Panama City and Pensacola

Saturday, 1/16/16 - Just learned that a tornado hit Fort Myers just one day after we left.  I guess our luck is with us.  While we were in Lake City campground, I took this picture of a beautiful tree next to our campsite. It is typical of the trees in the south.
       Today is a travel day from Lake City to Panama City (still in the Florida panhandle).  The reason we picked this city is because we have seen it over and over on HGTV, where people are buying up second homes.  I wanted to see what the big draw was.  When we got here we could see that it is a big tourist beach town.  It looks a lot like Myrtle Beach, SC, but much larger.  Right next to our campground is a park with a very big 'bouncy rig' (held up by 2 cranes), and a 'Twirl-Y-Whirl' bigger than most ferris wheels.  We noticed lots of the usual beach businesses--T-shirt stores, beach junk stores, lots of bars, and high rise hotels/condos.  The campground is called Campers Inn.  It is nice, but a little worn and ready for some updating.  We talked with our neighbors.  They were from Quebec-they were very nice.

Sunday, 1/17/16 - Tom, Mom, and I and the 2 dogs piled into the car and headed to the dog beach next to the pier.  On the way to the beach, we noticed a very large complex called  Laketown Wharf Resort. They were selling condos, so Tom and I planned to come back to see it.  When we got to the pier, there was shopping across the street called Pier Park, so we crossed the street to see what we could see.  Didn't have to walk very far, as it more of the same, just a little higher class.  We went back to the beach side and took the dogs and Mom down to the beach.  The sand was pure white and very fine, and a little cold from the rain last night.  It didn't bother the dogs.  Penny ran to the surf immediately and Lucky followed.  They ran and ran, in and out of the water.  Tom brought a ball, and Penney chased it into the water.  When Lucky got the ball, he wouldn't give it up, so we eventually had to take it away from him and throw it again.  Here are some pictures of the dogs in the water.

Tom and the dogs

Penny and Lucky in the ocean

best buddies

After the beach, we took the dogs and Mom back to the RV.  They were all tired.  Tom and I went back to the condo complex called Laketown  Wharf.  Wow--this place was really big.

Laketown Wharf
Gulf at the top; Lake at the bottom

  We looked at a 2B/2B unit, and a 3B/2B unit.  Both were  beautiful and quite reasonable, BUT not for us.  The weather down here in the summer months is so humid, I could not stand it.  We might consider renting a unit for a vacation sometime though!

We left and went grocery shopping on the way back to the RV.  Dinner and some TV tonight.  We are all tired.

Monday 1/18/16 - We traveled from Panama City to Pensacola, Florida.  We will be here 3 nights and have 2 tours in mind.  But for now, everyone except me is napping.  I just cannot nap during the day.  I am updating this blog and watching all of the photos that my kids sent from Disney World.  It looks like they are having a great time, and all are pooped out!  Than maybe I will play some games and wait for everybody to wake up.

Tuesday 1/19/16 - Tom and I are off to a Bird Park to see the Macaws, but while looking up directions, I found out that it was closed.  In fact, it is closed all 3 days that we are here, so it wasn't in the cards.  Instead, we decided to go the the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola.  I was a little surprised that it was 30 miles away.  Oh well, we have the whole day.  Here is the front entry of the museum.

National Naval Aviation Museum

In the entry we saw this bronze sculpture honoring 5 different aviators over 5 wars.

Aviators over 5 wars
WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, & Desert Storm

And above us was the first naval plane.  Remember that the first flight by the Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk was in 1903.  The Navy didn't get interested in airplanes until 1908, and ordered their first plane in 1911 from the Glen Curtis Company.

1911 Curtis seaplane

Just 4 years later, the Navy ordered more planes from the Curtis company.  They were only interested in planes that could take off and land on water; could reach an altitude of 1500 feet,  carry two men, and stay aloft for at least 4 hours.  Here is the 1915 Curtis sea plane. Note the big pontoons on the wheels and on the wings.

1915 Curtis seaplane

Our docent told us a story of this plane.  It seems that in 1915, they had no way to navigate over the sea, so they positioned boats every 50 miles that put out smoke during the day and shot off rockets at night, which gave the pilots a point to point direction to fly.  What they didn't plan on was bad weather.  During a storm, a group of 3 planes went out, and immediately got lost.  One turned around and flew back to base successfully.  The second one went down in the storm. The third hit a 25' swell at the top of the wave and rode it down the backside of the wave and up over the next wave.  They lost the end of the right wing in the water, so they positioned 3 men out on the wing for balance. They managed to stay afloat for 75 hours and made it to the Azores where they were rescued.  The next years, 1916 and 1917, the Navy continued to order planes from the Curtis Company.  With each year the improvements were impressive!

Here is a picture of the first aircraft carrier.

The USS Langley
(those stacks on the side are the exhaust stacks)

It started out as the 'Jupiter', a coal cargo ship.  The Navy bought it and refitted it to become the first aircraft carrier.  It took 2 years and cost the Navy $1 million to convert it in 1922.  The Langley sank on February 27, 1942 during combat operations in the Java Sea, the victim of a Japanese air attack.  It could carry 35 planes.  In comparison, the USS Nimitz, which was the first nuclear driven aircraft carrier, was commissioned in 1972 at a cost of $1 billion.  Today, the Navy has a new aircraft carrier being built at Norfolk, VA which will cost $16.4 billion.  Wow -- that is real inflation!

Here is an unusual piece of information:  During WWII, the Navy would train aircraft carrier takeoffs and landings on two floating platforms on Lake Michigan.  The Navy felt that either coast (Norfolk and San Diego) was not safe for training due to enemy submarine operations.

We saw a lot of planes in the museum, but here are a few of the memorable ones.  Here is the last sea plane built for the Navy.

the last seaplane

Here is the R4D-5L  Skytrain, one of the most historic in any aircraft collection anywhere in the world.  It was the first airplane to ever land at the South Pole, accomplishing the feat on October 31, 1956.  It was nicknamed "Que Sera Sera", and was equipped with skis to land on ice.

Skytrain names "Que Sera Sera"

Another plane was the Lockheed P2-V "Truculent Turtle".

the "Turtle"

In September of 1946 it flew nonstop without refueling from Perth, Australia, to Columbus, Ohio, a distance of 11,235 miles, setting a long distance record.  The reasoning is interesting.  While Truman was in office, this plane was used as a notice to the world (primarily Russia) that the Navy had a plane that could fly half way around the world without refueling, and could drop bombs at any point. It slowed the race to arm countries with nuclear bombs.

Here is the helicopter flown for Presidents Nixon and Ford.

Nixon and Ford Helicopter

  Here is the plane flown by George W. Bush.

G.W. Bush plane

Lastly, it wouldn't be a proper tour without the Blue Angels.  Pensacola is the home of the Blue Angels.  They practice here 2 days every week and fly in shows all over the U.S.  Their precision is amazing.  The picture below is the one I took against a lit sky, which only allows silhouettes.  The second picture is out of a book of the same formation.  In these formations, the space between planes is about 3-4 feet apart; in the shows, they perform at 16-18 inches apart -Wow!

my picture of the Blue Angels

Blue Angels
(from a book)

Our docent was Bill Thomas, a retired Navy pilot.

Bill Thomas, our docent

F15
(similar to the type he flew,
and the same plane on 'Top Gun')

Actually, we learned at the end of the tour that he flew F15's in Vietnam, and shot down 2 MIGs.  He had lots of personal information on how they trained for dog fights, and several stories of his buddies. When he stopped flying, he became a flight school instructor.  I asked him, "What do you think of the movie, 'Top Gun'?"  He said, "Not much. On the scenes where they were dog fighting through a canyon, they flew pretty slow, just sped up the film to make it more exciting."  He noted that the wings were flat out, which is the position for take off and landings (very slow).  When they are flying very fast, the wings are tilted.  He also told us that most of the young pilots in that movie were his students in flight school.

Here is a car, doctored up by the flight crew.  They used it to go from the base to town to the bars; or back to the base.  They had a driver, and drew attention, for sure.

flight crew transport

Wednesday, 1/20/16 - Tom and I are off for a civil war tour of Pensacola.  We left from a historic old home which serves as a depot for the tour company, Go Retro.  I talked to the manager (who was also our driver and guide) about my difficulties with their TripAdvisor website.  I don't know if it helps, but after 4 phone calls and lots of exasperation with the web site, we finally got the information we needed to show up on time.  I hope they take my comments to heart, because the tourists will never find them the way it is.  Anyway, Tom and I were the only passengers on the bus (which probably held 24-30 people) and that is probably why.

We drove around Pensacola for about 2 hours.  Most of the time, we watched a long video about the civil war and how it impacted Pensacola.  Frankly, the video was terrible.  It reminded me of the boring classes on history I had in high school.  What was worse was the music.  They played songs of the time, but not just one verse----they played all 5 verses of every song, most with a banjo picking in the background.  The videos were at least 1/2 music - no history!

Here is the goods on Pensacola history:  In 1860 (just before the Civil War), Pensacola was the largest city in Florida and it had the only deep water port in the South, and lots of timber for building.  It was a very busy city and growing very quickly.  Pensacola Bay was protected by 3 forts.  After  the Civil War broke out in 1861, the Rebels took 2 of the forts from the Federals (the Union troops)  The Federals maintained control of Fort Pickens.  There was constant battles and the result of all of it, the city of Pensacola was completely destroyed and burnt out.  The residents fled to other states, and left Pensacola a shell.  It wasn't until 5 years after the war ended (around 1870), that people started to come back to the city, and the Federals rebuilt the Navy yard.  Pensacola also became a safe haven during the war for runaway slaves and homeless whites who supported the Federals.  Many of the slaves joined up with the Union troops to fight for their freedom.

Here are some of my tour pictures:  Here is the Lighthouse at the Naval Station.

Lighthouse at the Naval station

Sign in front of the Lighthouse

Flags (l to r) Coast Guard, U.S., Lighthouse

Tom and I are in front
(the bus driver took this)

Here is the only Civil War Memorial in Pensacola.

At the top is a typical rebel soldier

(at the bottom)
THE UNCROWNED HEROES
OF THE SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY

"Whose joy was to suffer and die for a cause they believed to be just.  Their unchallenged devotion and selfless heroism shall continue to be the wonder and the inspiration of the ages."

The South Face of the Memorial

"JEFFERSON DAVIS, President of the Confederate States of America.  Soldier, Statesman, Patriot, Christian.  The only man in our nation without a country, yet twenty million people mourn his death."

Back to the RV.  We closed escrow on the new house today, and our kids and grandkids are flying home from Orlando as well.  I am always a little nervous when all 8 of them are on the same plane, so they promised to text me when they land safely in L.A.  I will call my Dad today and see how he and Liz are too.  I must admit, I am a little homesick.  Six months on the road is just a little too long, although I would't trade it for all the knowledge, the sights, and the tastes along the way.  Tomorrow we leave Florida and drive through Alabama and Mississippi, then Louisiana.  New Orleans is our next destination. Stay tuned.