Oshkosh 2003 Redux

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:e6kXa.59188$o%2.29570@sccrnsc02...
Mary and I just returned from six glorious days camped next to Atlas on
the
field in Oshkosh! We're tired, sunburned, our feet hurt -- and damn, if
we didn't want to stay another week or three...

This was my first trek to Oshkosh. Here's my own recollections (probably not
in any particular order either):

-Drove over to OSH on Wednesday. Arrived about 8PM, parked at Piggly Wiggly
and entered the N40 to look for Jay's plane. Walked on the north side up to
the Hilton when I ran into someone and asked where I could find a plane.
They told me to go back around to the south side and check with
registration. Got to the registration area and found it was closed. Started
walking up and down the rows looking at the N-numbers and see if I
recognized any. Gave up after about 60 rows or so and went to Friar Tucks
for a few beers then returned to my car to sleep for the night. Needed the
beers to get sleep in the driver's seat of a Miata!

-Awoke Thursday to the sounds of aircraft taking off about 6:20 AM and went
into Piggly Wiggly for something for breakfast and get some spending cash.
Re-entered the N40 and walked to the registration to find that Jay was
parked in row 567. Walked around to where Jay was and he suggested I move my
car to either the Super-8 or Hilton and it would be closer. I went back for
the car and took it over to the Hilton and got a cup of coffee. I had a
slight head ache from the beers from the night before (I wasn't flying
anyways!) and was sore from sleeping in the Miata. Jay recommended that I
could set up my tent next to Brian and Christina's (right?) plane. It would
be better sleeping horizontal on the hard ground than crumpled up in the car
again!

-Went back to the registration booth and paid $83 for EAA membership, 2-days
of the airshow, a program and a 'free' hat. Made a bee-line through the
warbirds to where EAA's B-17 was sitting. Looked around at some of the other
warbirds and made my way south. Found the tent that had the type-clubs and
listened for a bit to the Ercoupe club people talking about motor mounts
then asked them about the trim tab mod. I wandered around looking at the
various displays. Went through the venders hangars gawking at all the
goodies available wishing I had the money to buy some of these to upgrade my
plane.

-My cousin wanted me to check out the price of Condor tires while I was
there. Saw the Varga booth and found the 'Oshkosh' price. Spent most of
Thursday walking and looking. Got caught in one of the afternoon rain
showers and was in the AOPA tent at the time. AOPA gave out the plastic rain
ponchos to anyone that asked. Saw the EAA ponchos were being sold for $3.
Found the 'Reopen Meigs' tent and signed the petition -- for what it's
worth. Saw a bunch of other stuff Thursday afternoon and then finally
returned to the N40 and met up with the Alexis Park Inn party group and met
more people from the groups than were at the Pre-Oshkosh party. Had a few
'ground-softeners' then over to Friar Tucks. Slept better Thursday night
than I did the night before...

-Woke up again Friday morning to the sounds of aircraft taxiing and taking
off. Walked over to the showers and back to the camp site. Met with Jay's
family and we decided to go to the Hilton for breakfast. Great breakfast! I
tagged along with Jay's family for a while as we walked through the warbirds
again watching the P51/Cessna incident happening and over to the Fly Market
area. Jay and I went on to the vendor hangars, I was going to order the
tires for my cousin and he was searching for the Narco and Icom radios,
artworks, etc. We went back to the Fly Market to search for an allen wrench
so Jay could swap the Narco radios. After a while I wandered off and looked
around on my own at the Segways at $10 for a 10 minute demo, the 8 Ercoupes
parked in the vintage area and various other 'stuff'. I then walked down to
the south end to catch the bus for the Sea Plane Base for the Friday night
fish fry. Met Jay's family there and enjoyed watching the Russian sea plane,
the sea-ultralights, and looking over the hovercrafts. Heading back from the
sea-plane base, we watched a lot of the various ultralights coming in for
touch & goes then walked up the flight line towards Theatre in the Woods for
the Neil Armstrong talk. Also enjoyed the 13y/o violinist, etc., that
preceded Neil. Still don't know who the emcee was. Headed back to the N40
and had a ground softener and watched the space station pass over Oshkosh at
10:53.

-Left Saturday morning and did my non-Oshkosh stuff, headed to Mackinac, MI
for the weekend. Left there Monday about noon and drove across Wisconsin.
Found the geological marker that says '45°N and 90°W'. Taking out my GPS, it
said that point was 0.20 miles from where the plaque was. Stayed the night
in western Wisconsin and finally made it home this afternoon.

Conclusion:
Bring more money and spend more time! There are a lot of things that I
missed and wished I saw. Now that I have 'some' idea what Oshkosh is like, I
may attempt to fly there next year and spend more time (and money). Great to
meet some of the people from these groups!

-Greg Burkhart