Awake: 4:46am Temp 50 sleep 5+ 30 windy-overcast overnight @ Nicktown.
For several months now, Koffee Klub member John & I have been tossing around the idea of making a trip to the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center (National Air & Space Museum) on the grounds of the Washington Dulles Int'l Airport. We decided just yesterday to make it happen...today.
I should have set an alarm; usually I awake about 5:00am anyway but last night I was up to look @ the clock (4) times. I didn't want to be late for our rendezvous. John was a mere (2) min late & admitted that he too, did not sleep well, watching the clock.
We left Nicktown @ 6:03am, driving the Toyota. Last night Kathy had checked the distance to our destination, (200) miles with an estimated driving time of (3.5) hrs. As we went further southeast, the weather got better.
We stopped for breakfast in Leesburg, VA (taking about 30min) & arrived @ the Air & Space Museum in Chantilly, VA @ 10:35am.
John is an airplane nut like me & this visit will be his 6th time. He practically has the (163+) aircraft memorized, in fact as we walked & gawked, he would let me know that: "they moved that WWII bomber over there, it used to be over on this side." "Look over there Monte, they hung that sports plane from the ceiling; I guess they needed more space for the WWII fighter", etc, etc.
There were plenty of docents giving tours throughout the museum. I am guessing, but I believe that each & every one of them has been or are aviators. Of the (3) tours that I joined, they were all very knowledgeable.
After a good (4) hrs of reading, looking, photo clicking, etc, John was more than ready to have a snack @ the museum's McDonald. I joined him but only ate a small filet-o-fish as I didn't want to get sleepy on the return trip.
I really enjoyed seeing this aviation museum, especially discovering the many WWII German & Japanese fighter planes on display that I've never seen before.
In this corner, the famed B-29 Bomber, a P-38, a P-47 Thunderbolt + a few old civilian aircraft.
We left the museum & very nice weather @ 3:40pm; by retracing our course & leaving a little early, we also beat most of the D.C. traffic going our way. It didn't take John very long to have a good snooze en route. About (50) miles from Nicktown, low clouds with mist overcame our scenic views, & later, rain showers.
I dropped John off @ his car @ 6:32pm. We both felt that our trip & the aviation museum were GREAT!
Meanwhile, Kathy spent her day @ the Foote Castle, playing with her favorite little PA guys. Andrew delighted in showing Kathy how he could make a siren sound & a bulb light using the Snap Circuit 101.
Matthew showed Kathy how he can now entertain Nathan by reading him a book. It was a fun day!
I arrived in our motorhome a mere (10) min before she did; such timing.
Dinner: leftover beef stew with cantaloupe & rice pudding.
Lights out: 10:57pm
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