June 9, 2013 Battlefields, Prehistoric Natives, Metalmetamorphis

We are headed for Charlotte, NC to pick up the fuel injector pump for the motorhome.   Once we get it, we will deliver it to Low Gap, NC and wait while the guys install it.   We've pretty much seen all there is to see in North Carolina.    Before we left the Outer Banks we made one last trip to the Wright Brothers' memorial.   We did the inside exhibits without pugs.   What struck me most was how systematic the Wright Brothers were.   They began by questioning the conventional wisdom about flight available at the time.   They looked at every part of the design.   They built countless ailerons and tested them in a wind tunnel they built.   They gathered data and found the best design.   They also worked on wing design and tested different types by hang gliding off the dunes.   I had no idea.   The museum also had tributes to all the people who have contributed to flight (e.g., Chuck Yeager, Amelia Earhardt, the Tuskeegee Airmen).   No Bill Boeing, however.




Our next stop was the Battle of Bentonville.   What can I say?   Large, grassy areas ringed by woods. We did get to see a re-enactment of a small skirmish between the men in blue and the men in gray.    The gunfire caused the pugs to bark hysterically, so we tucked them into the car and did the cell phone tour of the battle site.





We continued south and drove inland to see some Indian Mounds.    After a long drive, we arrived to find the place closed.   Undaunted, we took the pugs and approached the site wall.   I noticed the wall was sparse on the backside, so we squeezed though some uprights and toured the grounds/mounds on our own.   Getting out of the enclosure was a little tricky, but squeezing and pushing reluctant pugs through accomplished the goal.   We also had the added benefit of getting to spend time picking ticks off ourselves and the pugs!

As we approached Charlotte, I suggested we go see this cool statue in a business park called "Metalmorphosis".   This turned out to be a very cool stop.   The statue is a digitized metal head.    The cool part is that it morphs into weird abstract shapes then reassembles itself.   See YouTube video:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGCln17yUn0