back in the eastern time zone!

Tuesday, November 2, 2010
We heard that the Blue Angels practice their routine here on Tuesday mornings at 8:30.  So,
this morning, we hurriedly ate breakfast, hopped on our bikes and rode over to the airfield.
 It was raining lightly, the skies were clear...and, sure enough, there they were.  What an
amazing, thrilling, awe-inspiring sight!  Then, we rode to the Air Museum.  One interesting
thing I learned was about how they trained 17,000 pilots to land on aircraft carriers in
WWII.  They took two old steamer ships, in Lake Michigan out of Chicago, stripped the upper
decks, and created a landing strip - much smaller and closer to the water than the actual
carriers.  There was a film where they showed successful landings and unsuccessful landings,
where the pilots had to be picked out of the water.  In interviews with some of the pilots, now in their 70's or 80's, they described their experiences. A number of those sunken planes have now been raised from the bottom of Lake Michigan, restored, and are now displayed there in the museum.  Cool.
The rest of the day, we just hit the interstate, and have camped for the night in Lake City, Florida.  We are enjoying reading books on CD, and are on our third one.  Thanks, Cracker Barrel!
Tomorrow, we're going to Dan's friends' home near Orlando.