OSH - Home Again

We made it home successfully yesterday from our first Oshkosh adventure. It
was a great experience and we look forward to going again. We arrived last
Sunday afternoon, had Monday to get settled in the North 40 and 3 days at the
show, departing Friday.

We left mid-morning under overcast skies, and the IFR departure slot system
worked great. We left only about a half hour late, and broke out into a clear
blue sky at 3500 ft. From there, it was smooth sailing to a gas stop in
Mapleton Iowa (nice little airport with $2.00 gas), and then on to Ft.
Collins, CO for the night. Then it was a tour of the Colorado mountains early
yesterday morning, a stop in Durango, and then on to Phoenix by about 1 p.m.

Oshkosh was great. I can't believe how big it is but yet how well organized.
We got some rain, but the camping was great. I remember reading here how no
matter how long you stay, you'll feel like you didn't see it all, and that's
definitely my reaction. There were forums and evening speakers we missed, and
we could have spent much more time on the flight line, in the museum, looking
at the Warbirds, etc.

Thanks, Jay, for hosting the Thursday happy hour. It was a nice evening, and
fun to put some faces with the names and email addresses I've seen on these
groups over the last year. Despite our plans, we couldn't make the Sunday
evening gathering in Iowa City. Mother Nature had the upper hand, and we were
stuck south of the front in Kansas City, trying to make our way north.

Best regards to all,
Mike

Mike Adams wrote:
snip
I made it back from my first OSH adventure as well. Unfortunately, the two
other folks that I went with were somewhat ill-prepared, equipment-wise.
I ended up arriving late Tuesday night - yes, the Mooney that was taxiing
through the North 40 at 8PM. I really had to leave Thursday noontime, which
I was a little sad about as I was looking forward to putting faces to the
names, but the state of the people I went with left no choice. At least we
had good VFR both ways!

Thank you, Jay, for setting up the get-together that I couldn't attend !
Perhaps next year I can even make the Alexis Park Inn fly-in.

PS, that T-storm Wednesday afternoon put up the highest rate that I've ever
seen on the Mooney's WX-500 stormscope!
--
Aaron Coolidge (N9376J)