the local district office came by and picked up about fifty percent of it.

The remainder of it being deemed not worth it we hauled load by load to the mighty dumpster.

Once our schizophrenic tractor was up and running again I was off and running.  I put new string on the weed whacker.  I purchased a pitch fork.  Then I spent most of the day doing the final yard work.  I worked on weed whacking and picking up loads of grass that needed to go in the dumpster.

I also began bringing dirt over to fill in the hole by the entrance to where we park.  I have a few more loads to go and we should be good.

Joe, Linda and Bonnie worked on trimming the tree in the courtyard and hauling the limbs over to the dumpster.

Ever present was Pastor and his grand daughter working side by side with us.

Tool time.  Most of the NOMADS carry an extensive variety of battery power tools.  And a whole lot of other tools of every kind.  Some day I’ll have a few of my own.

The Big Day for Barbara and myself is right around the corner.

Tomorrow, Friday, we pick up our new RV.  We need to do a final inspection and go get our temporary Arizona plates.  They will be good for ninety days which should give us ample time to transfer our Florida plates from Graybeard to the new rig.  As for the name of this one, Barbara says it is her turn to pick a name.  So far she is drawing a blank.  Suggestions anyone?

Since it is about a three hour drive from Tucson to the RV Park in Phoenix where we will pick up the new rig, Barbara suggested to save wear and tear on me that we come up the night before.  That way she said I could get a good nights sleep before having to turn around and drive back to Tucson.  Right.  Who is she kidding.  She just wanted a really warm night’s sleep and a hot shower in a spacious shower stall!  OK, I know she really was thinking of me and as always I appreciate her concern and the way she looks out for me.  She’s my love.

That was our day on The Road of Retirement.  We’re both glad the second week is over.  Working with fellow NOMADS is always an honor and a load of fun.  We’ve formed many new friendships that will last a lifetime.  Still, it is tough getting up each morning to go to work.  Furthermore, it never ceases to amaze me how much is accomplished by so few with so many physical limitations.  No one, not a one ever gives up or gives in.  Together we get the job done.  OK, I”m going to try and get some sleep.  Try, but my mind is racing with thoughts of tomorrow.  Wish me well.  We’re both excited that the day is just around the corner.

Thanks for coming along with us today.  We always appreciate your company, your questions and your comments.  I hope everyone who has had a question the last couple of days received the replies I sent.  If not let me know and I’ll try again.  Till tomorrow.

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s two intrepid travelers.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have never been before

See you on down the road!