Our first stop along the trip is the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library. Hoover is the earliest president to have an official presidential library, and while most of these libraries are in at least medium-sized cities, Hoover's is right next to his birthplace in the tiny town of West Branch, Iowa.

https://imgur.com/a/tXww5Bl

Hoover is one of America's lowest-rated president, but his library will do its best to make him seem like the most 180 American to ever live.

The first part of the museum quickly summarizes Hoover's early life. It's low on artifacts, but it does have a recreation of the shitty shack Hoover had to live in while leading mining operations in Australia.

https://imgur.com/a/NxHe93K

Hoover graduated from Stanford at 20 with no job prospects. Rather than applying to law school, he took a more enterprising approach: A London firm wanted an experienced mining engineer, at least 35 years old. So Hoover just grew a beard, bought a tweed suit, and faked being an oldmo. This completely worked.

https://imgur.com/a/oYCNfqH

After maeking it in Australia, Hoover and his wife moved to China, where they learned Chinese, lived like mandarins, and survived the Boxer Rebellion at an age where you were using Purell at a cubicle desk. The museum has some of their China swag.

https://imgur.com/a/uWGMcUp

https://imgur.com/a/6Bzl3QY

At the age of 28, Hoover was one of the most elite mining engineers in the world, and was salaried at $33,000 a year, close a million in today's dollars. That's just a standard biglaw PPP these days, but back then it made Hoover supposed the richest salaryman of his age in the world.

https://imgur.com/a/rmIvYrx

After a decade, Hoover was tremendously wealthy. But then, he did something incredible: He walked away from striving after wealth to become the world's most famous humanitarian. When World War I broke out, he quit his mining job to focus first on helping Americans flee Europe, and then masterminding food relief for the continent. Hoover made huge loans to help people flee Europe, and pledged his entire personal fortune multiple times in order to get his relief operation off the ground. The museum has a bunch of items sent to Hoover by grateful Europeans from across the continent.

https://imgur.com/a/38A5vgw

https://imgur.com/a/FSdXa1q

https://imgur.com/a/O1l4Vl3

https://imgur.com/a/IrmSmSV

One weird album from Germany has shitty kid art of brown natives in a far-off country harvesting food for Hoover's relief effort:

https://imgur.com/a/i5NmMHg

For some reason, the museum also has a jigsaw puzzle of Latvia:

https://imgur.com/a/ARlQgbM

After WW1 ended, Hoover was one of the most popular people in the entire world. The museum can't resist noting that FDR wanted Hoover to be president at this time:

https://imgur.com/a/9lo0ThQ

In the 1920s, Hoover served as Warren Harding's and Calvin Coolidge's Secretary of Commerce. Under every other president Commerce has been a borderline irrelevant department, but Hoover made it one of the most visible and active departments in the country. He spearheaded the standardization of radio and the implementation of safety standards for car and airline travel. He turned the Census Bureau into a huge data operation for American businesses. He promoted home ownership and created the Colorado River Compact. Hoover's enthusiasm for work was so intense he routinely invaded other departments and took control of projects he thought other secretaries were mismanaging.

https://imgur.com/a/NBrCdAe

Now, of course, things start to go badly for Hoover. He wins the presidency in a landslide, but the economy tanks and Hoover takes all the blame. The museum tries very hard to make Hoover sound like a prophet who anticipated the stock market crash, but had his warnings ignore by greedy business interests.

https://imgur.com/a/PaP1xG8

The museum also highlights a surprisingly R-rated joke by Hoover.

https://imgur.com/a/6VAEk08

A small exhibit highlights the extremely brave effort of Republican operatives who had to push for Hoover's reelection in 1932. It did not end well:

https://imgur.com/a/ZhPqlZz

https://imgur.com/a/d9NpdM5

Media was really retarded a century ago, too. Some woman thought her knee creases looked like Hoover and it was a big story:

https://imgur.com/a/A1Rn1gm

Hoover's wife (who had the badass hobby of collecting weapons) pissed off a lot of people by inviting a black woman to dine at the White House. The Museum preserves a deranged letter the First Family was sent by an irate Southern woman.

https://imgur.com/a/IYFh2Xw

Teleprompters are apparently a lot older than I thought:

https://imgur.com/a/Ws4AK48

Lots of presidential libraries have a replica of that president's Oval Office. Fittingly for a man whose life was 180 except for his time as president, Hoover's library instead has a replica of his post-presidency office in the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. From here, Hoover wrote a mountain of books and articles that set the standard for an American post-presidency. Some of his ideas were good (he suggested banning ghost-writers in politics), and some were terrible (he wanted four strikes in baseball).

