On the Way North...

After leaving Mt Charleston, we headed for Hawthorne, NV for one night and then to Alturas, California.  These 2 overnight stops were uneventful, except for the scenery along the way.  

After quite an altitude drop from 7000 ft to 3000 in 16 miles we were on our way to Hawthorne.  The traveling was sooooo beautiful.  Eastern California and eastern Oregon, along US Hwy 395, is worth a revisit one day.

Arguably a highly desirable parking spot in a hotel parking lot, we felt safe and the price was  acceptable... free :)  Our arrival was blessed with a double rainbow! 

This is our next stop.  Another safe parking lot, this time in Alturas, California.  Again...free :)

Today's travel was indeed a very beautiful drive.  It is soooo nice to be free from distractions in a setting such as this!  We stopped several times in the middle of our driving lane and got out to stretch and take pictures.  For at least 125 miles, we enjoyed traveling 15 to 20 minutes at a time, several times, with no traffic in sight!!!!!!

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Here we are at Erickson's Aircraft Collection, in Madras Oregon.  In 1943, with WWII surging overseas, the United States constructed the Madras Army Air Field in central Oregon to train American soldiers for war. When the conflict ended, the facility’s two massive hangars were left mostly vacant—until 2014, when one of them became a museum housing the Erickson Aircraft Museum.   It is one of the world’s most comprehensive collections of original WWII-era aircraft.  The vintage aircraft collection was started by Jack Erickson in 1983. The collection features over twenty-five rare aircraft, most of which are still in flying condition, such as the P-38 Lightning, P-51 Mustang, Ki43 Hayabusa, F4U Corsair, SBD Dauntless, Grumman Duck, Me-109, FW-190, B-17 Flying Fortress, and many more. The Erickson Aircraft Collection is the Pacific Northwest’s premier Flying Collection.

This Corsair was actually the one used in the movie Devotion.  Most of the aircraft in this collection still fly and are used in regional airshows.