{"id":96572,"date":"2026-05-24T06:52:30","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T13:52:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/?p=96572"},"modified":"2026-05-24T09:05:38","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T16:05:38","slug":"200-miles-of-perilous-highway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/?p=96572","title":{"rendered":"200 Miles Of Perilous Highway!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

We were up at the crack of dawn, or 6:30 am, whatever comes first, and prepared The Silver Fox for a trip to Northern California, Camarillo to be exact.\u00a0 After cranking up the old girl (the car, not Mary), she kicked over, and engines were roaring.<\/p>\n

It was off in a cloud of dust up the 55, to the 405, to the 101, to the 23, and we arrived at Dianne’s home right on time, where we met up with Megan and Steven, Mary’s grandkids!<\/p>\n

The library was only about 25 minutes from our first stop.<\/p>\n

\"\"

The library is a beautiful building high on a hill.<\/p><\/div>\n

The weather was perfect, and the fires left a haze we had to deal with.\u00a0 The weather was perfect, and the fires left a haze we had to deal with.<\/p>\n

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We were greeted by one of the best presidents ever!<\/p><\/div>\n

Before going in, we got our picture with The Great Communicator!<\/p>\n

\"\"

The four of them had a good time.<\/p><\/div>\n

The exhibition pairs treasured artifacts with historical narratives, telling stories of the Founding Fathers alongside stories of lesser-known Americans whose grit and determination moved the nation forward.<\/p>\n

From the Revolution through the Reagan era, this exhibition showcases the defining moments of the past 250 years, highlighting how every generation has been called to defend our liberties, strengthen civic life, expand opportunity, and uphold America’s defining principles.<\/p>\n

The displays were extremely informative, things we did not learn in history class.<\/p>\n

\"\"

The America-250 exhibit was very interesting.<\/p><\/div>\n

Welcome to the Gatling Gun.\u00a0 Here’s some Gatling gun trivia:<\/p>\n

\u2022 The Gatling gun was invented by Richard Jordan Gatling in 1861.
\n\u2022 It was one of the first successful rapid-fire weapons.
\n\u2022 Early Gatling guns were hand-cranked, not fully automatic.
\n\u2022 The rotating barrels helped prevent overheating, a major issue with early machine guns.
\n\u2022 It was used during the American Civil War, but only in limited numbers.
\n\u2022 Gatling claimed he invented it partly to reduce battlefield deaths by making armies smaller \u2014 an ironic idea, considering its destructive power.
\n\u2022 The original gun could fire around 200 rounds per minute, though later versions became much faster.
\n\u2022 It used multiple barrels that rotated around a central axis.
\n\u2022 Modern rotary guns, like the M134 Minigun and GAU-8 Avenger, are direct descendants of the Gatling concept.
\n\u2022 The massive GAU-8 Avenger used on the A-10 Thunderbolt II fires 30mm rounds and is sometimes described as “a gun with an airplane built around it.”
\n\u2022 Early Gatling guns were sometimes mounted on wheeled carriages, making them look like small cannons.
\n\u2022 True automatic machine guns like the Maxim gun eventually replaced the Gatling gun.
\n\u2022 Unlike the Maxim gun, the Gatling needed an external force \u2014 originally a hand crank \u2014 to operate.
\n\u2022 Some Gatling guns were used by the U.S. Army during the Spanish-American War in 1898.
\n\u2022 The name is often misspelled as “Gatling gun”, but the correct spelling is Gatling, after its inventor.<\/div>\n
\"\"

The Gatling gun and the patent images were on display.<\/p><\/div>\n

Nancy is wearing high heels, so in reality, Nancy and Mary are about the same height!<\/p>\n

\"\"

Mary introduces herself.<\/p><\/div>\n

We are about to enter the normal library area after departing the America-250 area.<\/p>\n

\"\"

The gangs are all here.<\/p><\/div>\n

Mary was ready to do a “snatch, grab, and run,” but we calmed her down, and she was satisfied\u00a0 \u00a0She read about each of the dresses and their history.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Shall we go out?<\/p><\/div>\n

After seeing many of the displays, we headed for “the hangar.”\u00a0 Air Force One during Reagan’s administration was tail number 27000.<\/p>\n

