We continued west on I-20 through Louisiana and into Texas. Good, sunny weather, highs in the 60's - perfect! We stayed the night just past Fort Worth and continued south/southwest through increasingly dry country with cactus, scrub trees, but no real trees. In Abilene we stopped to do some grocery shopping and then visited the National WASP WWII Museum in Sweetwater, Texas. No, not bees - Women Airforce Service Pilots.
Over 1,000 brave women took to the skies after proving they could fly, of course, and after years of objections from senior officials, to take over non-combat pilot duties, freeing up the men needed for combat missions. They ferried planes, flew as tow-target gunnery pilots, tested aircraft and trained pilots. They flew more than 75 different types of aircraft, including the B29 bomber and served at 110 air bases.
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| The entire hanger/museum is ringed with photos and stories of the individual women in the WASP |
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| The barrack "camps" the women stayed at during training. |
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| One of the small planes they flew with their Disney insignia |
The women were considered civil servants and were not granted veteran status until 1977. In 2010, they received the Congressional Gold Medal.
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| Gold Medal Awarded in 2010 |
We continued southwest through increasing winds, stopping in the oiltown of Big Spring. There have to be 30 RV parks, all filled with huge fifth wheels with men working the oil fields, pipelines, refinery or electric grid for long-term temporary jobs.
Weather forecast is predicting dangerously high winds on Friday afternoon through the night, so we are planning to only drive 100 miles or so down to Monahans State Park and get a campsite before the winds get too bad. Driving a high profile RV in high winds is not only stressful and tiring, it can be dangerous. We have built an extra day into our schedule, so no problem sitting out the bad weather.
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