Steel City

The reason for going to Dayton Ohio was for the Museum of the United States Airforce located on Wright-Patterson Airforce base. It had an enormous number of aircraft on display and some real rare ones like a B2 bomber and what they took pains to not describe as "Two Mustangs fused together" but in reality looks completely like two mustangs fused togther

Not! two Mustangs joined at the wing

There are 3 long 'sheds' split between the major war epochs.
My favoutite was always going to be the Cold War section

that's a mock up Shuttle in the background

 Unfortunatly for me the plane I really wanted to see, the Mach 3 XB-70 Valkryie is on display in what they call the Presidential Hangar which is located on an active part of the Airforce base and accessed by tour only. Bookings open at 9am on the day so I will have to see if I can come back to check it out.Regardless I spent about 5 hours in there, literally not realising how long it was until I got back in the car. Coming out of the AFB onto the I70 the traffic stopped and we spent about 40 minutes in a slow shuffle covering about 2 miles. I had run out of cash by this time so was looking for a Bank of America atm but there wasn't one found on any of my maps (Open Street Maps, MS Map Point 2013 and the inbuilt Jeep GPS) except for the CBD of Pittsburgh. I had heaps of fuel and some Muesli bars so was not too worried and decided to aim for a Rest Stop on the way to sleep the night.

Next day I kept on the inter state until it veered north to Pittsburgh. I decided to go east onto local roads and hit one of the rivers that lead north to the city. The road follows the river closely and passes some crazy industrial complexes. Steel mills, coal handling facilities and some sort of chemical plants. I am sure they could not be built with today's regulations

After finding a hotel I went to the southern bank which gives a great outlook of the city and too me anyway was made famous by the film Jack Reacher in which a car with the bad guy drives west along the road followed by the camera in a helicopter

The view is superb. I am sure a documentary could be made, located only in Pittsburgh, on the evolution of the steel bridge as there are many examples and if a major archetype does not exist in present day Pittsburgh would have been replaced by an existing bridge.
I was lucky - my hotel was in walking distance of the Carnegie Museum whose founder was one of the major industrialists of the US and for a long time owned a huge percentage of the steel industry. I am happy to say I got my Dinosaur fix :)

The T-Rex behind is real bones. The other is a cast from another fossil

Carnegie Museum

The Carnegie was an unexpected surprise and really worth it. The animal displays were the most life like I have ever seen.
After that I caught a bus down town and checked out the sites. It is a pretty city and one I would like to live in (If I got one of the apartments on the South Bank with the awesome views) however there were 5 stabbings last night so it has a got quite a few issues.
Behind me is the start of the Ohio river at the confluence of the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers. In front of the water fountain was a historic fort.

It has cooled down a lot from the steamy coast and 'The South' so is a lot more pleasant at night. Last night in Pittsburgh it got into the high 40's which is fairly unseasonal but doesn't worry me. I like it. So far the weather has been brilliant with for the main, sunny days and maybe a few hours of rain at most. This may change as the Detroit area and the North East states have had some heavy flash flooding. I am on my way to see the NASCAR race in Michigan on Sunday so am hoping it will remain fine and I do not miss the race.