Into OSH at age 17

Well, my son departed for Oshkosh this morning in our "new" (to us) 1948
Ercoupe. He's 17, earned his ticket last fall, and has a grand total of
around 70 hours.

At 1:45 PM, three hours later, Joe called me to say "Guess where I am?" Yep,
he was all set up in the "Vintage" area, with his tent, cooler, chair, and
cold pop all ready for the show to start! Of course, that won't happen until
next Monday, but with his limited experience we figured that doing the FISK
approach might be a *bit* much for him -- so arriving this early solves
everything rather neatly.

And what an adventure! This is his 18th consecutive AirVenture (not counting
in vitro!) so he's almost literally grown up on Wittman Field, and he knows
every inch of the place like the back of his hand. Amazingly, we realized
that this is his first time away from home truly by himself -- and what a
way to do it, flying an aircraft solo into the biggest aviation "happening"
on earth!

Man, I wish I could be there with him. Trouble is, in an Ercoupe you can
*either* bring a passenger, *or* you can bring camping gear -- but not both!
This truly was the ONLY way to get the 'Coupe to OSH this year -- but Mary,
Becca, and I will join him Sunday, when we fly the Pathfinder in after our
fly-in pool party.

And with his extra 180 pounds of useful load in the Pathfinder we'll be able
to arrive with a cooler full of cold beverages, instead of nearly dying of
thirst while setting up the tent in the North 40...

:-)

So if -- whilst traipsing through the Vintage area -- you happen to see a
young guy sitting next to an orange and white Ercoupe that looks like the
2008 Hallmark Aviation Xmas ornament, give him a high five for a job well
done!
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
Ercoupe N94856
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"