June 2010

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MILWIT Central Rally, Hutchinson, Kansas

Another surprise in Hutchinson was the Kansas Underground Salt Museum that is 650 feet under the Kansas prairie.  A double-deck elevator took us to the mine carved from salt deposits 275 million years ago.  The shaft goes through 150 feet of an aquifier.  The walls of salt stretch for miles in shafts that are nine feet tall and fifty feet wide.  The temperature is always 68 degrees with very little humidity, making it a perfect place to store documents and film and other items to keep them from deteriorating.  When the lights go out, the darkness is totally black.

Another exciting adventure was a trip to a small airfield used by small planes and gliders.  Bob and Diane were the winners of the   glider rides.  The rest of us helped and/or just watched.  Both Bob and Diane were air traffic controllers in their military careers and were eager to take the rides. 

The rally ended Saturday morning, but several of us stayed for the July 4th weekend to enjoy the celebrations that included an old-fashioned parade with the bands, the kids, the tractors and the horses.  While it didn't rain on our parade, the fireworks were postponed because of downpours.