DAY #20 – JUNE 29, 2021- DAYTON, OHIO – CAMBRIDGE, OHIO - AIR FORCE MUSEUM

This is day # 20 of this Amazing Adventure and I only have one thing planned for today. That is a visit to the Museum of the United States Air Force that is just across the Road from My hotel at Wright Patterson Air Force Base.

I chose this Comfort Inn because it was so close to the Air Force Museum. It was not the best hotel that I have stayed at it is by no means the worst. The employees were not very friendly, but the room was clean and quiet.  But I have decided that if I indeed spend the entire day at the Air Force Museum and need to stay over in the Dayton Area, I will stay somewhere else tonight. I’ll see how the day goes.

This hotel didn’t offer breakfast of any kind and did not have coffee or drinks available for guests. A did make a couple of cups of coffee in my room before checking out just a little before 9 a.m.

The Air Force Museum didn’t open until 9 a.m. and it was just about a mile away. I could see it from my hotel room.  Even though the Museum is just a mile or so away it takes me about 15-minutes to make the drive because several roads were under construction, and it was slow going.

I first visited the Museum of the United States Air Force back in 2005 and have always wanted to come back. Back in 2005 there were two sections of the museum, the main museum on the edge of Wright Patterson Air Force Base and the Presidential Hanger about a mile away on an active part of the base.

Because the Presidential Hanger was on an active Part of the Base you had to sign up for a limited number of free ticket with set time for your visit. Once you received your time you had to board a bus and be transported directly to the hanger.

Once in the hanger you could stay as long as you wanted but you could not leave the hanger except to board the bus for the trip back.  During that visit I really want to visit the Presidential hanger and managed to get on the first tour leaving at 10 a.m.

Since then, a new hanger has been built at the main museum that houses all of the Presidential Aircrafts.

Like I said, this is a huge museum. It consists of 4 enormous hangers that houses every type of aircraf
t from an early Wright Flyer to a B-52 and everything in between. It is free but I did have to go through security. Once through security I began my tour in the early flight hanger. There is an early Wright Flyer here along with a lot of those early airplane that came along after that Historic flight in North Carolina.

The other two equally large hangers featured aircrafts from World War I & II along with Korea, Vietnam and today start of the art planes. The fourth and newest hanger was the hanger that I really wanted to visit. It was the Presidential Hanger.

The Presidential Hanger houses the historic aircrafts use by the presidents. In this hanger is the first presidential plane called the Sacred Cow which was used by President Franklin Roosevelt to take him the Yalta Conference.

Then there is Independence, which was President Harry Truman Presidential Plane.  Next to Independence is Columbine III the aircraft used by President Dwight Eisenhower.

Then there is SAM 26000. This is the first aircraft to be called Air Force One. It is also the plane that Transported President John Kennedy to Dallas on November 22, 1963. Following the Assassination of President Kennedy, President Lyndon Johnson took the Oath of Office in a forward State room of this airplane and the Casket containing the remains of President Kennedy as place inf the aft galley for the trip back to Washington.

You can walk through each of the President Aircrafts, and I must admit that I got cold chills walking through SAM 2600. Standing where President Johnson stood to take the Oath of Office from Judge Sarah T. Hughes was so chilling. And to stand in the rear galley of the plane exactly where President Kennedy’s Casket rested for that trip from Dallas back to Washington was even more chilling. 

As I slowly made my way through this historic Aircraft, I could help but remember watching on a black and white TV the events of that horrible day. Here I was standing in exactly the same place where many of those historic events took place. WOW.

I spent much of the day at the Museum and finished my visit in the early afternoon. I decided not to stay in Dayton and started east toward Columbus.  I considered heading to the Hampton Inn at Scioto Downs. Pete and Valerie Ramey stayed there last year, and it was a nice hotel adjoining the casino. But the price was $170 a night so I quickly ruled that out.

I left the Museum and made my way toward Interstate 70. At 2 p.m. I headed east on 70 toward Columbus, A little over an hour later I was zipping around Ohio’s Capital City, and it was too early to stop for the day. So, I continued east on 70.

Once I was east of Columbus, I decided to visit the Zanesville, Ohio.  In Zanesville, I left the Interstate and continued my journey on the Old National Road.  While not a well-known as Old Route 66, The Old National Road is another one of those Classic highways that still lives today thanks to the small towns and attractions that still dot the landscape.

I made a quick stop at the Zane Grey National Road Museum just east of Zanesville. But it is still closed due to COVID.  Just a few miles east of the Zane Grey Museum is an original Brick section of the original National Road. While it is only a couple of miles long, I am driving on history.

I continue east on the National Road I come to the Historic Fox Creek S-Bridge. This is one of a series of bridges that once existed on the National Road. Most of these unique bridges were destroyed when U. S. Route 40 was built. But the Fox Creek Bridge survived This bridge was built in 1828 is one of the few remaining S-Bridges on the National Road. While it is closed to vehicles, you can park nearby and walk across it. You know that is exactly what I did.  

A few minutes later I was in the village of New Concord, Ohio at the home of John and Annie Glenn.  John Glenn was one of the early NASA Astronauts and later a long time United States Senator.  I wanted to tour the house but again it was closed dure to Covid.

While sitting in front of the Glenn’s home in New Concord, I decided to search for a hotel. I settled on a Sleep Inn in nearby Cambridge, Ohio. On the way I stopped at a Cracker Barrel for supper before checking into my hotel.

Arriving at the Sleep Inn in Cambridge, Ohio, I quickly settled into my room and set about my daily routine of Backing up my photos and writing my daily blog. I am not sure what tomorrow holds or what my plans will be. But the Adventure Continues.