...Temporal Castles 1983

Cover of book I purchased while at Warwick

Jessi's recent blog Spiritual and Temporal Castles has reminded me of my past experiences in England. Since I have been trying to write up my personal history anyway, I thought I would take the time to post my short experience in Warwick.

My trip to Warwick Castle was during my last rotation to England while I was in the air force, stationed in Little Rock. I narrowed down the date from the book that I purchased at the castle which as a date of 1983. Since my last rotation was from 4 October - 14 December 1983, it had to be during this time frame. I am guessing late October to early November since the trees still have leaves on them.

It was a cool, wet day. I went as part of a tour from RAF Mildenhall for a day. We left the recreation center at Mildenhall on a coach (bus with an attitude - that is what the blokes call a long range bus.) It was kind for dreary and cool with some showers. Drive took over two hours, going through Cambridge and Bedford. I could see the old dirigible hangers at RAF Cardington as we drove past.

Warwick Castle in those days was run by Madame Tussaud's. There were no Renaissance fairs for trebuchets in those days. Just the castle and the grounds. They did have wax figures in parts of the castle. They did have part of the castle set up like a Royal Weekend Party in 1898, which was attended by the Prince of Wales (future Edward VII.)  Anyway here are the couple of pictures I have from Warwick.

The Barbican

Caesar's Tower and Barbican

Caesar's Tower from Guy's Tower

Guy's Tower

Avon River from Guy's Tower

Barbican and base of Guy's Tower

State Dinning Room

Great Hall

Great Hall

Chapel
Scanned from book

Wax figures from Music Room
Picture was scanned and doesn't give justice to the real thing

We also took the opportunity to wander into the town of Warwick. Here are some of those pictures.

Medieval City Gate
Road now goes around rather than through it

Beauchamp Chapel of St Mary's Church

Street in Warwick

The Lord Leycester Hospital (often known simply as the Lord Leycester) is a retirement home for ex-Servicemen in Warwick, England, that is located next to the West Gate, on High Street. It was built in 1571.

Lord Leyceter's Hospital

Except as noted, all pictures were taken by me.

Summer Trip (Part Two UTAH then home)

Welcome to Texas

The next morning we headed out early, driving up to Jackson, then across to Dallas, and finally up to Amarillo. We spent the night there then up before dawn to Utah. There was a pretty spectacular lightning display between Amarillo and Tucumcari NM. We also saw a bunch of light off to the north. We think it was a windmill farm.

We ate breakfast in Santa Rosa and a little cafe. Then on to Albuquerque, Gallup, then across the Indian reservation to Page and finally to Hatch.

At Hatch we hung out with Grandpa Ed, went exploring the back road from Hatch to Panguitch Lake, and did our usual morning hike at Red Canyon.

Red Canyon

Road to the river in Hatch

We also drove over to Cedar City to get Kira moved out of her apartment. Between her car and the CR-V we managed to get all of her stuff packed up. (We did have to leave a Styrofoam ice chest in Hatch - we were that full)

On the 29th of July we drove up to Salt Lake to see Jessi and Peter.  Since Kira still didn't have a place to live, JoAnne (through the miracle of mobile internet) found a place that eventually became Kira's new home. They decided to skip on the house where they smoked pot and ran around with no clothes on. Her new home was occupied by good LDS girls - some students, some working.

Aunt Susan's house

Peter had arranged for us to stay at his Aunt Susan's house in Cottonwood Heights. She is a nurse and was serving a tour on a Navy hospital ship (USNS Comfort, I think). Peter's brother Paul and sister-in-law Kylie live in the basement, but they  were out of town, too. (this is were Jessi and Peter are currently living while Aunt Susan is serving a mission in Vanuatu.)

View from Aunt Susan's house

While driving around looking for some stuff for Kira's apartment, we had a little incident. A pizza delivery car ran into the back of the three-week old CR-V. Damage was minor and didn't affect anything on the trip, but was aggravating. (BTW - the other insurance paid for the repair and all is well on that issue.)

Rumpled fender

On the 30th, Kira had to work, but Jessi, JoAnne and I went up Big Cottonwood Canyon to hike to a waterfall. It was a nice (steep) drive and hike. (We got 189 mpg gas mileage coming down the mountain.!)

That afternoon, we met Peter near where he works for lunch at Gourmandise restaurant. They had a bunch for baked goods that were really good. We also visited City Creek Mall right across the street from Temple Square.

City Creek Mall
Roof closed when it is hot (or cold)

City Creek Mall
Roof open when it's not hot

 On Saturday, August 1st, We went back downtown with Kira and Peter. We spent some time on Temple Square, and then about 7 hours in Deseret Books. (Don't let facts get in the way of a good story!)

SLC

On Sunday, we went to sacrament meeting at Jessi and Peter's ward, then headed out of town. We decided to take I-80 across Wyoming rather than the usual route up I-70. We hadn't been that way before.  There was a bad motorcyle wreck just before we got to the Wyoming state line. We read later that at least one of the riders died, and they had to close the freeway for a life flight helicopter to land. Other than that an uneventful drive. We spent the first night in Limon, Colorado.

Statue of Lincoln at rest area in Wyoming

The next day we drove I-70 across Kansas and Missouri and spent the night in Illinois. We did stop and have Czechoslovakian food at a little restaurant in Kansas.

Our last day took us through Indiana, Kentucky (traffic detour took us past some amazing horse farms in Kentucky) Tennessee, North Carolina, then back home to South Carolina.

Indiana welcome center

Tennessee welcome center

Back in South Carolina

Home

Rescue HC-97

HC-97G, tail number 522782, was built by Boeing in 1952 as a KC-97G-29-BO Stratofreighter (tanker) in 1952. In 1963, it was converted to a HC-97G, air rescue aircraft. It assigned to the 55th Air Rescue Squadron at Kindley AFB, Bermuda. This is were my father flew this airplane. The airplane remained at Kindley until 1966 when the 55th ARS converted to HC-130s.

Building a rescue aircraft is difficult as no one builds rescue version models. So I bought a standard cargo version of the C-97, 1/144 scale, and converted it. I had to research the paint scheme in order to paint it. Fortunately they now make decal paper you can run through a ink jet printer. Pictures of the rescue airplanes are a little scarce, even using Google.

Anyway, here it is. It didn't come out as well as I hoped, but better than I feared. I had to make the decals for the yellow stripe around the tail and the "Rescue" stripe across the vertical stabilizer, and of course the correct tail number. I would like to make one for Granpa Ed, but I don't know how I would get it to him. Props and landing gear are a little fragile.

HC-97G 52-2782, 55th ARS, Kindley AFB, Bermuda

I also did some work on the Cutty Sark today. Most of the deck stuff forward of the main mast has been installed. It is coming along slowly.