Travel Log: John Brown Marches On

(Jan. 10, 2018) John Brown cast a long, long shadow across the United States in 1859, a shadow so long he is (in my opinion) rightly considered one of the final causes of the Civil War. I did my master’s thesis on him while I was still active duty, focusing on how, despite his spectacular … Continue reading Travel Log: John Brown Marches On

Travel Log: Serpent Mound

(Jan. 3, 2018) Began the next part of my Great Walkabout today. The Upper Midwest leg is officially over and, next up, is the Mid-Atlantic/Southeast leg. But, as I’m not done with Ohio, the Midwest is still technically on the chart, but work with me here, people! One cannot explore without taking some detours and … Continue reading Travel Log: Serpent Mound

Travel Log: Kentucky Odds and Ends

(Dec. 31, 2017) It’s a snowy New Years Eve. We got more snow here where my brother’s family lives in Huber Heights, Ohio, today. Not much, but it was a lovely dusting this morning that added at least half an inch over the landscape. A white Christmas and a white New Years. Temperatures over much … Continue reading Travel Log: Kentucky Odds and Ends

Travel Log: I’m Dreaming of a White…Wait a Minute…

(Dec. 29, 2017) Snow…icicles...cold weather...a winter wonderland! Ah, I’m dreaming of a white...wait, what? Oops...wrong holiday! I’m sitting in my brother’s house in Huber Heights, Ohio. The skies are gray, a soft snow is falling right now, dusting the land with a gentle white blanket. It’s the perfect, picture-post card type of snow you think … Continue reading Travel Log: I’m Dreaming of a White…Wait a Minute…

Travel Log: Deep in the Heart of Kentucky

(Dec. 15, 2017) I found a Barnes and Noble bookstore in northern Elizabethtown a few miles south of Fort Knox. Go back a few articles, and you’ll recall that Elizabethtown is where Abraham Lincoln’s parents met and married. I’m still trying to catch up, and I suspect as this journey continues this will be a … Continue reading Travel Log: Deep in the Heart of Kentucky

Travel Log: A Proud Lion’s Road to Corvettes

(Dec. 10, 2017) Ok, I’m still in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Today, at the National Corvette Museum, shipmates and their ship were reunited far inland from the great waters where they roamed. One of the personal missions I’ve taken on is symbolically letting my old ship, USS Ponce (LPD 15), see the country she spent 46 … Continue reading Travel Log: A Proud Lion’s Road to Corvettes

Travel Log: Back to Where it all Began

(Dec. 8, 2017) I am currently in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Tomorrow I’ll be hitting more railway history (visited the Kentucky Railway Museum in New Haven earlier today, I’ll talk about that later) and Sunday visit the National Corvette Museum with an old shipmate from USS Ponce (LPD 15). Yesterday...ah, yesterday was special! Yesterday I spent … Continue reading Travel Log: Back to Where it all Began

Travel Log: Balancing Bicycles and Biplanes

(Dec. 7, 2017) I visited Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, for the first time in 2002. I read my first full biography of the Wrights while stationed on Guam as the 2003 centennial of flight was observed. I already knew they had developed their gliders and the 1903 Flyer in Dayton and used Kitty Hawk as … Continue reading Travel Log: Balancing Bicycles and Biplanes

Travel Log: National Museum of the United States Air Force

(Dec. 6, 2017) I suffered a severe airplane coma three days ago. My brother and oldest nephew nearly had to perform mental resuscitation on me after my brain all but shut down from the incredibly amazing sensory overload that is the National Museum of the United States Air Force. The “Air Force Museum” (as it … Continue reading Travel Log: National Museum of the United States Air Force

Travel Blog: When a Napkin Saved a Family

(Dec. 5, 2017) I was touring the National Museum of the United States Air Force with my family the other day when I encountered this story. I’ll get back to the museum later; this story is remarkable enough to warrant its own column. It is a small “footnote in history” (to quote the man who … Continue reading Travel Blog: When a Napkin Saved a Family