https://imgur.com/a/GxiWDgv

Outside the museum is Hoover's tomb, which lies within sight of his preserved childhood home.

https://imgur.com/a/xAJHNDK

That was a sedate but pleasant start to a very long drive. Our next stop will be a lot more energetic: We're going to Doobs' #1 truck stop.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4225459&forum_id=2#37964515)

"how do you like our boyfriend [?] on his knees?"

i think its a lewd joke.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4225459&forum_id=2#37971549)

https://www.traditioninaction.org/OrganicSociety/A_007_CoronationFeast.htm

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4225459&forum_id=2#37964858)

https://m.imgur.com/a/d9NpdM5

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4225459&forum_id=2#37964857)

https://hoover.blogs.archives.gov/2016/06/08/hoover-and-the-teleprompter/

"Hoover used a Schlafly teleprompter at the 1952 Chicago Republican National Convention"

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4225459&forum_id=2#37968838)

Hoover was one of our most accomplished presidents but also objectively shitty at the job.

Did you have lunch in West Branch?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4225459&forum_id=2#37968857)

Our next stop is a very historically important location: The Iowa 80 truck stop, just outside Davenport. It claims to be the largest truck stop in the entire world.

https://imgur.com/a/l0G1hap

Any longtime XO poster, of course, will know just why Iowa 80 is so important: As the largest truck stop in the world, it's also a critical location in Doobs' truck stop prostitution empire. Peterman may win out in sheer depravity, but Doobs is a man of volume. He exists to provide a service, and that service is ensuring every trucker in the Midwest has the release he needs to keep running the rigs between Pennsylvania and the Great Plains. In a publicity stunt during the 2014 Christmas trucking season, Doobs managed to service a record-setting 617 truckers in an unbroken 24-hour stretch at this location.

Outside the truck stop, dozens if not hundreds of trucks are amassed.

https://imgur.com/a/ibHAZr5

Inside the stop, very large signs point to the restrooms. They know what the typical trucker is here for:

https://imgur.com/a/rg1L119

The actual restrooms are going through a costly renovation right now; intended to give them a rougher edge that will allow for greater competition in Peterman's depravity niche.

https://imgur.com/a/9cTPuoZ

There's plenty more to see in the truck stop though. It's as large as a small shopping mall, with a big food court filled with Middle American fats. There's even an Orange Julius if that's your thing.

https://imgur.com/a/Mdgm9jf

https://imgur.com/a/yOzKCoG

The second floor has some amenities for truck drivers. Not just showers, but also a theater, dentist, and even a chiropractor.

https://imgur.com/a/xQS2phT

The tourist trap kitsch fittingly includes tons of Red State America stuff, like military pins, flag t-shirts, and of course a model tank made out of expended rifle rounds.

https://imgur.com/a/fKqohaA

Besides the restrooms, the real heart of the truck stop is the trucker store, a massive floor space filled with everything a trucker could want, from audio books and custom steering wheels to seat pads and exhaust pipes.

https://imgur.com/a/gIefO12

https://imgur.com/a/fbnj4fR

https://imgur.com/a/H3KXG5U

At the far end is a small "show floor" for nifty trucks.

https://imgur.com/a/kHepdBX

Next door, a giant building houses a free museum of trucking, but sadly we don't have time to visit it. If you want the all-inclusive trip, go check out the nearest Bobby Digital thread. The Charles Digital experience requires greater celerity.

It's about 1 pm, and we need to make it all the way to Dayton, Ohio tonight. That means we don't have time for any big tourist attractions, and fortunately there really aren't many. Instead, we'll be making a few short stops to check out novelty statues.