\n

Here’s some Air Force One trivia from the Reagan administration:<\/p>\n

\u2022 During Ronald Reagan’s presidency, the main Air Force One aircraft was SAM 27000, a Boeing VC-137C, which was a military version of the Boeing 707.
\n\u2022 Reagan did not use the famous 747-style Air Force One that people often picture today.\u00a0 The current Boeing 747-based aircraft entered service in 1990, after Reagan left office.
\n\u2022 The 747 replacements, known as VC-25A, were actually ordered during the Reagan administration in 1985.
\n\u2022 Reagan’s Air Force One still wore the classic blue-and-white livery designed during the Kennedy era with help from Raymond Loewy, one of America’s most famous industrial designers.
\n\u2022 The aircraft’s tail number, 27000, is why it was commonly referred to as SAM 27000 when the president was not aboard.\u00a0 “SAM” stands for Special Air Mission.
\n\u2022 It was only called Air Force One when President Reagan was actually on board.\u00a0 If he wasn’t aboard, it used a different call sign.
\n\u2022 Reagan used Air Force One frequently to travel between Washington, D.C., and California, especially when visiting his ranch, Rancho del Cielo, near Santa Barbara.
\n\u2022 Reagan often called his California ranch the “Western White House,” and Air Force One trips to California became a regular part of his presidency.
\n\u2022 SAM 27000 carried Reagan to several major Cold War diplomatic events, including summits with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
\n\u2022 Reagan used Air Force One for trips connected to major speeches and symbolic Cold War moments, including his 1987 visit to Berlin, where he gave the famous “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” speech.
\n\u2022 The aircraft had secure communications equipment that allowed Reagan to stay in contact with military and government officials while airborne.
\n\u2022 Compared with modern Air Force One aircraft, Reagan’s 707-based plane was smaller, narrower, and had less range than the later 747s.
\n\u2022 SAM 27000 had already served presidents before Reagan, including Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Jimmy Carter.
\n\u2022 After Reagan, SAM 27000 continued serving President George H. W. Bush until the new 747 Air Force One aircraft entered service.
\n\u2022 SAM 27000 was eventually retired and is now on display at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.
\n\u2022 At the Reagan Library, visitors can actually walk through the aircraft and see the cabin used by Reagan and other presidents.
\n\u2022 Reagan’s Air Force One became closely associated with the image of the presidency during the final decade of the Cold War.
\n\u2022 Although the plane looked sleek and elegant, it was essentially a heavily modified Boeing 707, a design that dated back to the early jet age.
\n\u2022 Nancy Reagan influenced the style and presentation of Reagan-era presidential spaces, and the later 747 interiors reflected some of the elegance associated with that period.
\n\u2022 SAM 27000 is one of the most historically significant presidential aircraft because it served through a major era of Cold War diplomacy and remained in use for decades.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"\"

The airplane is beautiful<\/p><\/div>\n

We are ready to walk through the airplane, which is a step back into history!<\/p>\n

\"\"

Just us!<\/p><\/div>\n

I stopped at the communications center in front of the cabin, right behind the pilots.\u00a0 The area was fairly large and contained a lot of equipment, but I focused on the KG (Key Generator) boxes.\u00a0 I can’t say very much, but when I was working at Rockwell\/Boeing, I dealt with these boxes.\u00a0 They were point-to-point boxes, and network-compatible boxes like the KG-250 have now replaced them.<\/p>\n

\"\"

I knew these KG boxes well.<\/p><\/div>\n

Nice office, considering it flew at 35,000 feet and traveled the world.<\/p>\n

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The president’s airborne office.<\/p><\/div>\n

We also visited the helicopter.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

After the museum, we headed to Bonnie’s home in nearby Moorepark.\u00a0 We stayed a while before heading home.<\/p>\n

\"\"

We visited Bonnie and her family before heading home.<\/p><\/div>\n

It took over two hours to get home as I goofed and took the 118 into Interstate 5, which went through Los Angeles.\u00a0 As Mary said, “We have learned a lesson”.<\/p>\n

When we got home, the banner was ready to be hung on our fence outside the house.<\/p>\n

\"\"

“A chicken in every garage and a car in the pot!”<\/p><\/div>\n

We were pooped out, but we did decide to watch two episodes of “Dutton Ranch” before crashing at 10:00 pm.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We were up at the crack of dawn, or 6:30 am, whatever comes first, and prepared The Silver Fox for a trip to Northern California, Camarillo to be exact.\u00a0 After cranking up the old girl (the car, not Mary), she … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-96572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adventures","category-family"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=96572"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96572\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96610,"href":"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96572\/revisions\/96610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=96572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=96572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lilesnet.com\/dailydiary\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=96572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}