Sun N Fun - Highs and Lows

No pictures?

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:sYOgc.17346$hw5.22224@attbi_s53...
For those who don't wish to read the narrative, here's an abbreviated
assessment of SNF 2004:

High Points of SNF
*******************************
- The first 1000 pilots received a cool "I flew into Sun N Fun 2004" hat.
It even fits my fat head!

- The food at Sun N Fun is terrific. Margaritaville -- a tent/restaurant
set up to mimic Jimmy Buffet's Caribbean lifestyle -- is the best place to
hang out. They make a wonderful "Rum Slushy" that makes sleeping on the
ground MUCH nicer! :-)

- We got to meet Bob & Linda Morgan, of Memphis Belle fame, in person --
great folks! They donated yet MORE stuff for our Memphis Belle Suite.

- We met Bob Moore, retired Pan Am pilot and newsgroup participant, in
person. Bob was kind enough to give us a disk with some Pan Am posters
and
pictures on it -- thanks, Bob!

- The Jimmy Buffet imitators were VERY good. The music was great!

- The fresh strawberry malts at SNF are to die for...

- The new Adamjet is VERY cool...although I'll never get to fly one.

- The new Extra 500 is slick... Ditto above.

- Piper's new Avidyne glass panels, combined with the Garmin center stack,
is too cool. I like it better than the G1000, simply because everything
isn't combined into a single point of failure.

- The FAA was demonstrating their new uploaded live radar pictures. This
service is now available up and down the entire Eastern seaboard of the
US,
and simply uploads whatever radar image is being depicted on ATC's radar,
in
real-time, to your airplane. On the Apollo MFD they were using, it
clearly
showed every airplane flying into SNF, and could overlay weather, etc.
When this thing goes nationwide it will render on-board radar obsolete,
and
will really bring GA into the 21st century.

- The corn roast in the camping area is the best deal on the grounds. For
three bucks you get two ears, and it's like tasting August in April.

- The Goodyear blimp's nightly performance was fun. Every time I see
that
thing, they've added another thousand lights!

- There is a SNF vendor serving fresh-baked cinnamon rolls every bit as
good
as Cinnabon. Breakfast -- usually so bleak at OSH -- is a real treat at
SNF.

- Cell phone weather! I can't believe I had to go all the way to Florida
to find out that I can get pilot's weather on my Verizon cellphone for
just
$9.95 per month! It has live, animated weather radar, METARs, TAFs,
weather
maps -- everything you need, and all on your cell phone! I signed up
for
it immediately, and am already using it all the time.

- We finally met Bob & Linda Morgan! They were at their booth, selling
Memphis Belle paraphernalia, when we stumbled upon them. We have emailed
back and forth dozens of times since opening our "Memphis Belle Suite" --
but we've never had the chance to meet them in person. When they found
out
who we were, it was like "old home week", and we took a bunch of pictures
and Bob signed the kids hats. When we were leaving, Linda handed us a
bunch
more stuff for the suite, all gratis. Wonderful folks!

- I found the Davtron digital clock I've been looking for at Sarasota
Avionics -- for under list price! Woo-hoo!

- The cool temperatures made walking all day much easier.

- SNF has set up a small Nature Trail board walk, with displays of Florida
fauna and flora. It's a real nice change of pace from the roar and
spectacle of the air show.

- There is a playground at SNF for the kids to play on! This turned out
to
be a great break from the action for the kids.

- This was our first long trip on our new seats, and, wow -- what a
difference! Last year we just about died of "sore-butt," while this year
we were absolutely comfortable after spending 13 hours in the plane. New
seats are worth every penny they cost.

- This was our first long trip with the Lightspeed Twenty 3Gs, and they
were
marvelous. Comfortable, quiet, with bass and treble boost for the CD
player. A real treat to wear, even after so many hours.

- On the way home we were in the middle of no where, talking to Huntsville
approach, when they called out "traffic, 9 o'clock, your altitude,
converging..." Looking around we saw nothing, but ATC went on to say that
"the computer shows your targets merging in 2.5 minutes" (which I thought
was pretty neat!) -- so we kept looking. At last I spotted a small dot
on
the horizon, ever so slowly moving our way. Through the binoculars I
could
see that it was an older Mooney, and that we were just a smidge faster
than
he was. It was cool to be in a fixed-gear Cherokee 235, and be told by
ATC
that the Mooney was "no factor -- you're pulling away from him..." (Of
course, he's burning 10 gph to my 15, but still... :-)


Low Points of SNF
*******************************
- The Number One low-point of SNF was the seaplane base -- or rather, our
inability to see it. After searching for some time we finally found the
bus loading area to take us to the seaplane base. The OSH "splash-in" is
always a favorite place for the kids, so we were determined to find it
this
year at SNF -- even though they seemingly did their best to make it hard
to
find. After waiting 35 minutes for a bus that runs without a schedule,
the
driver finally pulled up and off-loaded -- only to haughtily announce that
she had "worked five hours straight and was *required* to take a break"
She
then slammed the door in our faces, and drove away. Shaking our heads in
disbelief, we (and dozens of others) walked away -- and never did get to
the
seaplane base.

- Arrival rules at LAL are very lax, by comparison to OSH. At OSH, if
you're not on downwind at 8 PM, you are NOT allowed to land -- period.
And
no one can leave or arrive until 7 AM the next morning. This rule makes
for
a wonderful camping experience. At SNF, on the other hand, airplanes were
arriving until well after dark, and were allowed to leave as early as 5:30
AM. Being camped in a tent off the end of the runway, this is not a good
thing.

- Car campers at LAL are actually given preferential position over fly-in
campers. This is perhaps unavoidable, due to the design of the airport,
but
it's very odd indeed to have drive-in campers closer to the flight-line
than
pilots are.

- Expensive food! Although the food selection is great, the prices are
absurd.

- Camp store rip off. Last year the camp store was run by some
non-profit
organization, was well-stocked and fairly priced. This year it was run by
"Cheech and Chong" (even my kids were joking at how stoned they were!),
and
the shelves were virtually bare. Worse, the only beer they sold was
Budweiser -- for FIFTEEN DOLLARS a 6-pack!

- Golf card mayhem. Last year we coined the term "IIGICs" (Idiots In Golf
Carts) to describe the hundreds of golf carts that tried to run us over
every day. This year they have added some "golf cart only" trails that
helped some -- but not enough.

- 28 degrees in Florida? Snow in Nashville? 'Nuff said.

- Gas lines. At OSH, you put a card on your prop, and the gas truck comes
to fill you up. In Lakeland, the gas trucks don't come to you -- you must
come to THEM. This, of course, makes for a terrible traffic jam, and is
totally illogical and inefficient. The driver told me it was because
"campers had open fires out there" which made fueling unsafe -- but last
year they told me it was because the ground was too soft.

- When it comes to vendors, it ain't OSH. I was not able to find any
seat
belts for my plane at SNF. I was also not able to find anyone selling or
displaying the Boom Beam. And we found very little artwork for the hotel
while we were there. The selection just isn't what you get at "the Big
One."

All in all, it was a wonderful, grand adventure. Sun N Fun is a terrific
way to end the monotony of winter, and we all had a great time. The trick
with a journey of this length is to be flexible and roll with the punches,
cuz Spam Can travel in early spring just ain't all that reliable.

Ironically, we came home to temperatures in the 80s, with high humidity --
must like Florida!
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"



--
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"