luke strawwalker
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- Jan 18, 2009
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Well, I've finally been to my first NARAM, down at the nice Sports Complex fields at Lebanon, Ohio. Drove down Saturday from my current digs in northern Indiana at the inlaws to see the show for a bit before heading up for a fairly early start at the USAF Museum in Dayton Sunday morning. I arrived in mid-afternoon after having driven through a pretty tough storm and circled about a while looking for a cash machine to stock up for vendor's row... by the time I arrived at the field, the sun was shining and all was quiet, but vendor's row was a pretty much abandoned disaster area. It was clear there'd been quite some carnage, as the mangled remains of some EZ-Ups laying piled up provided mute testimony to the fact that the storm had certainly been rough! Everybody else was either in the final stages of packing it in or generally digging around in their vehicles. I made my way down to the sport range and watched what little was going on there for a few minutes, and roamed back over to one vendor who was talking with some folks whom I soon recognized-- Vern and Gleda Estes! The fellow they were speaking with soon produced some new models and that piqued my curiosity, so I hung around. Turns out I was speaking with John Boren of Estes R&D. I even talked him into taking my picture with the Estes's, despite my camera being a bit recalcitrant. Spoke with Vern and Gleda for a few moments, but didn't want to paw at them-- I'm sure they get enough of that sort of thing... Gotta say I was floating though... Talked with John Boren a bit about some of the interesting stuff he was showing the small group that had assembled, some of the new stuff he'd brought with him. Met some fellow forum members and got a few more pics. Then I wandered over to the contest range and watched the RC gliders being launched awhile, got some really nice shots over there. Roamed back to the sport range and visited a bit, and after awhile left as everybody was pretty well packing it in for the day, except the glider folks who were still having their fly-offs. Visited with our own Peartree here on the forum and his son, who were packing up for the day after the pretty successful (so I gathered) but hastily storm-induced ending to the hot dog cookout. Had a nice visit and hope he catches a break down there... Pear's vehicle was burglarized while he was stopped in Columbus, but thankfully it seems the worst thing was a broken side half-window in the back door of his Explorer... nothing inside was stolen thankfully! Headed south to the hotel for the Vendor's meeting, which I'll summarize shortly. Met some more fine folks like Nettie Hunsicker and a few others, and got there early for the vendors meeting, so I got front and center for some nice photos and good views of the products being displayed. After the vendor's meeting, I was planning to head back up toward Dayton to spend the night in a (cheaper) motel but found myself face to face at the counter of the BK next door with Carl MacLawhorn of Semroc, and visited with him a bit (again trying not to fawn over folks who probably get bugged to death by being 'celebrities'... But it WAS a kick getting to talk to folks who are... LOL) Sat down with my burger and started talking with Bill here on the forum, who's from the Dallas area. We got to talking about various issues and then moved on to club topics (since our west Houston club had some "issues" and a new section formed, with now both sections "officially" flying off my farm (if this dang drought ever ends!) Before I knew it, Bill was probably hopelessly late for the beerlofting due to my talking too much (sorry) and I was seriously thinking about getting a closer motel... after all it WOULD permit me the time to get back to the field the next morning to hit vendor's row, one of the main original reasons that I made the trip. After consulting with my wife over the phone while she looked up promising hotels (after the Motel 6 across the street proved booked solid) and a bit of driving (got to break down and get me one of those Garmin things... I love maps and don't get lost easily, but those things are SO nice for looking up stuff like motels instead of pestering your wife late at night!) Finally ended up getting a fairly decent rate on a less than stellar room (ok it was a fleabag-- I'm cheap!) that had the benefit of only being about 3-4 miles north of the flying field. By the time I hit the sack it was closing in on 2 am. I hit the road at about 9 the next morning and got to a warm humid vendor's row about ten minutes later. Visited with a few more folks and took a look-see at all the stuff, and picked up a few things... was there about an hour, and figured I better head north to get to the USAF museum since it's about an hour or so away. The "jet aces" RC jet airshow was going on this weekend up there at the museum, and so I had to park in the back forty-- I could almost see the flying field in north Cincinnati from where I parked... LOL:y: Got in line for half an hour or so to get my pass for the AF1/X-plane hangar and started my tour at 11:10 am, mostly breezing through the museum at a fairly quick pace snapping pics. The USAF museum is AMAZING; they've very nearly got one of nearly everything that's ever flown (or so it seems anyway) and it's HUGE-- one could EASILY spend several days in there taking it all in... this is my second time through and even with most of the day it was FAR too short a time to really see it all! I did the WWI hangar, the WWII hangar, and started on the Cold War hangar when my 1:45 tour time was fast approaching for the AF1/X-plane hangar, so I zipped up there for that. You only get an hour in the X-plane hangar, and you have to sign up early because they fill up and they're done. After a short bus ride to the hangar, you're free to roam round at will right up to the planes. Got a LOT of nice pics in there-- starting with all the X-planes. While I was in the hangar, the thunder outside which was merely threatening when we arrived suddenly turned into a full-fledged deluge! The rain was ROARING down onto the huge quonset hangar and started pouring in under the hangar doors, and swamped the drain grills just inside the doors and water started rolling across the floor of the hangars... I made my way across to the AF1 hangars and got lots of neat shots in there, and squeezed my 350 lbs through the 17 inch hallway of the Independence and Ike's plane... just as I was going to head for the big Kennedy-esque AF1, they called our group to go back, so I didn't get to see it. Cest la vis...
It was showering lightly when we returned to the museum, and I resumed my rushed picture-snapping tour in the Cold War hangar. Finally made the last loop in the last hangar and made my way back to the missile/aerospace gallery in the very back with about 30 minutes before closing time. Snapped pictures like mad and roamed around, went upstairs and made the circle snapping pics, and just when I finished with the last pic, a guy taps me on the shoulder and tells me "we're closed" so I head for the elevator downstairs and start making my way back to the front, snapping a few last pics of lifting bodies and stuff that I sorta zipped by in my haste before... All in all a successful day!
After scouring the bookshop for awhile, I hiked back to the truck in the light rain. Drove over to the other side, and parked and walked through the outdoor planes fairly quickly, as the rain had picked up, but I wanted to get some pics of those planes as well and of the missile railroad car and mobile launcher parked at the end. I had a hat on and a towel draped over the camera keeping it dry, but by the time I got my pics and hiked back to the truck again, I was pretty well soaked, so I changed into the previous day's shirt (which was at least dry by this time) and headed back toward Indiana, driving through some heavy thunderstorms along the way... I don't know how bad it was down in Lebanon at NARAM Sunday, but it was plenty rough in Dayton, which is only about 30-40 miles north!
All in all it was a nice trip, and if you've never been to a NARAM, it's well worth the time and effort! If you've never been the USAF museum, and you're even remotely interested in aerospace, it's something that MUST be seen to be believed!
Later! OL JR
It was showering lightly when we returned to the museum, and I resumed my rushed picture-snapping tour in the Cold War hangar. Finally made the last loop in the last hangar and made my way back to the missile/aerospace gallery in the very back with about 30 minutes before closing time. Snapped pictures like mad and roamed around, went upstairs and made the circle snapping pics, and just when I finished with the last pic, a guy taps me on the shoulder and tells me "we're closed" so I head for the elevator downstairs and start making my way back to the front, snapping a few last pics of lifting bodies and stuff that I sorta zipped by in my haste before... All in all a successful day!
After scouring the bookshop for awhile, I hiked back to the truck in the light rain. Drove over to the other side, and parked and walked through the outdoor planes fairly quickly, as the rain had picked up, but I wanted to get some pics of those planes as well and of the missile railroad car and mobile launcher parked at the end. I had a hat on and a towel draped over the camera keeping it dry, but by the time I got my pics and hiked back to the truck again, I was pretty well soaked, so I changed into the previous day's shirt (which was at least dry by this time) and headed back toward Indiana, driving through some heavy thunderstorms along the way... I don't know how bad it was down in Lebanon at NARAM Sunday, but it was plenty rough in Dayton, which is only about 30-40 miles north!
All in all it was a nice trip, and if you've never been to a NARAM, it's well worth the time and effort! If you've never been the USAF museum, and you're even remotely interested in aerospace, it's something that MUST be seen to be believed!
Later! OL JR
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