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Day 7: On Saturday, we spent a pleasant morning with Geoff and Kathy, then drove down to Alabaster, Alabama.
Today began with a 10am rendezvous with Geoff and Kathy at the U.S. Veterans Museum in Huntsville, Alabama. On our way to the museum we spotted this CJ-5 on the side of the road advertising a tire shop. It’s the first ‘feral’ jeep we’ve spotted during this trip:
We arrived at the U.S. Veteran’s Museum to find the museum already open and our entry fairs pre-paid (thanks Geoff and Kathy!!).
A docent welcomed us to the museum and proceeded to show us around, telling us stories. When we first met him, I specifically mentioned that Ann was an Air Force veteran and that she’d been a weapons specialist. I’ve learned to do this because the older docents often assume that it’s the men that served and the men who know weapons (I can’t tell you how many folks assumed that I was the veteran when we used to drive around in Ann’s old Mustang with the Purple Heart plates).
I don’t believe the docent meant any harm and Ann claims it doesn’t bother her (I think it in fact does), but multiple times the docent assumed it was Geoff and I who knew things about guns such as the carbine vs. the rifle (Geoff did, but I didn’t have a clue; I could hear Ann under her breath answer his question) or his comment about our boys and the Purple Hearts (Ann’s received the medal, but it’s not a point of pride for her …. In fact, women have been awarded Purple Hearts since the first winner, a nurse from Pearl Harbor in 1941.) Eventually, Ann excused herself and wandered about on her own for a little while.
Apart from that minor issue, it was fun to wander around the museum with Geoff and Kathy. Of course, I enjoyed the jeeps the best, especially the Ford Pygmy and later Ford GP. It was the first time I noticed just how different the Pygmy was to the later models. Geoff knew enough about early Ford trucks to point out some of the parts Ford had used on their prototype Pygmy. Here are some pics: