Spring Fling 2026 - Day 22: the National US Army Museum and Visiting More Friends

We drove the CRV about 2 hours in morning rush traffic to the National US Army Museum in Fort Belvoir, VA.

A very well laid out museum that used basically the snapshot method to try and give the visitor an idea of the 250 year history of the Army and the US.

As usual, here's some of the things that caught my eye: 

Today's moto content:

This flag was floor to ceiling.  It's filled with rows of soldier figures representing the number of soldiers who served in WWII:

The predecessor to the Army's C Rations: K Rations.

More on K rations: Link 

A nuclear weapon for the Infantry!

Zoom in to see the NATO vs Warsaw Pact opposing alignments....I was with the 1st Armored Division, part of VII Corps 

C Rations, the rations I "enjoyed" early in my career.  These were the predecessors to todays MRE meals.  Note: the versions I had didn't have cigarettes, I figure these were from Vietnam era.  More info here.

Update: the "C-Rats" I was issued in the early 80s were updated rations called MCI or MeL Combat Individual.  They retained the moniker of C-Rats:  more info.

A display in the Global War on Terror Section, showing soldiers use some new technologies such as drones/small robots.  The captured motorcycle is the last of today's Moto content.

I learned the Army had the initial mission to protect what became some of the earliest national parks:

Cool ceiling display of army ribbons:

Officers Manual from the Revolutionary War:

I learned also of the role played by Native American fighters and Slaves:

A very good museum, I recommend visiting it.  And, it's free admission!

We were finished at the museum shortly before noon so we drove the short distance over to Alexandria to meet up with a ROTC friend of mine John W.  We had a nice chat with him and his wife Jean.

We then went to lunch at a nearby Greek restaurant: 

We return to John's house after lunch and he showed us his beautifully landscaped backyard and front yard. 

John and Jean's dogs, very friendly and active.

Soon enough it was time to hit the road and spend a glorious 2 hours or so driving in afternoon rush hour traffic this time heading west back towards Marshall, VA.  We were pelted by some pretty heavy rain for a few minutes while on westbound interstate 66 but no issues. 

Lee and Lyn's son Christopher, along with his lovely wife Katelyn and 2 yr old daughter Ripley had arrived today from New Mexico. They will be here through the memorial day weekend.

Spring Fling 2026 - Day 18 thru 21: Hot Days at FOB Lee&Lyn nee Marshall

Saturday, May 16

Sunny and warm till late afternoon, then rain clouds his the sun but very little rain.

Relaxed with my college ROTC friends while Martha took the opportunity to meet up with Tracy, a friend of hers from work when they were both in the Cherry Creek School district in Colorado. 

The local volunteer fire department was having a barbecue ribs fundraiser, so Lee and I headed over there and picked up four orders. The ribs were quite tasty and sorry I did not even think about a picture before wolfing down mine.

Here's a pic of Lee S. and myself taken by Martha:

Sunday, May 17

My honorary niece, Jennifer, daughter of Lee and Lyn S. met us at Molly's Pub in oldtown Warrenton for lunch.  Her husband Kevin was with her of course and we had us a nice and tasty lunch courtesy of Lee S. And the great service at Molly's.

I had a Guinness...

After lunch, we drove back to the FOB, now renamed more appropriately to FOB Lee&Lyn.

We visit with Jennifer (whom I've known since she was about 4 years old) And Kevin , catching up on things since I last saw them at their wedding.

Too soon, it was time for the youngsters to head back home.  

Jennifer, Martha, Lyn, Lee and Kevin

Monday, May 18

Hot and humid!  Lyn and Martha did a grocery run while I stayed at the FOB with Indy, their German Shepherd.  Google said was 92°F in Fauquier County, the RV thermometerz read 86 outside and 83 inside, we ran the AC for a bit to "exercise" the 4KW generator.

We did get a visit from a couple of the locals while it was still cool in the morning:

3x zoom (optical)

17.6x zoom (digital)

Tuesday, May 20

Another hot day with a high of 92°F.

The main event was a drive to nearby Warrenton for Martha to have lunch with a friend she'd worked with when we lived in VA back in the mid-90s 

In the late afternoon, it rained for a bit which served to cool things down to the low 80s.

Tomorrow, the Army Museum...

Spring Fling 2026 - Day 16&17: FOB Marshall

Thursday, May 14

We left the Philpott Dam camping ground a day early and drove 5 hours to Marshall Virginia to FOB Marshall.

FOB: Forward Operations Base.

We are moochdocking with friends of mine from college ROTC who live in Marshall, VA.  We will be visiting other people that are in the area as well while we stay here. Hence, the use of the term FOB.  The RV will remain on my friend's property and we will use the CRV to do all the visiting in the immediate area. 

Google Maps once again had us going down the wrong road to my friend's place. It was a bit hair raising as a matter of fact, winding and narrow country lanes.

Anyways, we got here without any problems except for one incident of a line jumping Schweinehündin at the Sam's club gas station in Roanoke.  We are now closer to the overcrowded mess that is the NoVA metro area so I expect the people factor will become much more pronounced and annoying. 

Friday, May 15

Easy relaxing day today for the most part.

Did take the TW200 off the front cargo rack after annoyingly not realizing I hadn't switched to fuel reserve before draining the battery down trying to start it.

Sigh, jump started it using the RV chassis battery, got it off the rack, geared up and rode off.

Rode to a nearby nature preserve, perhaps 10 miles round trip.  I turned off the engine at a construction zone perhaps 1.5 miles from my friends' home.  Yagi chose to not start.  First she behaved like the battery was drained.  It should have charged up somewhat during the ride I thought.

I briefly tried starting it by popping the clutch, no go.

I called Martha to bring me the jumper cables with the CRV....luckily I decided to try bypassing the starter relay with a battery cable I'd started carrying since the events at Prewitt Reservoir.  

Yagi started right up and I called Martha back and told her to disregard.  Rode Yagi back to the FOB with no further issues.  Annoyingly, I tried stopping/starting her a few times the normal way and it was fine!

I rechecked all the connections and they were clean.  I did take apart the starter switch and cleaned the connections within as well.  We'll see how she does in the days to come.

Spring Fling 2026 - Day 15: A drive to Martinsville and Philpott Dam

We drove the 22 miles or so to the town of Martinsville to run errands and just do some light shopping.  We passed through town of Bassett and Martha realized it's the Bassett name associated with a furniture company that's on par with the likes of Lazyboy.

After lunch in town, we drove back to camp with a slight detour to view the Philpott Dam which was built to control flooding for the area.  Apparently, a big flood in 1947 was a big motivator.

The dam has a small but nice visitor center.

There's a couple of overlooks near the visitor center for not very close views of the dam itself.