USS Lexington and other "Stuff"

Hi there, I saw this picture and just couldn't resist, thought maybe I needed to hire him, sometimes I really do drone on, and here goes....

See this guy, He was standing on a light on the USS Lexington, I was standing on the "Poop" deck, having just left the snack bar, a big sign said,"DO NOT FEED THE BIRDS", and this guy was just sitting, there so naturally I had to tell him what a bummer it was that he couldn't even get a crumb here and how sorry I was. There was a man standing next to me as I was talking to this bird, and He looked at me and said,"You're weird lady", I just started laughing and told him my husband felt the same way the first time he saw me talk to an animal! Did the guy laugh, NOPE he just gave me a funny look,shook his head, and quickly walked away!ME??? I just kept talkin' to the bird, he was lotz nicer anyway!

This is what Tokyo Rose called the USS Lexington during WWII. Every time the Japanese thought they had sunk it, it reappeared! So come on along and I'll take you on a short trip around! Here is Bill, on the ramp leading to the ship, He had a red hat on when we started up, but the wind was blowing so hard, off it went into the water, tried to get him to jump over and swim for it but he wouldn't the spoil sport!

This was on the very front of the ship, and it was a loooong way there,because the wind was blowing so hard, but we made it and stood looking out. It was really cool to do that.

The next picture was taken from about a third of the way back from here, long way,huh?

There were a lot of planes , not all of them were on this ship when it was in use, but they were great to look at !

Here Bill is sneaking a look at a plane they were restoring, he loves to look at that kind of thing, after all,he is a restorer himself!

Here He is,playing again, He sure wished his brother Chuck was alive, He would have gotten a kick out of this!

We had gone down three,steep ladders, and I was so glad to know they had put an escalator is, so Bill decided to "ride the rail" so to speak, I wasn't quite quick enough to catch him tho,but decided to send this picture anyway, He looks like a naughty little boy, doesn't He??

See what happens when you are naughty??? Doesn't matter where, in the Old West or on a Ship, in the brig ya go!!!!!

Now why this picture came out upside down is a real question, but this was taken from the ship!

This was the Commanders quarters, Lotz of room, I was kinda jealous!

The anchor hole was humongous, but really cool!

This was a big hook, used to pick up the links to the anchor chain, each link weighs 350#, WHEW!!!

This shows you the anchor and the Dael(how do you like the technical term) that it is wound up on.

They had EVERYTHING on this ship, I was amazed. a cool barber shop, a wonderful kitchen that was as modern as any restaurant!

A dentist office, OUCH!!!!

They even made dentures, amazing! Need some choppers? Me neither!!

A pharmacy, in fact they had 2, this one served the infirmary only!

This is why I was jealous of the Commanders quarters, being claustrophobic, these bunks would NEVER do for me, and I would be a "regular" sailor I'm sure. Closet is big enough tho!

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Need surgery, you got it! Amazing to me, but guess you had to have this,ya can't drive to the nearest hospital, can you??

This would be the next best place, ISOLATION, lots of room here, but you could only fake it so long, so guess that means, back to that leetle bunk!

We did so enjoy the ship, but to put on all the pictures was impossible, so put on what I could.

As we left Corpus Christi, we noticed this RV Park, we weren't on the water, but.....maybe next time, it looks wonderful!

This was the bridge we had to go over to get to where we were headed, and it was reeealy a high one!

We ended up stopping in a town called Rockport, in an RV park called 'The Lagoon, only 31 miles from Corpus Christi, I thought it ws only 21 mi. sorry,and there we saw this wonderful bird. It is made from a rubber tire, it was really something else, very creative, if I do say so myself!

In the same park we found this little family, aren't they just the cutest?? Mom or little sister is on the left, and a little harder to see, but again, such creativeness!!! Ruby, you should try this, it would look great in your yard!!

Last but not least, THIS is why we stopped so soon after leaving Corpus Christi.

We left the RV Park,headed for a Shell Station where Diesel was $2.09 a gallon. As we were pulling in, Bill didn't realize that our back tires were off the concrete and in the sand, Whody couldn't go forward OR backward, we were STUCK!!!! It took Bill almost 2 hours to get her out, thank the Lord a really nice young fellow helped, but Whody still had to be jacked up, and boards put under both axles, and poor Bill crawled under her several times. It was already 85*, but down there it must have felt 185* to him. I couldn't do anything so prayed a lot. By the time we got Whody out, filled up with fuel, and hit the road, Bill was really worn out, but because we wanted to go at least a little way, made our goal Rockport,TX. It is an amazingly beautiful little town, right on the water, we have looked around today, and think we could spend a month here sometime!

Well, now you know why we didn't get far, but tomorrow we are headed out again, were going to Galveston, but just found out there is an Eagle Bus Rally in Louisiana, on the way to Livingston this week~end, so who knows, might head that way instead, so keep readin', cause if we go there, I will be putting on pictures of Whodys family members, and that could be quite interesting! Like our families, some are better looking and grander, Younger and older,but No other bus can be as precious to us as our Whody!!!!

So, until next time, keep a stiff upper lip, stay cool, hang loose or do whatever you want until we see you again! Love ,Prayers, and Smiles to ya'll. Arlette & Bill too, and the Sassy