Seven riders journeyed November 2nd to Corpus Christi to tour the historic aircraft carrier USS Lexington. The collection of riders who made the trek were Bill Edwards, John Sires, James Cobarruvias, Mike Makowski, Geoff Gauger and Kelly Clark.
Their tour of the ship took about 3 hours and included visits to the Flight Deck with its array of various vintage aircraft, the Foc’sle (area where equipment to raise and lower the anchors is located), Gallery Deck where the Combat Information Center is located and where information on the status of USS Lexington, friendly and enemy ships is collected and evaluated, Lower Decks which included ship’s engines and living quarters for the 3,000 enlisted crewmembers, and the Hanger Deck where as many as 60 aircraft were stored, maintained, and refueled. The Lower Deck also housed the “Warbirds & Warships Scale Model Gallery”, where over 470 scale model planes and ships were displayed. By the end of the tour everyone had gained extensive insight into how the ship’s personnel lived and worked both in peacetime and wartime.
The time together also offered plenty of comradeship over breakfast, lunch, and dinner, not to mention a few beers. Everyone is looking forward to the next adventuresome road trip, wherever that might take them.