What is the Shenandoah? Probably one of the biggest stories that no one knows about. The Shenandoah was the first American rigid lighter-than-air ship. Think of the Hindenburg (although that disaster was 12 years later, and the Hindenburg was a German vessel). However, the decision was made to fill the Shenandoah with helium rather than hydrogen, for the obvious reason that it was safer.
The Shenandoah was a showpiece of the US Navy. Not only was it used for scouting, and as a flying laboratory, it often made tours to show off the magnificent vessel. It was 680 feet long and 93 feet high. It was the first dirigible to be moored to a ship.
It was on tour in September 1925- only two years old- to 40 cities and several state fairs. It was caught in a sudden thunderstorm over southern Ohio and broke into three pieces which fell across Noble County, Ohio. Miraculouly, 29 of the 43 men on board survived, although the commander was killed. The United States immediately dropped its dirigible program and concentrated on airplanes.
The rest of the hiking day was fine, with awesome weather and great views. Richard hiked with us again. But I am captivated by the story of the Shenandoah. Seeing one of the crash sites again was the highlight of my day. We actually passed one of the other sites while on the highway, but it is not accessible.
We began with some lovely off-road miles around Wolf Run Lake.
Coming down Shenandoah Road, Richard pointed to the road curving up the opposite hill and said, "We're going up there." It wasn't actually too hard, and we rewarded ourselves with lunch at the top.
There was also this great view from the trail on Pipa Road.
A handsome gobbler was strutting his stuff, but we had no lady-gobbler friends to introduce to him.
Three happy hikers. No wrong turns.
Miles today: 15.0. Total miles so far: 1208.2. Over 1200! probably one quarter done
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3 comments:
Interesting about the Shenandoah. I had never heard about it before.
Way to go, over 1200 miles already.
Lulu: "We never heard of the crash of the Shenandoah either, although we knew about the Hindenburg. I guess all the burning exploding hydrogen made the Hindendburg more dramatic!"
Ann- feels good to make that milestone
Lulu- much less dramatic without the flames, but dead is dead.
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