MOC 2

Today's the start of the Montana Owners Club Plains Regional Rally.  

It started out with a continental breakfast and good conversation with other Montana owners.  




Around 10 am four couples went to the Strategic Air Command Museum.  The museum was magnificent.  It was built in 1998 and is very well done.

The Blackbeard SR 71 looked huge but once we walked underneath it we realized looks could be deceiving--it looked twice as big.

Bill was concerned about the intelligence it took to fly these planes if they had to have a sign to tell you how to open the door.  






We looked at the fall out shelter display while we waited for the tour to begin.  It was really worth the wait.  

Ev was out docent and what a knowledgeable and experienced man he was.  The tour was suppose to last an hour but lasted an excess of one and half hours.  Ev was a veteran of WWII, Korean War and Vietnam.

A flight simulator, which is set up for two people, had a line forming.  Bill thought it would be fun, but I wanted no part of it. 

Ev showed us this plane in which he was a tailgunner.

There was a display about space which included a local astronaut training in Star City (the Russian equivalent of NASA.)  That was of interest to Bill and I because we visited Star City, outside of Moscow.  I looked to see if they mentioned the Russian astronaut that we met and I couldn't remember his last name other than his first name was Yuri. 

There were 34 planes currently on display.  In another section, there was another part of the museum where volunteers were restoring other planes for future displays. The restoration makes them look brand new on the inside and outside but without a flyable engine. The unique thing was that only two employees were paid.  Everyone else was a volunteer.  

Here's the MOC (Montana Owners Club) members listening to Ev tell the stories behind the planes to us.  Did I mention he is 87 years old?

This is one place to which we could return.

Bill still needed a haircut so we drove over to Ashland and he found a barbershop.  It was the only one in town and he had to resort to using this one that didn't have the red and white pole out front.  I visited the gift shops while Bill was getting his hair cut.  The barber did a great job and only charged $7.00.

The Meet and Greet party started at 6 pm.  Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture of the food they had.  Everything was delicious.

We've been to our share of rallies, but this group is unbelievable.  We were handed MOC lanyards with our name badge.  Then every couple received a Christmas bag that was loaded with goodies.  It included a lantern, Christmas ornaments, extension cords, vest, jump drive, candy, even toilet paper and much more.

And the fun begins.......

Turtle Safely......