On the Road 2015
Well we finally got to leave Zephyrhills
As some of you know, we bought a new RV last October. We have only put about 500 miles on it.
That is about to change.
Finally pulled out, ready to hook up
Hooking up the car
Me in my spot
Cathy and Freddy in there's
We left Florida for Unadilla, GA for 6 days.
In Unadilla, we were disappointed to find hat one of our favorite Bar-B-Que restaurants was still closed. He is probably on the grilling competition circuit. He has won several in the past.
About 30 miles from Unadilla is the Robins AFB air Museum
The Museum is guarded outside by an A-10 "Warthog" tank killer that was designed around a Gatling Gun that fires 3,000 rounds a minute
CLICK on the pictures to enlarge them
and a long range B-1 bomber
of course there is a P-51 Mustang from WW2
from the early jet fighters, a F-84E Thunderjet
and my favorite, the SR-71 "blackbird" spy plane, mach 3+ and 65,000 feet altitude. They have outrun Russian anti aircraft rockets
They still hold all world speed and altitudes
built in the early 1960s
That is me standing under it.
the U-2 spy plane that Russia did shoot down
some are still flying
and a drone
in the bomber hanger, a B-29 Superfortress.
The plane that ended WW2
This atomic bomb is the same as the second one "Fat Man" dropped on Japan.
Our next stop is only 15 miles from where they were made. The next place covered will be Oak Ridge TN and the Atomic Museum.
The B-25 Mitchel bomber
Even a MIG-19 plus many more.
The next time thru here we will go back to and see more.
Back on the road
Starting to see GA mountains
into Tennessee
And to Heiskell, TN
This town is about 15 miles from Oak Ridge, TN. Oak Ridge did not exist before 1942. The United States determined we should develop an Atomic bomb before Germany did.
The Manhattan Project was created. The project people needed a place with ample electricity, the TVA dam was just finished, where they could work year around and completely secret.
They picked 4 towns in eastern TN, sent notices to be out in 30 days then created the town and plants on 17 miles X 7 miles.
It was totally fenced in, everyone had to wear an ID and could only leave or enter with a pass.
The town was the 5th largest in TN and was not on any known map.
It was the largest of 3 secret towns. Los Alamos NM and Hanford WA were the other two.
The museum.
the twin towers are made of steel from the Twin Towers in NY
WW2 Secret City
A copy of the eviction letter. The residents were paid for their homes within 10 days of receiving this letter. Most were for Dec. 1, 1942
By April 1, 1943 it was totally fenced in, had new homes and residents and work was started on the bomb.
There were more than 75,000 residents here at times.
These guard towers lined the fence
This is an actual guard tower that guarded the south entrance. The slits were for machine guns.
A map of the 4 towns that were displaced
Wheat - brown
Scarboro - blue
Robertsville - orange
Elza - yellow
There were about 5 styles of homes that were built with Cemesto (cement and asbestos). When workers arrived they were assigned according to family size and job.
A very large portion are still in use but have been modified.
Joe and Jean are our next door neighbors here. They gave us a guided tour of the area and Jan showed us the house she grew up in during that time. Her father was a chemist here. She had to wear an ID badge at all time out of the house.
It was not all work here, there were 4 bowling alleys, 1 hobby shop, 2 ice cream manufactures, 16 restaurants and lunchrooms, 1 skating rink, 6 movie theatres and 1 drive in and 1 swimming pool plus 23 grocery stores and much more.
They had code words for everything sensitive. The bomb was only called "the gadget"
The two types built were "little boy" and "fat man".
"fat man" was the type carried by B-36s into the 1950s.
Hiroshima was bombed first with little boy:
they only had 1 of these.
The main difference in them was the way they were triggered.
Next was Nagasaki with "fat man". They had one more working ones of these and had a city selected but Japan surrendered first.
The first news account acknowledging that Oak Ridge exists.
The government gave the papers the written story they wanted printed.
We also took an excursion train through parts of the area.
It used the same tracks built for the project.
It started and ended at what used to be the town of Wheat.
We did find 3 great locally owned restaurants. Dean's and Big Ed's Pizza in Jackson Square. Both are prepared totally from scratch.