The first stop is right in nearby Davenport. In the 1850s, railroad companies wanted to build rail bridges across the Mississippi, but were opposed by ferry companies that feared going out of business. This resulted in a major legal battle, and one railroad brought in the top BIGRAILROAD attorney in the United States, a certain Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln won his case, and to this day railroads run across the Mississippi with impunity. A statue right by the old rail bridge shows Lincoln looking at the under-construction bridge, thinking of cutting legal arguments.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=images&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwillpO275ThAhUoU98KHQEyAxEQjRx6BAgBEAU&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wvik.org%2Fpost%2Fabraham-lincoln-statue-unveiled-davenport&psig=AOvVaw3QEBdLWlyzAaFocBD7VxGB&ust=1553313918046880

The next stop is in Galesburg, Illinois, which has one of Ronald Reagan's numerous boyhood homes (he moved a lot). The house is still privately owned, so you can't go in, but it does have a plaque outside. Reagan learned to read while in this house.

https://imgur.com/a/HALARkX

A church a couple blocks away has a hard-hitting message for the faithful.

https://imgur.com/a/aGXk2UF

Our next stop is in the city of Peoria. It was once of great concern that ideas, products, and shows be able to "play" here. Today, it's another over-the-hill Midwestern city, and just last year it endured the loss of Caterpillar Inc's HQ to the Chicago suburb of Deerfield. The company still has 12,000 employees here, though, and a sexy museum on the riverfront.

https://imgur.com/a/Ts4OlUT

That's not what we're here to see, though. We're here to see this goofy 30-foot-tall statue of Abraham Lincoln giving the Gettysburg Address to a 20th century "common man." Said common man strongly resembles popular 50s singer Perry Como, who has no connection to Peoria or central Illinois.

https://imgur.com/a/MpV8VIG

Richard Pryor actually is from Peoria, but his statue is comparatively less impressive, and has a kinda-obnoxious plug for the sculptor on the base.

https://imgur.com/a/MrgWkzj

Let's keep trucking down I-74. In Bloomington, there's a statue of Lincoln that is supposed to represent him plotting a future with two of his friends, Bloomington residents Jesse Fell and David Davis. At a glance, though, it looks more like Lincoln is breaking up a fight.

https://imgur.com/a/BTm79WK

The statue has a handful of quotes from speeches Lincoln gave in Bloomington. Since the statue is pretty recent, naturally some lib added a Lincoln quote that seems to troll for wind power.

https://imgur.com/a/AulNVNJ

The final pit stop in Illinois is in Urbana, home of the University of Illinois's flagship campus. Like pretty much every major college, UIUC is obsessed with getting more women in STEM, and their idea for accomplishing that was to put up a goofy statue of a Woman Scientist Superhero.

https://imgur.com/a/htdPB6q

Names "The Quintessential Engineer," this statue shows a woman running, wearing adventuresome trousers, using some sci-fi touchscreen thing, and standing atop proud Engineering Virtues like "Confident" and "Successful."

https://imgur.com/a/rQJjHCB

The statue was paid for by the world's least-innovative tech company, Texas Instruments.

https://imgur.com/a/hMGigGv

And with that, we're done with the state of Illinois. Fun times!

There is nothing to see in Indiana.

After a four-hour drive, then, we arrive in Dayton, Ohio. We'll have more to do tomorrow, but for tonight, our goal is to try Dayton's chief culinary artifact, Dayton-style pizza. It's sold at basically only one place, the local chain Marion's Piazza. Lots of locals will say to skip it, but what's the point of traveling if we're just going to do the same shit we can do anywhere?

The restaurant itself is painted to look like you are in some scenic Italian villa rather than Ohio.

https://imgur.com/a/ZA9YebH

When you order the pizza at Marion's, be sure to ask to use the "old oven." It takes slightly longer, but it comes out a lot better. Dayton-style pizza is basically a pizza with tiny square slices and a thin, cracker-like crust. It's basically like a really high-quality frozen pizza.

https://imgur.com/a/8ZG4QeP

A server plays air guitar with a pizza peel.

https://imgur.com/a/0HaJth0

All right, time to crash. Tomorrow we visit Dayton's chief claim to fame: The mammoth Museum of the United States Air Force.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4225459&forum_id=2#37969687)

And that pizza looks disgusting.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4225459&forum_id=2#37970281)

http://static.news-gazette.com/sites/all/files/imagecache/lightbox_800_600_scale/images/2017/04/27/20170427-225257-pic-323112306.jpg

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4225459&forum_id=2#37970347)

https://imgur.com/a/Mdgm9jf

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4225459&forum_id=2#37971278)

http://www.facilities.uiowa.edu/art-on-campus/gallery_images/full%20size/KS-Nowlan3.jpg

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4225459&forum_id=2#37971582)

Wonder why they moved it.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4225459&forum_id=2#37970359)

The Peoria Riverfront Museum is preparing for the installation next week of “Return Visit,” a 31-foot-tall, 19-ton painted bronze sculpture of Lincoln standing with a modern-day man who is holding the Gettysburg Address.

