Waxahatchie, Texas: Three days exploring

Marty Note - It's almost Thanksgiving and I didn't realize I had not published this posting! Old age is creeping in. Apologies.
Marty Note 2 - It's now January 2020 - WHERE did the last couple months go????  At least post-dating allows to to time travel backwards, sort of!

Continuing my Texas adventure from September.

Still here in the Lone Star State. Now to catch you up on the happenings in Marty-Land.

Monday, September 9 - I spent the morning at Cee's working on her website as she is not a pro at that. I made labels for her that she's been wanting for quite some time. It felt good to be useful and doing something. Had lunch at her cafe. Excellent chicken teriyaki with spice sauce. I would gain 50 pounds if I stayed here and ate here all the time.

Saw Don Meredith's museum, as this was his hometown. Cee is right, there's a lot of potential here if only the town's movers and shakers would move and shake!!!

Tuesday, September 10 - Saying good bye was harder than I anticipated. We stalled so long that she was almost late to an insurance meeting. I stopped long enough to have a codfish taco, another hug, then on the road to retrieve Mary Todd and her new fuel pump. I stopped in Mineola, TX at a wonderful quilt shop (Stitchin' Heaven) that was having a moving sale. I spent way too much money but the fabric was irresistable. Rhoda and Jean and Letreze will laugh at me, I don't care. in my secret heart, I know they'll be envious!

When I got settled in the hotel, I called Stan and discovered that my gut feeling this morning had been correct - I shoudl have called before I left Cee's to verify Mary Todd's condition. It seems when the pump was installed and the requisite diagnostic run, the numbers wouldn't match. When the pump was re-installed and garnered the same test results, the service guys worked on her for a while, then, stymied, opened a hot-line account to Ford sending all the accumulated data. No we're waiting on their report. And I have at least one more day in Waxahatchie.

Wednesday, September 11 - Findings - the computer needed to be replaced. AND, they needed my spare key. Bless Letreze, she overnighted it to me, due by 3 tomorrow afternoon.  Soo, another night in the hotel for me. The difference - this time I have a car.

I scouted out events in the area and after talking with FB - off I went to Ft, Worth, a city about which I knew nothing except that Errol Flynn made a movie here back in the day.

I had a blast! I went to two Aviation museums and got to explore inside a working B-17 Flying Fortress that was in town for three days. I did decline to spend nearly $500 to go for a ride in her, but only because my discretionary income is being sucked up in hotel costs! Stupid, I know but I just couldn't get myself to do it. Plus, those seats were NOT made for someone my size.

Gary, my tour guide at Antique Aviation showed off the 25 planes they have on display, inlcuding the three he actualy piloted uring his career.  I don't think I've ever spent time with a Vietnam vet pilot who flew just-above-the-ground sorties dropping off or gathering in Special Forces teams. He let me into the cockpit and "haulage" area of the modified plane. We had a good time chatting. I shared Solent Sky with him and the PBY stories I learned there. He even replied to the email I shared containing that museum's information. The museum has the plane Tom Cruise "flew" in Top Gun, which didn't really appeal to me as much as the Special Forces plane.  

My next stop was to see the Flying Fortress. The B-17 was on the runway at the Vintage Flying Museum, just down the road from the other museum. The difference is these planes actually fly,  they're not just for looking at and ogling. If I lived here, I swear I'd be poor!! Again, I spent nearly an hour poking around and in this awesome plane. Part of that time was with Dan who actually was on this plane's crew back in war and he told me stories about bombing runs. Amazing!

I am astounded that a 6 foot tall airman could wrap himself into the belly gun! My immediate reaction was recite part of the "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner" by Randall Jarrell, which Dan recognized!!! (That's not Dan in this picture.)

Then I stuck my head and shoulders up into the belly of the plane to see where the bombs would have been.

Saying goodbye to this day was tough, but my time was exhilarating! I was devastated to read a few weeks after I left Ft. Worth that one of the other 8 remaining functioning Flying Fortresses had crashed during a living history flight. yet another reminder that despite their size, they are delicate machines. Now I wish I just spend the dang money!!!

I stopped by the Stockyards, but after driving around the parking lots for 20 minutes and finding never an opening, I decided it was not in the cards and drove back to my hotel.