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Greetings and welcome to this performance of Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark...
Well, here I am at beautiful Jamdat with not much to do and a computer in front of me, so I thought to myself:
"Self! Why not write up an LJ post? It will at least look like you're doing something productive!"
Golly, my self is right, for once.
So here's a little story about a Kzin named Zrath...
Two weekends ago, I attended the Edwards Air Force Base Open house with Warren (No LJ).
I don't remember when I last went, but I think it was before Y2K.
We left my neck of the woods at around 8:30am on Saturday and headed North on the 405, then the 5, then the 14,
which takes you to Palmdale, Lancaster, and the rest of the Antelope Valley (including Edwards).
When we left West L.A., the weather was overcast and wet. I felt slightly foolish for wearing shorts and
a t-shirt, and I had packed a change of clothes just in case the weather was the same at Edwards.
As we headed up the 14 and gained altitude, we passed through the clouds and found ourselves bathed in sunlight.
The weather would remain sunny and warm for the rest of the day.
We passed beautiful, scenic, science-fiction landmark Vasquez Rocks on the way (diagonal rocks, kids!!).
We stopped in Palmdale for breakfast at Del Smacko, I mean Del Taco. 69 cents burritos, tasty and filling!
Back on the 14 we hopped, and North we continued heading.
We noticed a lot of standing water on the way, which is not something I'm used to seeing there.
Usually, it's dry as a bone, it's the High Desert. But here were huge puddles and mini-lakes of water everywhere.
When we reached the outskirts of Edwards, we passed a gigantic lake that was probably only 6 inches deep.
Edwards is a dry lake bed, so it's very flat. And also not very dry around the edges at that moment. (grin)
Traffic started increasing as we approached the West Gate. All the Air Force sentries carried full packs and
assault rifles with magazines in place. Golly.
It looks like a LOT of people were coming to the Open House, more than I had ever seen.
It took us roughly 40 minutes to go from the West Gate to an actual parking spot (on a spare runway).
The base had pressed into service every single bus, coach, shuttle, and trolley in the Antelope Valley to handle
the huge number of visitors to the event. I've been here twice and I ain't never seen so many people here!
Warren and I clambered aboard a Universal Studios-style trolley and rode to the entrance with the rest of the crowd.
I shot two rolls of film and I got them developped yesterday. Pictures will be forthcoming, once I figure out
how LJ's pic-hosting system work, or I decide to build a mini-site to show them off.
Security was definitely up. They had metal detectors, both the arch and the handheld type, and a long list of
forbidden items. For example, Warren had a couple of folding chairs and we brought them along. We had to leave
the carrying bags for the chairs in the car. Large coolers were also prohibited.
The flying display had already started, so we saw a C-17 transport do some aerial drops on the way in.
There was the usual mix of acrobatic planes and military jets: B-2, B-52, F-117, F-16, F-4 (the NOISE!),
B-1 (the NOISE TWO!!), F-22, C-130, and a group of nine assorted WWII Japanese combat planes.
These Japanese planes are part of a group called Tora! Tora! Tora! , and they do simulated Pearl Harbor attacks.
I had never seen so many Japanese WWII planes in one place at one time, in the flesh, in fully functional condition!
I know the Chino Air Museum has a nice (and very rare) collection of Jap planes, but I think this trumps it.
Sadly, and to Warren's dismay, there was no A-10 Thunderbolt II (Warthog) flying display.
The air show ended with a flyby of almost everything that had flown in the show that day.
Static display-wise, they finally had a C-17 and a V-22 Osprey, two aircrafts I really wanted to see up-close.
They had the usual assortment of fun stuff: B-1 (with all its bomb bays open. Wow, you can stow a lot of luggage
in that thing!), B-52, Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier, A-10 (with access to cockpit. Geeze, it's cramped in there!),
KC-130 refueller, various WWII fighters, Blackhawk, Huey, Super-Stallion, and F-117 (don't get too close!).
Oh, the F-117 that flew in the air show had the underside painted with the stars and stripes. Looked neat!
Overall, there was a really big crowd, but only half the static display aircraft from previous shows.
The show ended at 4:30pm and people started leaving. Warren and I hung out in our folding chairs, under the
sheltering wing of the B-1, waving at all the planes taxiing back to their hangars.
The undersides of the aircrafts on static display proved to be very popular shady places with the crowd.
Eventually, the Air Force troopers kicked us out.
We headed to Santa Clarita to run some errands and get some food.
Warren recommended a place called Oggi's Pizza & Brewing Co. and it was pretty good.
We each ordered the Oggi Sticks, which is basically half a cheese pizza cut into long sticks, and served with
marinara and ranch. You can get extra toppings on it too. It was really good! The dough was awesome!
I also ordered beer-battered fish and chips, but that was pretty mediocre. I regret not sending it back and
not having it taken off the bill. It was a complete waste of $9.95. Grrrrrrrr...
Afterwards, we hit Wal-Mart (boo, hiss) because I was looking for two things that could only be gotten there.
1) The awful-awful anime DVDs mentioned by
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doronjosama in a post long ago. I found two out of three:"Defenders Of Space" and "Protectors OF Universe". From what I remember 'Sama saying, somebody in China basically
took a bunch of anime cels from classic '70s shows like Captain Harlock and stuff, and traced over them, and
made a new story which make no sense, with really bad dialogue. And it's pretty much a complete disaster.
Sounds like ideal MST3K fodder! And at a Dollar a pop, how can you go wrong!?!?
2) Star Wars die-cast ships, like Galoob used to make and Kenner is making again. Wal-Mart exclusive. BASTARDS!!
They had a lousy selection, so I didn't get any. Instead, I bought 6 Hot Wheels cars, 2006 models already!!
Afterwards, we headed back into the city. Warren dropped me off at around 1am, I think.
Overall, a fun day!
Oh darn, looks like they found something for me to do.
Stay tuned for more!
Including exciting Halloween and Netflix action!