The sculpture has been on display in Chicago for the past year next to Tribune Tower, and through some serendipitous timing, museum officials were able to secure its next stop here just as bicentennial celebrations are beginning.

A local resident had mentioned the sculptor, Seward Johnson, to PRM President and CEO John Morris, and the museum chief asked one of the curators to reach out to Johnson’s foundation.

Johnson’s other work includes sculptures of Marilyn Monroe and of a couple standing with a pitchfork in homage to the famous Grant Wood painting. Both were displayed in Chicago during the last decade.

During the course of the curator’s conversation with the foundation, it came up that the Lincoln piece was wrapping up its run in Chicago and needed a new home.

“We took advantage of an opportunity,” Morris says, marveling at how the timing worked out.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4225459&forum_id=2#37970368)

Dayton houses this museum because it’s the sadly-forgotten birthplace of modern aviation. Kitty Hawk, North Carolina is instantly famous as the location of the first powered flight, and North Carolina ever puts “First in Flight” on its license plate and state quarter. But Daytonians will inform you that this is RANCID FLAME. The Wright Brothers hated North Carolina, were only there because of the favorable winds, and got the fuck out of there as soon as they could. The ACTUAL birthplace of aviation is right here in Dayton, where the Wright Brothers operated their bike shop and experimented with heavier-than-air craft as an autistic hobby.

The actual museum is accessed from, not flame, a road named Bong Street. It’s gigantic, spanning five immense hangers.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2d/Aerial_view_of_the_National_Museum_of_the_U.S._Air_Force_4.jpg/1920px-Aerial_view_of_the_National_Museum_of_the_U.S._Air_Force_4.jpg

The hangers are arranged by topic, with wings covering different topics in generally chronological order. The coolest wing, of course, is the World War 2 one, so let’s start there.

Right when you walk in, you encounter perhaps the single most famous plane in the museum: Bock’s Car, the bomber that ended World War 2 by dropping Fat Man on Nagasaki.

https://imgur.com/a/3Dgy5NS

https://imgur.com/a/oWyg9w1

A case next to the plane has some items from the Nagasaki mission.

https://imgur.com/a/xuUz8Oz

This model Fat Man isn’t simply a mock-up, it’s an actual decommissioned nuclear shell painted in imitation of the Nagasaki bomb.

https://imgur.com/a/rRvV7cB

These scraps of a wrecked plane are from The Flying Dutchman, a troop transport that crashed in New Guinea. A handful of uninjured troops were able to make it back to civilization, but the wounded men left behind died before rescue parties found them. Their daily diary was preserved on a piece of the airframe.

https://imgur.com/a/JWNmWZt

https://imgur.com/a/bgLiQOR

Another case holds the fragments from the final kamikaze attack of World War 2.

https://imgur.com/a/NQcupJQ

Fortunately, not EVERY Japanese plane was used in a suicide attack. This Kawanishi N1K-J, nicknamed “George,” was one of the best Japanese fighters of the war, substantially outclassing the more famous Zero.

https://imgur.com/a/IULxRPa

An exhibit honors the achievements of the Brazilian air force in World War 2, and their “Fab” aircrews.

https://imgur.com/a/yryq9It

The display for Luftwaffe officers has a humorously severe-looking Nazi stereotype.

https://imgur.com/a/iAmZcZP

China was a crucial front in the Pacific War, and the allies made heavy use of its airfields. But China at the time had no heavy equipment, so instead runways were paved by having hundreds of manual laborers drag these 10,000 pounds stones around.

https://imgur.com/a/fj9dRsU

This primitive air-to-air rocket was developed by the Germans. Even in flight, it was attached to the firing plane by thin wires, and controlled with a joystick. It had an acoustic proximity fused, designed to detonate as it approached the sound of a B-17’s engines. The missile didn’t see active service, but I’d guess it’s shown up in at least one WW2 video game regardless.

https://imgur.com/a/6ue0qrR

There are several other German wunderwaffe’s on display. The Me 262A was the first jet-powered fighter aircraft to see action. It dominated allied planes in the final stages of the war, but was too little, too late to turn the tide.

https://imgur.com/a/t0DJnWn

The museum also has an Me 163 Komet, which looks like some kind of toy airplane enlarged to life-size:

https://imgur.com/a/j4eDnri

The Komet is the only rocket-powered fighter jet ever used in combat. It was incredibly fast (breaking 700 mph on one test flight), but had a short range and was extremely dangerous to operate. The descriptive plaque touches on the difficulties it faced.