The best though was Riverside Grill. We went back a couple of times.
Tomorrow we leave for Batesville, IN. We have been there and we are going back for the fried chicken.
More later
About 30 miles from Unadilla is the Robins AFB air Museum
The Museum is guarded outside by an A-10 "Warthog" tank killer that was designed around a Gatling Gun that fires 3,000 rounds a minute
CLICK on the pictures to enlarge them
and a long range B-1 bomber
of course there is a P-51 Mustang from WW2
from the early jet fighters, a F-84E Thunderjet
and my favorite, the SR-71 "blackbird" spy plane, mach 3+ and 65,000 feet altitude. They have outrun Russian anti aircraft rockets
They still hold all world speed and altitudes
built in the early 1960s
That is me standing under it.
the U-2 spy plane that Russia did shoot down
some are still flying
and a drone
in the bomber hanger, a B-29 Superfortress.
The plane that ended WW2
This atomic bomb is the same as the second one "Fat Man" dropped on Japan.
Our next stop is only 15 miles from where they were made. The next place covered will be Oak Ridge TN and the Atomic Museum.
The B-25 Mitchel bomber
Even a MIG-19 plus many more.
The next time thru here we will go back to and see more.
Back on the road
Starting to see GA mountains
into Tennessee
And to Heiskell, TN
This town is about 15 miles from Oak Ridge, TN. Oak Ridge did not exist before 1942. The United States determined we should develop an Atomic bomb before Germany did.
The Manhattan Project was created. The project people needed a place with ample electricity, the TVA dam was just finished, where they could work year around and completely secret.
They picked 4 towns in eastern TN, sent notices to be out in 30 days then created the town and plants on 17 miles X 7 miles.
It was totally fenced in, everyone had to wear an ID and could only leave or enter with a pass.
The town was the 5th largest in TN and was not on any known map.
It was the largest of 3 secret towns. Los Alamos NM and Hanford WA were the other two.
The museum.
the twin towers are made of steel from the Twin Towers in NY
WW2 Secret City
A copy of the eviction letter. The residents were paid for their homes within 10 days of receiving this letter. Most were for Dec. 1, 1942
By April 1, 1943 it was totally fenced in, had new homes and residents and work was started on the bomb.
There were more than 75,000 residents here at times.
These guard towers lined the fence
This is an actual guard tower that guarded the south entrance. The slits were for machine guns.
A map of the 4 towns that were displaced
Wheat - brown
Scarboro - blue
Robertsville - orange
Elza - yellow
There were about 5 styles of homes that were built with Cemesto (cement and asbestos). When workers arrived they were assigned according to family size and job.
A very large portion are still in use but have been modified.
Joe and Jean are our next door neighbors here. They gave us a guided tour of the area and Jan showed us the house she grew up in during that time. Her father was a chemist here. She had to wear an ID badge at all time out of the house.
It was not all work here, there were 4 bowling alleys, 1 hobby shop, 2 ice cream manufactures, 16 restaurants and lunchrooms, 1 skating rink, 6 movie theatres and 1 drive in and 1 swimming pool plus 23 grocery stores and much more.
On this property there was one building for enriching uranium that was the largest building in the world at that time.
They had code words for everything sensitive. The bomb was only called "the gadget"
The two types built were "little boy" and "fat man".
"fat man" was the type carried by B-36s into the 1950s.
Hiroshima was bombed first with little boy:
they only had 1 of these.
The main difference in them was the way they were triggered.
Next was Nagasaki with "fat man". They had one more working ones of these and had a city selected but Japan surrendered first.
The first news account acknowledging that Oak Ridge exists.
The government gave the papers the written story they wanted printed.
We also took an excursion train through parts of the area.
It used the same tracks built for the project.
It started and ended at what used to be the town of Wheat.
We did find 3 great locally owned restaurants. Dean's and Big Ed's Pizza in Jackson Square. Both are prepared totally from scratch.
The best though was Riverside Grill. We went back a couple of times.
Tomorrow we leave for Batesville, IN. We have been there and we are going back for the fried chicken.
More later
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