Good Morning!!!! Actually, it's more like good evening, about 10:30 out on the west coast. Spent most of the day at the Palm Springs Air Museum, and found lots of new things to see. Had some interesting and heart warming conversations with the docents about their personal involvement with some of the aircraft, both in war and peace, and since almost everything there is a warbird, and the museum does a wonderful job explaining the roles and players in WWII, some significant time taken to appreciate the sacrifices involved, over and over and over again to win that war. And also the ingenuity in the original designs or what it took to make so many of them and make them work well. I stood in front of an F104 Starfighter, amazed it would ascend at 48,000 feet per minute, the speed of a .45 Colt Automatic hardball bullet. And do it for miles standing in its tail, not just feet like the bullet. The weather was slightly damp and it was a weekday, so nothing was flying or even running, but we did get a peek under a couple maintenance hatches on a P-51 Mustang a couple of mechanics were working on. Also learned of the most expensive air disaster to date, the collision of another F104 with an XB70 bomber in 1966, which led to the loss of several crew and both aircraft. Later in the museum's library, another docent tried to find the photographs taken at the time in their nearly complete collection of Life magazines, but was unsuccessful. But he did find issues that covered the birthdays of my two friends, and my how sensibilities changed over the last fifty or sixty years.
By the time we were worn out enough to leave, it was just about dinner time, so we headed over to a very well reviewed steakhouse, and oh my, those reviews were well earned. That small fillet was easily the best piece of meat I've tasted all year, and it was cooked to perfection. It was preceded by a Bourbon that was new to me, and now I'll have to find some shelf space for Blantons. Very smooth, lots of caramel, thoroughly enjoyable. :licking: Surprisingly for a group of meat'n'potatoe lovers, we also enjoyed garlic laced asparagus and steamed brocolli, also cooked to crisp perfection. All washed down by a very nice bottle of Zinfandel. I could have purchased a premium set of tires for the touring bike for what my share of the meal cost, but it was worth every bite.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, my buddy's rooms still didn't have hot water when we returned for the day, in spite of more empty promises from the motel staff. Two of us took a little stroll out back and found the offending water heater, and adjusted the temperature control from a very low setting to something very much more appropriate, giving my friend ample ammunition for ripping the motel manager a new one shortly there after. At least the hot tub was hot, but from the sounds of things at about 5AM (my room is about ten feet away from it), a couple had decided to use it to, er, couple, and with the other obvious maintenance issues, two of us decided to watch TV instead tonight.
We're only about 150 miles away from San Diego at this point, and with good weather on the way tomorrow, it looks like we'll be taking the long way around instead of the freeways. There's a snakey little road that goes up to the Mount Palomar Observatory, which I'm hoping we can work in...
