What a difference a day makes! Overnight and into the morning, we had one of the fiercest gale storms we had encountered hit the campground! In the 15" or so it took Jim to break down our equipment outside and walk the dogs, he got drenched through to the skin. The winds were so bad that we decided not to drive our original route over to West Linn, which would have taken us back across the Alsea bridge, and instead drive north. We were glad we did, as the route was relatively protected and the weather remained miserable until after we had turned east on route 18 north of Newport.
We decided to take advantage of the change and stop and visit the Evergreen Air Museum in McMinnville. When we arrived there, the dogs hadn't been out of the RV for a couple of hours, and Jim took them for a walk among some of the Korean War aircraft and some Russian tanks. All of a sudden, the dogs took off at full tilt racing to the parking lot, and there was another couple walking their Newfoundland, Griffey! Griffey had never met a dog bigger than him before (he's two), and was a bit intimidated by Dudley! Fortunately, the three dogs got along!
The Evergreen Air Museum is where Howard Hughes "Spruce Goose" permanently resides. It was acquired by Del Smith of Evergreen Aviation back in the 1990's, and his son Mike was to have eventually taken over the company and was the co-founder of this Museum. Jim had been there back in 1993 when he was with AMR Services, and Evergreen was looking to sell their ground handling business. He had gotten a tour of the Spruce Goose before it was reassembled, and then was flown to Marana AZ where Evergreen had a facility and kept most of their vintage warbird collection. He had the opportunity to fly as a passenger in the P-51 Mustang pictured here with Mike, who died in a car crash in 1995.
We really enjoyed seeing the Spruce Goose, which is still the largest seaplane ever made and one of the largest aircraft ever. It dwarfs everything around it, such as Becky and the F4J Fury aircraft pictured here. One can only walk in the forward fuselage door, however, without getting assessed an additional $25/person to see the cockpit. We chose not to! The interior is nevertheless impressive, which you can see from the entrance "hallway" to the aircraft. All in all, it was a nice stop, and we arrived at the Palmer's home around 1:30pm.
The Evergreen Air Museum is where Howard Hughes "Spruce Goose" permanently resides. It was acquired by Del Smith of Evergreen Aviation back in the 1990's, and his son Mike was to have eventually taken over the company and was the co-founder of this Museum. Jim had been there back in 1993 when he was with AMR Services, and Evergreen was looking to sell their ground handling business. He had gotten a tour of the Spruce Goose before it was reassembled, and then was flown to Marana AZ where Evergreen had a facility and kept most of their vintage warbird collection. He had the opportunity to fly as a passenger in the P-51 Mustang pictured here with Mike, who died in a car crash in 1995.
We really enjoyed seeing the Spruce Goose, which is still the largest seaplane ever made and one of the largest aircraft ever. It dwarfs everything around it, such as Becky and the F4J Fury aircraft pictured here. One can only walk in the forward fuselage door, however, without getting assessed an additional $25/person to see the cockpit. We chose not to! The interior is nevertheless impressive, which you can see from the entrance "hallway" to the aircraft. All in all, it was a nice stop, and we arrived at the Palmer's home around 1:30pm.
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