A visit to Lowry Field

DAKOTA RIDGE RV PARK-GOLDEN,CO. 6/11/11

No alarm again this morning. The cool weather...in the 40's..made for good sleeping. So we both got rested. I think we are slowly getting acclimated to being above 5000 feet. We are at 6000+ here. A little before 10 we left to take another trip down memory lane for me. I was stationed at Lowry Field, on the east side of Denver from Fall '46 to Spring '47 after completing basic training in San Antonio. We were by there 3 years ago. While here I took a 16 week course to learn to maintain Power Operated Gun Turrets and Gunsights. Of course I never worked on any after I left here but it was good basic trainin on aircraft mechanical skills an helped me achieve the goal of becoming an aircraft mechanic.

All that is left of Lowry, which was very close in to residential areas, are two hangars...one of which has been made into a museum. It is a huge building..a B1 bomber sits in one corner with some nuclear bomb housings under it. When I told the greeter that I was a Lowry veteran, I was welcomed with open arms and invited to fill out a sheet that will go into a book that is maintained in one of the display rooms. The area all around the hangars is an upscale residential area. I have now visited both the areas where I was stationed outside of Ohio in the Air force.

The B52, mounted in front of the museum, was affectionectly nick named Big Ugly Fellow (That's one interpretation) by the air crews who manned them. Most of the airplanes inside the museum were jets, the one military prop plane being the Douglas B18...a very rare specimen. Rooms around the edge of the hangar that now have displays in them, were classrooms formerly. I attended classes in one of them. It was a nostalgic visit for me.

On the way back to our house, I drove down Colfax Ave., which is US40, through downtown past the State Capitol. Edie was able to get a shot of the dome as we went by. Of course downtown Denver was nothing like I remembered it. An interesting note.. Even though the war had been over for a year when I was here, on Sunday's, families would wait outside the main gate in their cars and invite GI's to their home for Sunday dinner. I did that a few times. They were very friendly people. Also, we got into downtown movie houses for free if we were in uniform. I also learned to ski while I was here. Pleasant memories.

Back at the coach we had lunch then decided to take a 20 mile drive into the hills to the town of Black Hawk, the home of a large number of Casino's. It was a fun drive through the foothills along a mountain stream and a climb of about 3000 feet. I wondered if President Eisenhower may have fished that stream during some of his summers in Denver. Lowry was the little white house for him.

We visited a couple of casino's, and for a change Edie contributed and I came out ahead. Driving back down the hill, the Honda was registering 45 miles to the gallon. There were 3 tunnels on the road, the one in picture was the longest. Fortunately, the light at the end was not a train...

Back home we rested a bit, took care of some chores and decided to eat light for supper. Edie had just got the meal on the table, hot dogs and potato salad and some drinks, when I needed to get up and get the pepper out of the cabinet. While doing so, I managed to get caught under the edge of the table, up ended it and it came completely out of the track on the wall and spilled everything. After cleaning up the mess, re-installing the table and eating our meal, we went outside and sat in the lawn chairs for an hour or so.

I tried to do this journal entry when we came in, but the network was unreliable, so I am finishing it on Sunday morning. Another cool night on tap.

Jun 11, 2011

Show all 12 photos