Vakkotaur

Monday jmaynard and I visited the National Museum of the Air Force in Dayton. We spent a good amount of the day there, but like didn't see everything. Even of what we did, time constraints limited things. We did get to go though a few of the planes that had been Air Force One. We spent enough time doing that, that we didn't get to spend as much time as we would have liked with the X-planes.

I'm not sure if it's how the planes are presented, but while the B-52 is a big plane, the B-29 seems to have a bigger presence. The B-29 we saw was Bockscar, a plane whose presence deserves to be imposing and impressive.

We left the museum not quite at closing time, but it was getting close. From there we headed to Indiana and stayed just across from Kentucky. We went to a Japanese restaurant within walking distance from the hotel. I've now had Japanese style steak, which I suppose can be described as dinner as the show.

Tuesday we went to Churchill Downs and spent the morning and part of the afternoon going through the museum there. We took the backside tour and the "insider's" tour through the jockey's area, and the various high-end rooms that cost a ridiculous amount of money to actually use.

My legs are bit sore, but not from walking. One display allows you to see how difficult it is to hold the position a jockey does. You step astride a plastic model of a horse (set into the floor, so it's easy for almost anyone) and then get into position, crouching with just part of your foot in the stirrups for support. A monitor gives you a jockey's-eye view of a race. This lasts for a couple minutes, which doesn't seem all that long. In that position, not being at all used to it, two minutes is a very long time indeed. And this is just a static demonstration. There is no motion to really complicate balancing, so this lets you off easy compared to the real thing.

This a shorter day for us than the last several, which is just fine. We're now in Corbin, KY and will be staying here overnight. Tomorrow we're going to Oak Ridge and then just crossing the TN-NC border and spending the night in North Carolina. Then Thursday we'll be going to Huntsville for RCFM.