Thursday, September 18, 2008

Come Fly With Me

Our travels over the last few days brought us once again through small towns and beautiful plains and grasslands. We rolled north on two-lane highway 83 through the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles, on our way to our stop at Liberal, Kansas. Something interesting usually happens on these types of trips. In one small town in Texas, Wellington, we noticed a campground along the highway and made a quick stop to take a look. It turns out this spot, now called the Collingsworth County Pioneer Park, alongside the Red River, is where Bonnie and Clyde kidnapped the local sheriff and chief of police of Wellington. Remember in the movie how they wrecked their car in the river and the Pritchard family (whose home is still there) reported them to the authorities? This legend still draws tourists. It was fun to chat with the camp hosts about this story and the local area. We'll have to come back some time.
About 150 miles up the road we pulled into the Seward county fairgrounds in Liberal, Kansas, to find our home for at least one night. This turned out to be a super park, full hookups and a quiet, safe spot for $10.00. Why not make it two nights?

While making our stop in the land of Oz we wanted to visit the Mid America Air Museum that we had heard much about and missed on previous trips through the state. It didn't dissappoint. If you are interested in history or aviation this is a place to see. There are over 100 aircraft on display of every possible type; civilian, war, experimental and homebuilt. There's a lot to see, including some interactive stuff.


The plane to the left is a B25, a stalwart in WWII. You can get up close to the interior of this fierce one. The pilot seats look like ten minutes would be as long as I'd want to sit in them.


Kansas is very proud of its contribution to aviation history and rightfully so. In the category of "Kansas facts you may or may not know" are:

-- Aviation leaders such as Cessna, Beech, Stearman (Boeing), Lear and Earhart were all Kansans.
-- Liberal was a huge WWII pilot training facility. 4500 B24 pilots were trained at the location that is now the museum.
-- 1 out of 3 aircraft produced in the world today is made in Kansas.



The museum leads you through aviation history, from the early 1900s to supersonic jets. The place is chocked full of information and unique flying machines.


Have you ever seen an actual drone up close.....Here's one at the museum.....
















Jerry's favorite in the museum was the Piper Aztec ... "Looks classy." Let's get one!












I saw some expressions that I enjoyed............What a happy looking fellow!

1 comment:

  1. Liberal, KS!! Oh my gosh, we absolutly froze there 1/1/08!! Glad it's warmer for you! We're really enoying reading about your adventures. Miss you guys.....

    ReplyDelete

Hi: Thanks for your thoughts.