https://imgur.com/a/KqdcKLQ

Lastly, there’s an authentic V-2 rocket, the world’s first long-range ballistic missile.

https://imgur.com/a/YyTSeHj

This next German plane wasn’t a wonder weapon, but it was the most iconic German fighter of the war. The Me 109 scored more aerial victories in WW2 than any other fighter, and served for the entirety of the war in every front of the European theater.

https://imgur.com/a/jCEK5xS

And let us not forget the contribution of the ITALIAN air force. This plane…was an Italian fighter. Not much more to be said.

https://imgur.com/a/etpCUqM

This wax scene of Allied troops conquering Germany interestingly includes several authentic trashed Nazi objects in the rubble.

https://imgur.com/a/GjYANDP

https://imgur.com/a/dOkusLk

The museum displays an honor roll created by an Allied air unit to commemorate its aces, but prudes at the museum have censored it to cover up the naked women. Sad!

https://imgur.com/a/WDl8yJP

The museum may not tolerate nudity, but it is perfectly tolerant of PG-13 language on allied bombers.

https://imgur.com/a/H39Z3tS

This display on America’s main air-dropped torpedo can’t avoid the fact that it was a monumental piece of shit.

https://imgur.com/a/uPAJx6e

Today, Hollywood actors shun national service, but World War 2 was a different time and many stars were eager to serve despite the dangers. Jimmy Stewart wore this jacket during many dangerous bombing runs over Europe.

https://imgur.com/a/KPw27I9

Ronald Reagan’s poor eyesight kept him out of combat service, but he did wear this jacket while helping to make training films.

https://imgur.com/a/7WzLlVu

Walt Disney was deeply invested in the war effort too. Besides producing educational and propaganda films, Disney animators also produced tons of patches and designs for air units to use.

https://imgur.com/a/JsRV4BI

https://imgur.com/a/YIPI3bk

One set of seven bombers even had themselves decorated on a Seven Dwarves theme!

https://imgur.com/a/EdBWAxt

Along with Bock’s Car, the other famous bomber in the museum is the Memphis Belle.

https://imgur.com/a/aomuVpd

https://imgur.com/a/JlAjGrp

Bombing raids over Europe were extremely dangerous in the early stages of the war. Until the introduction of long-range fighters like the P-51 Mustang, raids were made without fighter escorts, and losses could exceed 25% on a single raid. To boost morale, crews were told that if they completed 25 missions, they’d be rotated out of combat service. The Memphis Belle was one of the first bombers to complete a 25-mission rotation, so it was brought back to America for a high-profile war bonds tour that made both the craft and crew famous.

The Memphis Belle was named after the pilot’s fiancée, Margaret Polk, but she dumped him after it turned out that he was using his fame to smash tons of pussy (he eventually married six times!).

https://imgur.com/a/UMuwhEo

The Museum’s exhibits on famous bombers continues with its shrine to the Doolittle Raiders who bombed Tokyo in early 1942. As the first force to strike at the Japanese home islands, the Doolittle men were national heroes. In 1959, the city of Tucson honored them by creating a silver goblet for every member of the raid. Those goblets are on display here.

https://imgur.com/a/z9lqwVv

At reunions, the survivors of the raid would do toasts with these goblets. When on display, a goblet was turned up for every living member of the raid, and placed upside down for those who had died. Today, only one goblet remains standing: Richard Cole, still going at 103 years old.

A plaque notes the many, many fuck-ups made by Tucson in making the goblets.

https://imgur.com/a/HinRFVh

The Doolittle raiders were heroes to the Chinese (who helped many of them escape capture by the Japanese after ditching over the Chinese mainland). Pieces of Chinese artwork celebrate them.

https://imgur.com/a/DePCgQg

https://imgur.com/a/YeGdJZK

This headband was recovered from a Japanese pilot shot down attacking Pearl Harbor.

https://imgur.com/a/8EMH8LM

Holy shit! That was only ONE hangar of this museum. Damn, this place is massive.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4225459&forum_id=2#37975644)

https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0100133/

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4225459&forum_id=2#37976468)

https://www.pistilbooks.net/assets/images/product/143044.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Bong

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4225459&forum_id=2#37976576)

https://imgur.com/a/P5qAAZ5

There’s a shitty Dachau map sketched by a man held there.

