Soaring Museum in Elmira NY

I'm currently in staying in Ithaca New York while doing the Watkins Glen race this weekend. I flew into Elmira NY on tuesday. Elmira is the home of the Soaring Museum of America. When I got off the plane, I made my way to my rental car and headed up Harris Hill to the museum. It was a fun tour - a bit smaller than I would have thought, but still very well done.





They had one hang glider (sort of) on display. It's an original Rogallo style wing without much of the frame. The original hang gliders had lots of 'billow' in the wing while flying and the one on display had the leading edges widened out to make the fabric tight - so it wasn't very representative of any style hang glider.

Indianapolis

This week I'm in Indy. We have 2 crews here working both races. The Sprint Cup series is taking place on Sunday at the Indianapolis motor speedway (the very famous one - where they have the Indy 500 in May). The Nationwide Series is taking place about 5 miles away at a much smaller track. I'm working the Nationwide race which takes place tonight (saturday), so I'll be able to watch the Sprint Cup race (Brickyard 400) from home on Sunday.

We're staying downtown in Indianapolis and it's an impressive city. It's very vibrant at night with lots of restaurants and other nightlife. In the middle of the city they have a great war monument that's been there for 147 years. Being very tall with lots of intricate carvings and scuptures - it's quite impressive.

My morning in St. Louis

The water here has been very high for the last few weeks. This sculpture of Lewis and Clark has exposed itself more than 2 feet in the last few days and it's still well underwater.

Last night I noticed that the hotel I'm staying at had 4 'beach cruiser' bicycles out front. I went to the concierge and asked what it took to take one of them out and was told that I just needed to come and get it. I had noticed a "riverfront trail' that was for hiking and biking while walking around the arch area, so this morning I went down and got one of the bikes and went for a ride.

It was an interesting experience. It was raining for much of the time - although in the summertime, I don't care about rain, so I rode on as if it weren't raining. The most interesting thing about the riverfront trail was that it went through miles of VERY industrial area. It wasn't at all a 'showcase' style trail. The trail itself was great - well maintained and marked, but it was just the scenery that was striking. Old factory after old factory passed by as well as things like scrap metal yards that looked and sounded like something out of Terminator 2.


At one point I took a wrong turn onto another bike path and ended up crossing the river and going into Illinois on a converted train trestle.



Obviously Saint Louis has a working waterfront with lots of loading and unloading of barges. A couple of times I came upon some wild flowers growing with a very industrial backdrop and it was striking - the contrast.





The trail would wind around with industrial entrances going through the 'levy' wall and I found it funny and interesting how they would paint it all pretty at the point where dump trucks would be going through the wall.


The wall was part of a large integrated network of cement levies as well as earthen berm that appeared (based on elevation markings) to protect the city's riverfront up to a 40-45foot level above mean tide.






I saw quite a bit of graffiti along the way. A few of my friends are really into graffiti as a form of art, so I've been trying to see it in a different light than I normally do. I have a hard time getting past the fact that the 'artist' appears to paint their art with complete disregard for someone else's property. I've learned from my many years of working with the art community back in NC that there's all kinds of art, so I have no problem with the style of art that graffiti consists of, I just find the willingness of the artist to use 'canvas' that he/she has no right to use - very offensive. I certainly wouldn't want to wake up one morning and find that some moron decided the side of my car was where he wanted to paint his next masterpiece.

Oh well, I'll keep trying to broaden my way of thinking and accept 'criminal art' more readily.

More from St. Louis

I got into the St. Louis area around 2 pm Central Time today and after unpacking my suitcase, I went for a walk. The big arch seemed like a likely place to start.


Jan and I came here in 1988 during a trip across the country (our first trip across the country actually). We hit St. Louis on the way back to NC. It's hard to believe that it's been 20 years since then.



We took the elevator to the top and looked downward out of those little windows at the top and I had to get out of that thing pretty quickly. It's funny how many hang glider pilots have a fear of falling from heights.


We've driven past the arch numerous times since then, but that was the only time we stopped. It was kinda cool to stand at the base of it again. ( I have no desire to go up in it again)


I'm staying in the hotel in the background of this photo. It's that tall - round building. It has a revolving restaurant at the top. Maybe I can talk a few of the guys into spending $60 for dinner (each) one night this week.