Dave and Judy Moss

We attended a ham radio rally in Amana, Iowa sponsored by the Family RV Association which was formally called the The Family Motorcoach Association. Amana was settled in 1855 by German Radical Pietists looking for religious freedom. There were seven colonies which are now listed as a National Historic Landmarks. Most of our food was cooked by the members of our club but we did eat in the community; the German food was great as was the home made sugar-free root beer and the brewed beer.

During the event, Judy chose to stay with the sewing group. They visited some quilting stores and had lunch. At the event center, they designed and put together a quilt for Quilts for Valor, which really came out nice. I went with the second group to Collins Electronics. Their museum had the original radio built by the founder and then displays of electronics used in both commercial airplanes and military applications.

On the way home from Amana, we brought the motorhome to NIRVC in Lebanon Tennessee located just past Nashville for some warranty work. While there, our beagle, who was trained by Mossad, whose bark will cause a 3.2 earth quake, and is faster then a speeding bullet and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, tripped Judy. Wound up she broke her back at L1. So, she spent 10 days in the hospital, then several in rehab and came home Sunday. She is still very sore and has to wear a back brace until healed.

DUCKY DURING HIS MOSSAD TRAINING

AMANA

Huntsville is about 140 miles from our home, so it was a relatively a short trip. The city has grown with attractions including the US Space and Rocket Center, the Redstone Arsenal, and numerous museums. Because of NASA’s large presence, it is referred to as Rocket City. Though we went there primarily to attend the Huntsville Hamfest, we did visit the US Space and Rocket center and The Signal Museum of Information Explosion, which is a museum tracing electronics back to the beginning of electronic information.

US SPACE AND ROCKET CENTER

SATURN 5 ROCKET

THE SIGNAL MUSEUM OF INFORMATION EXPLOSION

Below is the Huntsville Ham Radio Club ham radio and contest station

It has been a long couple of weeks. While we were at Gettysburg, we had dinner with the Owner/CEO of NIRVC and the corporate sales person. They found a new Entegra 2026 Anthem 44V at their Surprise, Arizona location. They sent pictures, which we discovers did not do it justice, and between our trade in, a large sum of money from Entegra and a large discount from NIRVC we purchased a new motorhome. We drove to Arizona when we got home from Hawaii, drove the new motorhome home to load for our trip to Huntsville. Our old Entegra was nice but this is extraordinary. What’s amazing is the electronics in the unit which rivals a new luxury car. It has a larger engine and a tag axle for stability and is easier and more stable on the road. We will be at the hamfest until Tuesday when we head home.

We went to Hawaii with our good friends Kathleen and David. We had a fantastic time. On the tour of the big island, the highlight of the tour was Kilauea volcano. We were there during the day and we returned at night. At night, we were able to see the magma shooting in the into the air from the volcanic crater. What is unfortunate, there was a full eruption a week later. We did visit other areas on the island including a coffee plantation and a bakery. We also did star gazing and we both learned a lot from our guide.

During the same tour, we stopped at the beach to see the green sea turtles. There is a fence to keep people from disturbing the turtles as they climb from the water to the beach.

We flew to Oahu and went to Ford Island to the Arizona Monument. It was a very somber tour by the Park service and the Navy. We also toured a submarine, though Judy was not able to do the tour.

I do have additional pictures from the outside and inside the submarine, however, we are at a hamfest in Huntsville and I did not bring the big camera. I will post additional photos when we get home next week.

We did not complete the battlefield tours since Molly had a severe seizure and we were going to take her to the vet when she came out of it. We did go to the visitors center. They have a Cyclorama which is 377 feet long and 45 feet high. It encircles the complete viewing room. The hand painted cyclorama painting began in 1879. It depicts the entire 6,000 acre battle field. It shows over 20,000 hand painted soldiers, horses, cannons and buildings. The Park Service added a sound and light show to enhance the viewing experience.

The museum also shows musical instruments, weapons, uniforms and other relics form the battles.

We did a walking tour of Gettysburg. The tour was about a mile and a half and Judy and I saw damage still preserved from the actual battle in the city.

In mid-July, Molly had another severe seizure at home she did not recover from. Our vet had to put Molly down. We are really missing the old girl.

R.I.P. Molly. We miss you!

We are in Gettysburg for an AIM (All Inclusive Motorhome) Rally. Over the next four days, the club will take us on tours including the battlefields, a reenactment, museums and the Gettysburg historic district. The first day of activities begins tomorrow, though there is dinner and entertainment tonight.

The nice part of attending these functions, is they supply the campground, all meals including happy hour, nighttime entertainment, and all transportation to the various locations. We also have the opportunity to meet other motorhome people and exchange ideas and travel locations.

The Tennessee State Aquarium is located in Chattanooga, Tennessee. It is separated into two buildings; one is salt water fish and the other is fresh water. Enclosures in both building are quite large and feature different ecosystems from various parts of the world. The salt water area includes a butterfly exhibit, penguin habitats, sharks and reef and tide pool fish. The fresh water side had a Tennessee fly fishing stream exhibit, an alligator habitat, and fresh water fish such as trout and bass.

We are currently at the Raccoon Mountain Caverns and Campground. There are caverns attached to the camp ground. There are about 5 miles of underground passages, though our tour was only a small portion. there are very small bats and several different types of salamanders and insects. The cave tour was about 45 minutes. Unfortunately, there is no flash photography in the cave, since the animal life is highly sensitive to light.

The small round mark in the center of the frame is a miniature bat

In the center of this picture is a black salamander

This is a green salamander

There were several sites we visited in Atlanta. Since we both like going to aquariums and zoos, we went to the Georgia State Aquarium and Zoo Atlanta. We also visited the Coca Cola museum.

The aquarium is located in the center of town in a museum district. It is advertised as the largest aquarium in the Western Hemisphere with over 500 species including whale sharks, beluga whales and manta rays.

Our net stop was the Coca Cola Museum. Coca Cola is based out of Atlanta. The museum goes over the history of Coca Cola eventually ending in a large room with Coke dispensers with not only every US flavor, but products they sell world-wide. We were able to spend all the time we wanted and taste the different products. Most were good but the were some that were not that good.

Our final stop was Zoo Atlanta. The zoo in known for its reptile and and amphibian collection. We walked the entire zoo and what was impressive were the large enclosures. Animals have lots of room to wonder including trees and dirt and rock hills to simulated their natural conditions. The reptile and amphibian houses were huge and has a large assortment of inhabitants.

Before leaving for Atlanta, we visited the Jefferson Davis Museum and Robins Air Force Base Museum of Aviation. just north of Macon, Georgia.

The museum was small but had some nice exhibits. This is the location of Davis’s capture near the end of the Civil War. There is no photography allowed in the museum. There are artifacts in the museum depicting his life.

The Air Force Museum is north of Macon, Georgia. The base is still an active duty base home to the Warner Robins Air Logistics Complex with over 22,000 military, civilian and contractor personnel. The museum is free and is said to be the second largest air museum in the country behind Wright Patterson ir Force Base outside of Dayton, Ohio.

The most interesting planes we observed were the B-52 bomber, the B-1 bomber, and the SR-71. The museum has four hangers with planes from WWII, Korea, Vietnam, and the Gulf Wars.