Kickstand up for Tillamook Day 5

Day 5 September 12, 2007

The day dawns and it is a nice one. It turns out the motel I am staying at is right on highway 99 so all I have to do is gas up and head south. After 4 days of twisty roads it feels kind of nice to be cruising along on some straight roads through beautiful farm and orchard country. I pass through several nice towns and then I see the turn off for the Evergreen Aviation Museum.
This is a huge building that houses the "Spruce Goose" and a large number of other aircraft, mostly military. The official name of the aircraft was the Hughes flying Boat or Hughes H-4. It was built entirely out of wood and it was intended to be used as a transport for military supplies that was safe from enemy submarines. The plane was built out of wood because it was considered a material that was not essential to the war effort. The plane was not finished at the end of the war and the congress ended funding for it before it was finished claiming that it was just a big rip-off by Howard Hughes and it would never have flown anyway. The press named it "The Spruce Goose" a name the Mr. Hughes hated. Howard Hughes spent 7 million of his own dollars to finish the plane and on November 2 1947 with Howard Hughes at the controls the H-4 was doing taxi testing in Long Beach Harbor when he accelerated the plane and took off and flew about 70 feet off of the water. After landing he put his plane away and there it stayed , perfectly maintained until he died in 1976. Now it is here in McMinnville for all to see.





























The plane is so big that it is hard to get a picture of it that really shows it well. In addition to the the H-4 there are many other interesting aircraft on display, all beautifully restored to factory new condition. Here are a few more pictures.




























This is really a great museum and on the same caliber as the National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC. For anyone who is interested in aircraft I would highly recommend it. In addition to the museum there is also an Imax theater there and under construction is a new building that will hold space related exhibits. I spent several hours there then I mounted up and continued down the road towards Eugene. I really enjoyed the ride down the Willamette Valley on highway 99. I got on the freeway at Eugene and it was a little tense. The with the traffic, aggressive drivers and trucks made me think I was back in the Bay Area or L.A. again. I made it to the highway 58 junction and there I left I-5 and headed east through the Willamette Valley towards Willamette Pass. I decided to stop for the night in a really nice little town called Oakridge. Here is a picture of the little motel where I stayed.
After settling in I look for a place to get a bite to eat then back to my room for a good nights sleep.

168 miles.