Reveillie! Time to get up and get moving! No sleeping in for Robin's birthday! We had a full day of driving today as our final destination was Dearborn, MI.
Before we left the hotel, Robin took a few pictures in the daylight. It was a great place to stay. We stopped at Starbucks on base to get our driving beverages of choice.
After driving through Cincinnati, we started looking for a place to eat something. We found an exit which had a Chick-Fil-A, so we pulled off. As we drove down the road and found it, we couldn't believe how big of a place it was. It was absolutely packed! Never had we seen the drive-thru set up that they had. They had 2 lanes with people taking orders in those lanes. Then as the 2 lanes got to the window, they had 2 people passing out their food - one inside the window and a runner who goes to the window and then walks the food to the car in the second lane. Dean found a place to park and we went in to get our food. We just picked it up and ate in the car as we continued on.
Before we left, we took time to take pictures of the flock of Canadian geese at the pond around the corner.
We continued on and passed the exit for Xenia. Our hair stylist of about 30 years is from Xenia and told us we would be driving through his neck of the woods. He was right. We did not stop, but did take the picture for Kevin.
It wasn't long before we saw the signs for Wright-Patternson Air Force Base. We originally had planned to spend the day at the National Museum of the United States Air Force. However, when we checked details, we found the 2 main areas we wanted to see, Presidential and Space, were closed while they moved them to a new hangar. We changed plans and decided we would just make a short stop so we could see the B-2 Bomber and a few other specific planes. We knew we would have to make another trip in the future.
We pulled into the parking lot and finally found a place to park. There were a lot of people just in the parking lot. We walked through the Memorial Park and then went inside.
There were 3 main hangars to explore. As we walked down the center connecting corridor, we saw many different galleries on both sides. We were on a mission so Robin followed Dean's lead.
We started in the Early Years exhibit. The first thing we saw was the 1909 Wright Military Flyer model. It used the chain-drive system that the Wright Brothers had used in their early aircrafts from knowledge gained in their bicycle shop. We also saw a 1916 Wind Tunnel design by Orville Wright. It was used in their laboratory in Dayton, OH to conduct aerodynamic experiments.
As we were moving to the next hangar, we found a special area called the National Aviation Hall of Fame. We had to stop and check it out. Some of our favorites were represented there as well as some new to us.
After our quick run (2 hours) through this museum, we vowed we would come back to view the areas we missed once the additional hangar is opened. This hangar will be where the Presidential and Space exhibits will be housed.
As we left, we drove passed the other side of the hangars and then passed the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
We got back on I-75 and drove another 3.5 hours until we reached Dearborn, MI. Right before we got off at our exit, we saw a huge Uniroyal tire along the side of the road. It was about 80 feet tall. We remarked about how big it was, but couldn't take a picture because it was dark and raining.
Dinner was the first order of business. Robin chose Longhorn Steakhouse to celebrate her birthday. Dinner was great and we enjoyed each other's company.
As a footnote to the day, Dean did read a brochure about the Dearborn area which included a map. It showed the Uniroyal tire's location and labeled it was the World's Largest Tire. Leigh's daughter, Erin, was so impressed that we had seen the World's Largest Ball of Twine. She was ready to join our travels so she could see the other "World's Largest" attractions we visit. Before we left Dearborn, we did go back and take a picture so we could show Erin. Upon further research, we found out it was originally created as a Ferris wheel attraction at the 1964/1965 New York World's Fair. Jacqueline Kennedy, Caroline, and John, Jr. all rode it there. After the World's Fair, it was relocated to a Uniroyal sales office in Allen Park, MI. Erin has now set a new mission for our travel. We now seek out the "World's Largest" of anything if we are going to be anywhere close in the area.
