Abandoned Trestle

While enjoying a walk along the river the other day, The Fuzz took advantage of the opportunity to get a shot of this abandoned trestle.

This rail line has not been use for a number of years now.

The Fuzz finds this combination of the wood and iron over the river kinda picturesque in a way…

And a look back at another era.

Just a Reminder

Remember These?

The Fuzz was recently fixing himself a bit of dinner and had occasion to open a can of sauerkraut to go with his sausages.

It turned out that there was no can opener handy.

So he was forced to resort to one of these.

To many folks, a P 38 was an impressive fighter plane from the 2nd World War.

Or perhaps a certain firearm.

But to those who have ever had the pleasure of enjoying a meal of those equally famous C-Rations, a P 38 will always be one of life's necessities.

In fact, The Fuzz still carries one of these little jewels on his keyring.

And it is still as effective as ever.

The Fuzz supposes, that in these times of pull tabs and flimsy plastic (or whatever) packs-

that can be impossible to open-

There are some who may never have had the pleasure of using-

or even seeing one of these handy little gizmos.

The Fuzz thinks that is their loss.

Back on the Road

When The Fuzz last posted, he left a sort of artillery hint on where he was headed next.  But really this time, he was more interested in this lighthouse.

The next destination was Edenton NC.

It seems to be a nice little place to spend a bit of time.

But The Fuzz was only planning to be there for an overnight stop on his way up to Virginia.

He got into town around 14:00 and checked in to his hotel.

There, he found that there was some kind of problem with his reservation.

But it turned out that there was a room available after all.

After getting this straightened out, The Fuzz decided to head down to the waterfront to see that Lighthouse.

Alas, it was closed!

Well, there were other things to see.

He got to tour one of the old houses, and at least read about that lighthouse.

And the Battle of Albemarle Sound!

And while we are on the subject, This guy has to be the twin brother to the one in The Fuzz's own fair city.

But all that is history now.

There were a lot of these old houses there.

The Fuzz enjoyed a cold one in this courtyard.  There was a pool with a couple of  fish fountains.

That reminded him of the latest project waiting at home-

but we'll get into that in another post.

Wandering around town The Fuzz found a Used Book Store.

And there he saw a complete set of Winston Churchill's The Second World War, for only $9 !

Somehow he found room for this in his saddlebags.

Then it was back to the hotel, where he was forced to face the reality, that there was nothing worth watching on TV.

Ft Fisher

The Fuzz had enjoyed his visit in Wilmington.

It was a series of rainy days alternating with pleasant ones.

When it rained, he laid low, and when it was nice he got out on his Bike.

There was one trip up to Topsail.

And another down to Ft. Fisher.

He had been here once before, but it was a good excuse to take his bike down along the beach.

Ft. Fisher might not be what you normally think of when you think of a "Fort".

The "Walls" were built up with piles of sand.
But the point was to be able to absorb the fire of the Yankee ships blockading the Cape Fear River-
and port of Wilmington.
Ft. Fisher was there to protect this vital, and last, port open to the blockade runners.
There are a few guns there.

The Fuzz does have a bit of interest in this sort of thing having served in the artillery in the now, distant past.

And there is this guy.
It was "state of the art" at the time.

Of course the real gun was captured by the Yankees when the fort fell.  It is now a "war Trophy" of the Yankees at West Point.
But the area is really quite beautiful.

And windy.

You can see how these trees have been effected by it.

Well eventually it was time to move on to the next stop on this exciting Motorcycle Tour.
Here's a sneak peek at the next stop.

A Street to Nowhere

The Fuzz and His Sweetie were off to another Big City.

It's getting hard to just stay out here in the woods these days.  With Holidays, and Family spread out, there's always something going on-

someplace else.

This Big City was the seat of one of the great Tobacco Empires.

Of course Tobacco ain't what it used to be.

So the city has had to diversify, and has done well, The Fuzz supposes.

But Our Fuzz does find himself drawn to the relics of the past,

some of the things left behind as progress...

progresses.

Like this street to nowhere.

How often do you find Cobblestones any more?

There was a time when even a street could be a work of art.

Oops...

It looks like this could give away the latest

Mystery Pix!

The Fuzz's Excellent Motorcycle Adventure 4

Charlottesville Virginia.
This was to original destination of The Fuzz.  The plan was to have a visit with His Little Sister.
Sister and Husband are quite happy here in this town these days.  It is of course the Home of a Famous University.The place is crawling with college kids.  They love that too.
The Fuzz took a few moments in the morning to check and fill the fluid in his clutch again.  But it was fine - at least as far as being full.  Always expecting the worse, he was beginning to believe the master cylinder was gone.  But hey, it did get him here, didn't it?  So it should get him home, or maybe somewhere else
The Fuzz's Sister took the opportunity to take him up to Monticello, the home of the Illustrious Thomas Jefferson.

It is a pretty popular place, as can be seen by the line to get in.  Actually this is a queue, as there were several British Folks waiting with us.
They don't let you take pictures inside for some reason, so you won't see any here.  But you can use your camera outside.

Here's the stump of a Poplar Tree that the Great Man was responsible for planting.

You can also take pix of the downstairs tunnel, where all the slaves worked.

The kitchen.

