2020 ZR-1 Road Trip - Gatlinburg, Orlando and the Texas BBQ

[QB93Z]

Hi Gunny,

You sound busy and Lyndi and I are going straight from Gatlinburg to Orlando on Sunday. We will see you in May for the Mountain Run.

Jim

[QB93Z]

On day 2 we just relaxed in our lodge and then met up with some of the USS Von Steuben sailors.

Day 3:

We got up early and drove west of Knoxville to Oak Ridge to take a tour of the World War II era facilities from the Manhattan Project. The Tennessee facilities were an important Top Secret facility to enrich uranium to be used in the first atomic bombs. The 3-hour bus and walking tour is run by the Department of Energy and is a new feature to the Manhattan Project National Historical Park.

The tour begins and ends at the brand new American Museum of Since and Energy in Oak Ridge.




The tour in narrated by a very knowledgeable nuclear engineer, a retired employee of the Oak Ridge facilities. The tour visits the gas diffusion plant, the cyclotron separation facility and the graphic pile reactor.

All of the exhibits are in excellent condition and contain displays and artifacts that explain the equipment and processes that pioneered nuclear physics in 1943 to 1945. The current Oak Ridge facilities are the repository for all weapons grade uranium in the US arsenal. There is also information about the current stockpile of nuclear weapons.




This plaque describes the nuclear warheads that were on the missiles that we carried on the nuclear submarine, the USS Von Steuben SSBN-632:



Jim

[efnfast]

Skipper of a nuclear sub. Pretty impressive Jim ( I got nothing like that in my tool bag). Thanks for your service to my country.

[Paul Workman]

Thanks 4 taking us along on another chapter of the "Adventures of Jim n Mindy"!

Thank you for your service, Jim. My bro was also a "sewer pipe sailor" (what we 'skimmers' referred to submariners* as ) and served aboard the SSBN Archerfish 678 (for you land lubbers, it was a fast attack (code name for an armed 'sneak and peek')) nuclear sub.

*some inter-NAVY "sibling rivalry". Mike, my bro, would quip back with, "There's only two types of ships in the Navy: submarines and TARGETS!"

[QB93Z]

Originally Posted by Paul Workman

........ Mike, my bro, would quip back with, "There's only two types of ships in the Navy: submarines and TARGETS!"

I had that saying with a picture of periscope cross-hairs on a US aircraft carrier in my office at the Pentagon.

Jim

[dandt67]

Have a safe and fun trip. Thanks for sharing your adventures.

[-=Jeff=-]

Westgate is a nice place, I stayed there several years ago

[QB93Z]

Day 4: We spent the day relaxing at the resort and then visiting with the crew members of the USS Von Steuben.

Here we are with the view of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park:



Jim

[QB93Z]

Day 5:

On Thursday, we relaxed at the in-door water park at the resort and then attended the USS Von Steuben Reunion Banquet. It was a nice event and it was nice to swap "sea stories".



People at our table won 9 of the raffle items and also won the 50-50 raffle. Now everyone wants to sit at the Captain's Table.

I feel very privileged to have met and talked to some of the crew members who were "Plank Owners" of our submarine. They were assigned to the first crew of the sub during new construction back in 1964.



Jim

[QB93Z]

Lyndi and I have decided to terminate our road trip and return home. We believe that we have not been exposed to the virus but can't be sure what the situation will be in the future. Thanks for all your nice comments and your support.

Jim and Lyndi