Colony Country RV Park, North Liberty, IA

Monday, 9/5/11

Today Dick and I went to the Wisconsin Maritime Museum, http://www.wisconsinmaritime.org/index.php,

this was something I have wanted to do for quite a few years. We lived in Wisconsin for over thirteen years and never made it to either the Maritime or EAA Museums. No pictures sorry, click on the link to read about the museum.

This is taken from one of the museum’s brochures:

“Shortly before the start of World War II, the U.S. navy was faced with a dilemma. There was only one commercial shipyard then building submarines-the Electric Boat Co. of Groton, CT. After studying the capabilities of various U.S. shipbuilders, the Navy asked the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Co. of Manitowoc, WI to join forces with Electric Boat Co. to increase the nation’s capacity to produce submarines in the quantities that would be needed during the wartime.

In 1940, Manitowoc Shipbuilding Co. was awarded a contract to build ten GATO-class submarines. By war’s end, a total of 73 submarines of that class were built at four shipyards-Electric Boat Co., Portsmouth Navy Yard, Marck Island Navy Yard, and Manitowoc Shipbuilding. In addition to the ten GATO-class subs, and additional 18 BALAO-class submarines were built in Manitowoc for a total of 28 submarines in just over four years.”

There were eighty men on board this boat, I would have never made it, to many people and to little space. The guy who gave the tour did a great job, he was very knowledgeable about the boat and it’s history.

Something I found interesting is how they launched the subs after they built them. Most of the ship launching I have seen pictures of is the back end of the ship or boat goes into the water first, with the subs launched at Manitowoc they were launched side ways into the river. This was done because the river was to narrow to launch them the conventional way.

Dick said he had a surprise for me and just to follow his instructions. It took us a couple times around the block but we finally found, are you ready, the location where a piece of Sputnik IV landed. Yes, that’s right, a piece of Sputnik IV landed in the middle of the street in Manitowoc, WI. Here is a link: http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/12959. We didn’t see the piece but I had no idea this happened.

Tuesday, 9/6/11

Dick came down to the campground and we headed for the EAA museum, http://www.airventuremuseum.org/, to see what they had. It was great. There was an airplane on the grounds that Dick nor I knew the type. Here it is;

Anybody know the type?

We spent the entire afternoon going through the museum. They have quite a few interesting displays, here are a few;

Space Ship One, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceShipOne, the first private manned space flight.

 Voyager, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rutan_Voyager.

This is the workhorse of WWII. During the Vietnam war they mounted Gatling guns in them and they were called “Puff the Magic Dragon”.

Navy Corsair

This was a car plane.

Replica of the Spirit of St Louis.

It was easy getting in but getting out was a different story.This is the atomic bomb, “The Fat Man”. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fat_Man

The smallest airplane, I would like to see the person who flew it.

This an interesting airplane. I would love to see this fly.

Wednesday, 9/7/11

Cathy Gerdes asked us to go to the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help by Champion, WI. So today we did that. Here is a link, http://www.shrineofourladyofgoodhelp.com/. A couple of other links, http://www.catholic.org/hf/faith/story.php?id=39511, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrine_of_Our_Lady_of_Good_Help.

This was an interesting visit because it is such a spiritual experience. Here are a couple of links to give you an idea of just how bad this fire was.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peshtigo_Fire

This link gives an eyewitness account of the fire.

http://content.wisconsinhistory.org/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/wmh&CISOPTR=46445&CISOSHOW=46360

Thursday, 9/8/11

I spent the day cleaning the camper using DriWash n Guard, http://www.dwginternational.com/WebSite/index.htm, it took me most of the day but the camper really looks nice and it will be much easier to clean in the future because all I have to do is wipe it off with a wet towel. This gets the bugs and dirt off of it, then I wipe the area with a dry towel and we have a clean camper. If you would like to order some of the product go to the website listed above and click on the order button and put in my number 288973 and it will take you to the order page. I guarantee you will be happy or I’ll buy the product back from you.

So much for my commercial.

Friday we didn’t do much, just stayed around the camper and relaxed.

Saturday was the wedding. Sarah Ann’s sister got married, she made a beautiful bride.

Mason, all dressed up.

Sarah Ann was Matron of Honor with her sister Tara.Madyson was truly a princess.

Catherine & Greg Jolly

A good picture of the Schneider family with their newest member Greg

Catherine and her mom.

I don’t know where this beautiful lady picked up this old guy.

The wedding was a beautiful event and we appreciate being invited.

A big THANK YOU to Dick and Teri for including us in their life the past 11 days.

We are at the Colony Country RV Park in North Liberty, IA for the next week, we will head for Omaha next Monday for a visit with Daniel and family.

So until later, Remember Dreams Do Come True.