https://imgur.com/a/5Atlv34

Unsurprisingly, the chief assets of the early aviation wing are artifacts related to the Wright Brothers. The brothers were aviation pioneers because of their practical work testing airframes using a homemade wind tunnel. One of their wind tunnels is intact and on display.

https://imgur.com/a/Yv40BYh

There’s also an authentic 1895 Wright bicycle.

https://imgur.com/a/gKzBrTG

The big Model A military flyer on display, though, is only a replica.

https://imgur.com/a/pHLuvCx

A recreation of a WW1-era airfield has some preposterous English fellows sitting around sipping tea and shit.

https://imgur.com/a/s4evyys

The Wrights were big underdogs in the race to develop the first working airplane. They were nobodies from Are Country. The smart money was on a guy named Samuel Pierpont Langley, Boston Brahmin and recipient of $50,000 in Congressional funding. Langley burned through the money, though, and retired in frustration just days before the Wright’s successful flight. Despite this, he still had the first US aircraft carrier named after him.

https://imgur.com/a/kj0wH3S

Quentin Roosevelt, the son of President Theodore Roosevelt, was killed as a pilot in WW1. A cross erected over his grave by German soldiers is on display.

https://imgur.com/a/YfIVwH6

The U.S. squadron emblems of WW1 are really fucking not okay by today’s standards.

https://imgur.com/a/9pDxsiw

This carrier pigeon won a medal for delivering a medal despite having a leg shot off. Now, its stuffed corpse remains on display.

https://imgur.com/a/eqZHKel

In the rafters above, an observation blimp is targeted by a German plane. That balloon is totally fucked.

https://imgur.com/a/dXev6Co

An early autogyro is on display. The rotor above isn’t powered, but instead rotates from air flowing over it. This set-up can allow a plane to fly even at very low speeds.

https://imgur.com/a/plMMEQr

Now, it’s time to move on to the post-WW2 hangars. One of the first sights is a gigantic B-52 Stratofortress. Its first flight was in 1952, but to this day it remains in service as a strategic and nuclear bomber.

https://imgur.com/a/Vuo2wIu

There’s also an F-22 Raptor, America’s current air-superiority fighter.

https://imgur.com/a/jSRhkdx

The days of these manned aircraft are numbered, though, as more and more roles are taken by unmanned drones. They’ve gotten enormous lately:

https://imgur.com/a/R56Yq9T

As you walk in to the Cold War part of the museum, a large world map indicates which countries were part of the Western and Easter blocs.

https://imgur.com/a/XRNBYuz

Wait…something is a bit funny about that map.

https://imgur.com/a/lWgksGI

Holy shit! Something IS funny. They’ve tinkered with the map in the vicinity of Israel.

https://imgur.com/a/Py0fDSj

They’ve added blue tape to represent Israel as an American ally. Funny! Btw, in 1960, Israel really wasn’t an American ally. The U.S. stayed neutral on Arab-Israeli matters in an attempt to win Nasser’s Egypt as an ally. Some googling indicates that the original map mistakenly showed Israel as a Soviet ally, though. Somebody must have been really MAF about that!

In the Korean War wing there is a MiG-15bis, obtained from a North Korean pilot who was paid $100,000 for defecting just days before the armistice. This advanced fighter was codenamed “Faggot” by NATO forces (not flame!).

https://imgur.com/a/rBCYJrx

In the Korean War, “Dream Girls” were housewife-looking women taking their clothes off for you. It was the 50s.

https://imgur.com/a/jZZx1Q7

Nothing in the rules says a dog can’t be a paratrooper:

https://imgur.com/a/GFUCo6n

The B-2 stealth bomber is somewhat hard to photograph. It’s just a big flying wedge thing.

https://imgur.com/a/HOIO0Pj

Slightly easier is the F-117 Nighthawk, in all its ugly, not-terribly-effective-at-combat glory.

https://imgur.com/a/XaUBF2v

Far more effective is the A-10 Thunderbolt, which despite 47 years and several attempts to replace it remains the military’s preferred close air support craft.

https://imgur.com/a/YzZ0Don

In case you haven’t been to the Smithsonian hangar out by Dulles, this museum ALSO has an SR-71 Blackbird, to this day the fastest manned jet ever flown.

https://imgur.com/a/XyUYrMS

The Blackbird was preceded by the U-2 spy plane, which hangs in the rafters above. This jet was linked to two major Cold War incidents, the first when it was shot down over the Soviet Union and the second when it discovered Soviet missile bases in Cuba.

