Today is Lou;s Day! We didn't set out to make it Lou's Day, in fact I never really want to be the center of attention. Well, mostly not, but I do have a Birthday Month, not day, and one year I had a Birthday Year instead of a month, but mostly I am a low key guy.

It started with a departure time of 1000, simply unheard of. Natch I was still awake at 0615, but I did go back to sleep a couple of times. Today is a non riding day as we are visiting the Pima Air & Space Museum about 10 minutes down the road.

As I leave my room at 0955 Bill is standing outside my room waiting for me, leathers on, jacket, gloves, helmet, everything really! I am all about safety when it comes to Motorcycling; jackets, schaps, gloves, hat, eye protection, etc. But today is Lou's day so we break all the rules. I mean, ALL OF THE RULES! I ride with no jacket, no schaps, cargo shorts, bare headed, no gloves just sun glasses. I admit when I am virtually naked on the bike, my attention is laser beam focussed on the traffic around me!

Bill, to his credit, doesn't judge me for my riding attire, or lack thereof, doesn't even bat an eye. In discussions later though, he does refer to that riding style as being an Organ Donor.

The ride to Pima is about 10 minutes and straight down the road our mo'tel is on. We pull up and park, Bill changed into more touristy duds and we went inside, purchasing ducats for the full deal. The Museum is made up of 5 hangars devoted to various genres of both military and a few civilian aircraft plus an outdoor Bone Yard as it is known, filled with planes from small trainers to B52's and all varieties in between..

The real Bone Yard, The David Monthan Air Force Base where the Aircraft Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG) reside is just across the highway. The various Military organizations store their aircraft here, either due to obsolesence, overstock, aircraft too damaged to fly but able to be picked for parts, or scheduled to be cut up and recycled. You should look up the Bone Yard to get a sense for the scale of this operation, it is mind boggling when you see an image of literally tens of thousands of planes neatly parked in rows.

Pima runs daily tours through this Bone Yard but when I was last here, about 10 years ago, they have changed the reservation system from walkon with your passport to 10 days notice for a security check. It is an active military base so I can understand the need for caution.

So for a Cold War Hardware geek such as myself, it is absolute heaven, made even more better by the A-10 Warthogs and F-16 Fighters convorting and frolicking overhead. Highlights include a SR-71 Blackbird, an A-10 Warthog, and exceptional example of a F-14 TomCat from TopGun fame. The Museum receives aircraft from a variety of sources, restores and repairs as required and parks them on their 800 acre parcel of land just outside of Tucson. They currently have about 300 different aircraft.

I won't talk about the different types too much, I recognize the Military Geekout gene is not shared by many, but if Aviation in any form is your thing, you should pay a visit to the Pima Air Space Museum. There are ex-pilots abound acting as docents, ever eager, perhaps over eager to regale you with stories of their escapades. It becomes a bit of a game when you enter a new hangar, you want to see the exhibits, but also avoid eye contact with a docent ready to chew your ear for 20 minutes.

We do take a walking tour with an ex fighter pilot for about 90 minutes, rather interesting although he does not go into the level of details I would have liked in some areas. We also take a trolley ride around the Bone Yard, it is about 100 degrees outside now and as soon as the drive starts I get sleepy and start doing the head nod, Bill gently wakes me, but it is a struggle for the whole ride. After the tour I revist some highlights on foot while Bill hides in the shade.

After about 6 hours we head back to our mo'tel, there are black clouds on the horizon and an obvious rain wall. I don't want to drive in my current state of nakedness in a rain storm, it will be painful. Ultimately it doesn't matter as the storm blows through without a drop falling. I think this is prolly a re-occurring theme in Tucson where storms form in the mountains to the south, but can never quite make it through the valley without losing thier power.

On the way back we stop for some DustBusters which we enjoy in the lobby as our rooms do not have space for 2 people to gather. Also on the way back to our mo'tel I notice a Sushi restaurant walking distance away. Lou's Day is still going on! We have a few Tasty Adult Beverages in the lobby, discuss the days events and make plans to meet for dinner in about 90 minutes.

Although Bill had noted we are 1000 miles from the Ocean, the Sushi was fresh and tasty. No Toro, sadly, but everything else was awesome. We then took a cab to Dan's Liquor Store to get Bill some more Tequila and I picked up some Kracken as well. What would be a $30 bottle in Canader was only $15 here, even factoring exchange makes it $18.50!

We enjoy a nightcap in the lobby and then turn in. It is almost 9 PM, that is a new record in itself.

We are about 3000 kms from Edmonton and although we are homeward bound now, and plan to be home in under a week, there are still a few attractions along the way we'd like to see, so we'll be sure to stop to smell the roses from time to time.

Day Fourteen

Non Riding Day

Pima Air & Space Museum