The man was fond of French Wine.

A close-up

But they said he never could get his own winemaking to work out. Life's like that sometimes.

Gustav Whitehead & No. 21

While The Fuzz was poking around on the internet he came across this little bit:


"Wright brothers flew 2 years after Gustav Whitehead, researcher claims"

(Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/science/2013/03/13/first-in-flight-wright-brothers-flew-2-years-after-gustav-whitehead/?test=latestnews#ixzz2NRvxa9au)

It appears that there may be something to this.

"That's the shocking claim by Australian aviation historian John Brown…"

"Even “Jane’s: All the World’s Aircraft” -- widely considered the essential bible of flight -- has acknowledged Whitehead's achievement and Brown's research. With the headline "justice delayed is justice denied…' "

Gustave Whitehead (born Gustav Albin Weisskopf) and his 1901 monoplane Number 21

Whitehead in his working clothes

From Jane's:

"Whitehead equipped his aircraft No. 21, known as the Condor, with two acetylene-fuelled engines of his own design: 10 hp for the road wheels and 20 hp as the main source of forward flight. 'Main' because at an appropriate moment during take-off, the flick of a lever would transfer the road engine's output to augment the motor driving the twin propellers. He was by no means the only aviator to incorporate powered wheels into his designs, but by the time Jane began compiling his annuals, the practice was in decline and soon became lost in the mists of history, to be reborn in different form later."

And:

"In the early hours of 14 August 1901, the Condor propelled itself along the darkened streets of Bridgeport, Connecticut, with Whitehead, his staff and an invited guest in attendance. In the still air of dawn, the Condor's wings were unfolded and it took off from open land at Fairfield, 15 miles from the city, and performed two demonstration sorties. The second was estimated as having covered 1½ miles at a height of 50 feet, during which slight turns in both directions were demonstrated.

"This, it must be stressed, was more than two years before the Wrights manhandled their Flyer from its shed and flew a couple of hundred feet in a straight line after lifting off from an adjacent wooden rail hammered into the ground. And, obviously, because of his demonstrated expertise in manoeuvring, Whitehead had flown missions like this before, suggesting his lead was even greater. (Two months earlier, his No. 20 was reported to have flown from the same field, albeit weighted with sandbags in lieu of an occupant.)"

So why do the Wright Bros. get the credit?

"The first [reason] is that critical examination of the Wrights' legacy is deflected by a non-sequitur of elephantine proportions: That because they were the most successful of the early aeroplane pioneers, they must have been 'the first to fly'."

And how about this?

"Secondly, as was only disclosed much later, under sanction of a Freedom of Information request by Senator Lowell Weicker Jr, the Smithsonian Institute in Washington - undisputed repository of American aviation history - secured possession of the precious Wright Flyer No. 1 from surviving brother Orville only after agreeing in a legally-binding document that "the Smithsonian shall [not state] any aircraft...earlier than the Wright aeroplane of 1903...was capable of carrying a man under its own power in controlled flight". History is normally written by researchers who have dispassionately analysed all relevant data and not, as here, by the lawyers of interested parties. (Strictly, the document is also nonsense, since the wording contrives to prohibit the Smithsonian from mentioning numerous prior dirigible airships - which are 'aircraft' too.)"

Gustave Whitehead and his 1901 monoplane taken near Whitehead's Pine Street shop. His infant daughter, Rose, sits on her father's lap, and the engine that powers the front landing-gear wheels is on the ground in front of the others.  (1901)

And so, there you have it.  Most of this was taken from this-

Executive Overview: Jane's All the World's Aircraft: Development & Production

By Paul Jackson

3/8/2013

If you're bored you may want to look at it.

Time Capsule Cont.

Well, what about that coffee?

Well, let's see what we got here.

We don't have a Canteen Cup, so The Fuzz will have to settle for his old tin one.

It looks like the powder is still powder.  That is encouraging.

And add some hot water from the fire, and a bit of sugar, and Voila!  Not the best coffee The Fuzz has ever drunk, but not bad considering.

Time Capsule

On Their recent camping trip, The Fuzz and His Sweetie did their cooking over the fire of course.  

Since there are no longer multiple mouths to feed, they have moved into a more individual-type style of food preparation.  Each caries their own mess kit and utensils, and usually prepares their own meal according to their individual tastes.  This works out rather well, and saves weight.

Along with his fork, spoon, etc, The Fuzz has been carrying this "Accessory Packet" from some old military "C Rations".  Of course it was quite old, and Our Fuzz himself, had never had cause to actually use it.

But that morning, having not brought his coffee pot (to save weight) he got to thinking about that packet of "coffee" in there.  So, just for fun, he decided to see if it was still drinkable.

And so he opened this small Time Capsule.  This stuff is probably 50 years old.

Having been involved in Military Things some years ago, it brought back some memories.

So, let's have a look at what we have here.

Here's our "Cream Substitute, Dry (not that The Fuzz would ever use it)

A bit of Salt (always good to have)

Some Sugar

Some Chewing Gum (looks like it's past it's half-life)

Matches (for the smokes we don't seem to have)

Coffee, Instant Type II

And of course the Toilet Paper!

You'll have to check back with The Fuzz tomorrow to find out about that coffee.