https://imgur.com/a/k45PPz8

This suit of armor was the mascot of an Air Force squadron, and for years was abducted by rival squadrons who took him to places as far-flung as Greenland and South Vietnam. Today, he is retired to the museum, and it would now be a court marshal offense to steal him.

https://imgur.com/a/PlAD2jk

This F-106 fighter on display is unexceptional but for one fact: It managed to successfully land on its own AFTER the pilot ejected.

https://imgur.com/a/JD299OS

https://imgur.com/a/TFsXqOl

This weird-looking craft is the fittingly-named F-104 Starfighter.

https://imgur.com/a/w9uwUz9

The Starfighter set numerous speed records, earning the nickname “missile with a man in it,” but its safety record was atrocious with more than a hundred pilots dying in accidents attempting to fly it. Lockheed bribed numerous officials to get it adopted anyway, causing a massive scandal.

The Starfighter was also involved in a famous air disaster, where Lockheed has all their advanced Air Force jets fly in close formation for a photo op. Wake turbulence caused the Starfighter to lurch into the experimental XB-70 supersonic bomber, destroying both. It was all caught on video, though only still images have surfaced for the public it seems.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCORwUxlNQo

The last surviving XB-70 bomber is also in the museum:

https://media.defense.gov/2016/May/19/2001541896/780/780/0/160519-F-IO108-002.JPG

Along with the random Holocaust exhibit, the museum also has a random chunk of the Berlin Wall (the Hoover Museum had one too…does EVERY museum have a Berlin Wall piece?). The guy on top of the wall looks kinda silly.

https://imgur.com/a/hb7Je5P

This jet flew in Desert Storm and logged something (Kills? Missions?) in “camels.” NOT okay, Air Force plz censor or provide trigger warnings.

https://imgur.com/a/eGqXZva

https://imgur.com/a/BzvtJl4

The AC-130 is famous for those Call of Duty Modern Warfare missions where you blast Russians to smithereens from the sky.

https://imgur.com/a/M659ltO

Amid all the planes is another odd interloper: A customized Dodge Challenger, dubbed the “Vapor Special Operations Supercar.” A friend of yours is more blunt: It’s a bullshit James Bond-style thing intended to boost Air Force recruiting.

https://imgur.com/a/3CjNlK2

As you move on to the final hangar, you pass through a room holding several decommissioned ballistic missiles.

https://imgur.com/a/kT64DWD

An exhibit shows the soldiers tasked with firing off the missiles should the president order them. Since it’s now 2019, both soldiers are women.

https://imgur.com/a/R8hTuPg

The Starfighter may have been nickname “missile with a man in it,” but the X-15 is a literal manned missile.

https://imgur.com/a/ad6efKH

Dropped in mid-air by a B-52, the X-15 was the first aircraft to exceed 5 times the speed of sound, and flew so high that pilots could be awarded astronaut wings. In the early days of the space race, it was used to test the stresses astronauts would have to endure; one early pilot was Neil Armstrong himself.

Speaking of actual astronauts, the Apollo 15 command module is here, on loan from the Smithsonian.

https://imgur.com/a/rZJnzm0

This cartoonish craft, the XF-85 Goblin, was another experiment in air-launched fighters. It was designed to attach to the underbelly of a large bomber, and detach if needed to engage enemy interceptors. Deprived even of landing gear, it would have to reattach to its bombers to successfully land. It was never used in combat.

https://imgur.com/a/GRo3XV1

https://imgur.com/a/KHfYMv1

This craft here is a literal flying saucer.

https://imgur.com/a/KXIghky

The final part of the museum is dedicated to numerous presidential planes. The first one is the Sacred Cow, which carried FDR to the Yalta Conference. It has an elevator to accommodate FDR’s wheelchair.

https://imgur.com/a/fzwA7DS

https://imgur.com/a/J3I1K0X

The Independence, naturally, carried President Truman, while the Columbine was used by Dwight Eisenhower.

https://imgur.com/a/gKBvt9q

https://imgur.com/a/o13PHjQ

In the mid-50’s, the “Air Force One” call sign was adopted for any plane carrying the president. During JFK’s administration, the current iconic design of presidential planes was adopted, supposedly the work of Jackie Kennedy. Several small presidential jets are on display:

https://imgur.com/a/fUs7NG5

https://imgur.com/a/Y5rHpCR

The most famous presidential plane of all, though, is the SAM 26000, a modified 707 that was the president’s primary transport from 1962 to 1972. It carried JFK to Dallas in 1963, and LBJ’s famous oath of office photo took place aboard it.

