Friday, July 2, 2021 - Drive to Wichita, Kansas and McConnell AFB. We drove for three and a half hours to get to McConnell AFB. The weather was awesome and we only stopped once on the way for snacks. The access to the base was relatively easy and our site is in a picturesque location. We only have power, but that is all we need for the short three days that we will be here. This is a sort of stopover point through the 4th of July weekend where we can hold up before moving farther north into the Dakotas.
We went for a bicycle ride to explore McConnell AFB. Today at McConnell is a "Family Day." That is a day set aside for all personnel to spend time with their friends and family. We rode for 13 miles on the base and saw only five vehicles; the base is a ghost town. This is a pretty base which has been getting an above normal amount of rain recently. Everything is green and growing. We also had to dodge a turtle crossing the road. Luckily, it was not that hard since a turtle's sprint is pretty slow. This is an Air Mobility Command tanker base with about 40 KC-135R models. It is fun to see so many refueling aircraft in one area. The roads on the base are in great shape and very smooth. It was a fun ride and we will likely ride again on base this weekend.
Saturday, July 3, 2021 - We decided to go for a bicycle ride on a bike trail named the Prairie Sunset Trail. We did not know if it was paved or not, and it turned out that it was not paved. I was able to ride most of the trail on my road bike, but after about six miles, we came to a place where the trail was paved with large rocks. Okay for a mountain bike, but not my roadie. Finally, I stopped to ask a person parked by the road if he knew where the trail went. He did not. But, he is an ex-marine and he was parked there waiting for "Doc," one of only two flying B-29s to land. Seems that Doc is parked in a hangar at the Eisenhower International Airport across the road. We decided to drive back to our truck, get some food, and then go see Doc.
Doc is an amazingly restored aircraft. Found in the desert of California, it was secured and transported to Wichita to be restored. The craftsmen who worked on Doc did a magnificent job. Its hangar is set up as a tribute to the aircraft and those who restored it. It is also used to carry passengers for a fee. It costs about $4,000 and hour to fly the aircraft, so they do need a substantial fee to go for a ride. To ride in the fuselage costs $750 and to ride in the navigators position right in the nose of the aircraft (lots of windows) costs $1,400. Both Lisa and I went up inside the aircraft and I have some photos to place on the photo gallery soon.
After leaving Doc, we drove to the central Wichita area where the Big and Little Arkansas Rivers come together. At that point, there is a large sculpture of an Indian (created by an Indian) called "Keeper of the Plains." It is a pretty impressive statue and at night, they light up the statue and the base with fire. It is supposed to be pretty cool, but we did not want to hang around that long to find out. We also noticed that there were bicycle trails in the area, so we decided to ride one of the trails along the Arkansas River thruogh town. It was fun and also void of pedestrians and cyclists. We then rode off the trail onto city streets and rode all the way through Wichita with virtually no cars to contend with. We could not believe it. We then rode back through town and then back to the river and our truck. It was a fun ride. We then noticed another trail heading up-river. We decided to try it out. It turned out adding another 12 miles to our ride. It followed the Arkansas River and was very scenic. It was a fun ride.
After our ride, it was off to Braum's for ice cream. Always fun to get ice cream after a long ride. We ended up with 27 miles on the day which is not too bad. After the ice cream, we drove back to the RV and had a late dinner.
Sunday, July 4, 2021 - We woke and went for a walk to start the day. Put in about three miles on the base. We both then settled in to read books. I finished the book about the Osage Indian killings of the early 1900s called, "Killers of the Flower Moon. This is the book that is the basis of a movie that they are shooting in Pawhuska, Oklahoma. It is a great book and I think the movie should be good too. The movie is being produce by Martin Scorsese and one of the main characters is played by Leonardo di Caprio. Robert Di Niro is also one of the key characters. Anyway, we read our books for about three hours. Then I worked on the blog while Lisa did other chores around the RV. We leave for Nebraska tomorrow.