Because of our toad being in the shop, we were effectively trapped on Minot AFB. So Saturday and Sunday was spent riding our bikes around the base (and around), and hanging out at the pool. We had to limit our bike riding because Minot was experiencing record heat! The base has great facilities, including indoor, air conditioned, rock climbing, putt putt golf and batting cages; but no one uses the rec facilities other than the pool. Being an ex Air Force brat, Dan believes this is because everyone now has two or three cars in the family. When Dan’s family lived on AFBs very few families had two cars (in fact more families had no cars, than those with two), and no teenagers had their own cars! So the recreational facilities were always being used because you had no way to go anywhere (let alone TV, internet, game boys, etc, etc, now available).
Another sign of the changes in life styles, is the new housing going up on base. No more quad-plexes and duplexes; everything is now duplex and single family houses. And it looks like everything has four bedrooms, as well as two car garage. Even though Dan’s dad was senior enlisted in Air Force, the best they every got for housing was duplex, single car garage, with three bedrooms! One night Dan was standing outside and a C-130 flew low and slow, making multiple passes over the base spraying something. Dan could only think Agent Orange! Turns out just the Air Force’s way of spraying for mosquitoes.
Another observation is that even though the cold war is over, the USA is still heavily armed with nukes. Minot is home to the 5th Bomber Wing (ie one of two B-52 squadrons left) and the 91st Space Command (ie ICBMs). You see the Minuteman III silos all over the landscape, as well as the ready bombers sitting on the runway with signs saying warning armed guards and vicious dogs. Dan finds it funny that now there are directional signs on the roads telling you how to get to the silos (as well as online maps). This was classified when he was a kid, but every farmer knew where they were since the farmers sold their land to the gov’t for the silos.
Monday morning we rented a rental car just to run errands in town. Dan got his tools from the toad and had the RV electrical system repaired in minutes (finally our luck was improving). We were going to go to the North Dakota State Fair in Minot, but it was just too hot. The next morning we took the rental car and were gonna go to the Scandinavian cultural center, but on the way stopped at the Ford dealer.
Turns out the toad problem, was bad fuel. So we got rid of the rental car, paid for the toad, and beat feet back to base. We broke camp in an hour and immediately started driving to Brandon, Manitoba. After three and one half hours we arrived at Corrie’s brother (Ed and Elaine Riesmeyer) to visit family and friends in Canada (EH?).
Trivia: 1) Where is the largest Scandinavian festival in the USA? 2) Where is the only other B-52 Bomber Wing located in USA? 3) B-52s used to carry two AGM 28 Hound Dog air to ground missiles; what was unique about the missile’s fuel system?
Another sign of the changes in life styles, is the new housing going up on base. No more quad-plexes and duplexes; everything is now duplex and single family houses. And it looks like everything has four bedrooms, as well as two car garage. Even though Dan’s dad was senior enlisted in Air Force, the best they every got for housing was duplex, single car garage, with three bedrooms! One night Dan was standing outside and a C-130 flew low and slow, making multiple passes over the base spraying something. Dan could only think Agent Orange! Turns out just the Air Force’s way of spraying for mosquitoes.
Another observation is that even though the cold war is over, the USA is still heavily armed with nukes. Minot is home to the 5th Bomber Wing (ie one of two B-52 squadrons left) and the 91st Space Command (ie ICBMs). You see the Minuteman III silos all over the landscape, as well as the ready bombers sitting on the runway with signs saying warning armed guards and vicious dogs. Dan finds it funny that now there are directional signs on the roads telling you how to get to the silos (as well as online maps). This was classified when he was a kid, but every farmer knew where they were since the farmers sold their land to the gov’t for the silos.
Monday morning we rented a rental car just to run errands in town. Dan got his tools from the toad and had the RV electrical system repaired in minutes (finally our luck was improving). We were going to go to the North Dakota State Fair in Minot, but it was just too hot. The next morning we took the rental car and were gonna go to the Scandinavian cultural center, but on the way stopped at the Ford dealer.
Turns out the toad problem, was bad fuel. So we got rid of the rental car, paid for the toad, and beat feet back to base. We broke camp in an hour and immediately started driving to Brandon, Manitoba. After three and one half hours we arrived at Corrie’s brother (Ed and Elaine Riesmeyer) to visit family and friends in Canada (EH?).
Trivia: 1) Where is the largest Scandinavian festival in the USA? 2) Where is the only other B-52 Bomber Wing located in USA? 3) B-52s used to carry two AGM 28 Hound Dog air to ground missiles; what was unique about the missile’s fuel system?
2 comments:
In hind sight, looks like hitting USAA up for the tow to the Ford dealer might have been a good choice. At least being stranded at AF base cannot be too bad.
Chuck
Dan
Finally took alook atyour work...great fun! Look forward to more.
My uncle was in the AF and was stationed at Minot. He worked with the Office of Spec Investigation (OSI) and retired as a Colonel.
All settled in Cleveland at D9 Prevention...not missing DC.
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