https://imgur.com/a/MkZaOLV

The plane’s interior is kept as it was when in service.

https://imgur.com/a/jWWAHe6

A plaque marks the otherwise nondescript spot where the oath occurred.

https://imgur.com/a/ifcM4Vx

And that’s everything! Whew, you ended up spending about 4 hours here, and you didn’t even get a close look at everything. But you really need to be hitting the road if you want to get back home by Monday morning, so let’s keep moving.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4225459&forum_id=2#37977421)

Maybe instead of uploading individual photos, you could upload an entire album to Imgur, and put the majority of your captions and comments inline on Imgur instead of on XO?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4225459&forum_id=2#37979543)

also just get an adapter if u care that much?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4225459&forum_id=2#37980443)

At our last update we'd just finished going through Dayton's mammoth Air Force museum. As you leave, you see a park filled with small monuments to various air units.

https://i.imgur.com/UGt76xy.jpg

Before hitting the highway, you detour back to downtown Dayton. There, you can see the Wright Brothers' bicycle shop where they built their first plane...or, you could, except Henry Ford picked up the whole damn building and moved it to Dearborn, Michigan. Too bad! Instead, you can see a restoration of a different shop. The Wright Bros. worked out of this building until the late 1890s, but they only made bikes here.

https://i.imgur.com/ATErQfq.jpg

NOW you can hit the road. We could take a straight shot to DC, but instead we're going to detour to see some presidential birthplaces near Columbus.

In the small town of Delaware, you can see the birthplace of Rutherford Hayes. Sadly, Hayes' home has not survived! It's now a gas station with a plaque outside.

https://i.imgur.com/cDLawu2.jpg

We have a far more impressive destination just a few miles further, though. Marion, Ohio is a dying post-industrial city, formerly the popcorn capital of America. Warren Harding ran a newspaper here before becoming a senator and, eventually, a forgettable president known for his deeply corrupt Cabinet. Marion didn't mind too much, though, and they built a very nice neoclassical tomb for him.

https://i.imgur.com/AI6TW22.jpg

Harding requested a simple tomb beneath a tree and the open sky, and the design of the tomb accommodates this.

https://i.imgur.com/uPp8JRR.jpg

Nearby, a small display describes Harding's presidency, noting he achieved many of his goals. Albert Fall, listed on his Cabinet roster, is the Teapot Dome guy.

https://i.imgur.com/COB3j1e.jpg

Another display makes a mild effort to improve Harding's relatively shitty reputation.

https://i.imgur.com/KIDFfra.jpg

A couple miles away, Marion has preserved Harding's house. Harding ran the last "front-porch campaign" in US history here, staying home and delivering speeches to visitors but otherwise not traveling prior to his election.

https://i.imgur.com/yHY5rUB.jpg

Before leaving town, how about a snack? Let's stop at Fred's, Marion's top drive-through ice cream joint.

https://i.imgur.com/oCoSXpf.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/UOIXoyQ.jpg

Fuck yeah! But now it's evening. You truck along the highway until Pittsburgh, and sleep at a rest stop. The following morning, you head into DC, but you make one last stop along the way...

https://i.imgur.com/CwWAxQI.jpg

That's right, it's Breezewood, Pennsylvania! It's one of the only places in the US where the Interstate Highway System turns into a normal stretch of road, without controlled access through on-ramps. The town of Breezewood is entirely kept alive by the snarl of travelers who pass through and end up stopping for gas or food.

But that's not why you're here. You're here because THIS is where the legendary Treaty of Breezewood was signed. For years, it was feared the competition between Doobs and Peterman would devastate the entire trucking economy. In an astute show of statesmanship, though, the two kings of truck stop prostitution were able to settle their differences and establish spheres of influence. Peterman controls the coastal highways east of Breezewood, while Doobs has the Midwestern ones out to Iowa, including the famous I-80 stop.

You stop at the specific Sunoco where the treaty was signed.

https://i.imgur.com/HXYhQUH.jpg

Peterman and Doobs each left their "mark" on the treaty document: The former farted cum onto it, while Doobs belched it instead. Sadly, the treaty itself is now held by a private collector.

And that's it! You drive the car into DC and go back to being your own brand of cumslave, for global capitalism.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4225459&forum_id=2#38114153)