Oshkosh - Couldn't Have Planned it Better

By the third day was starting to get the hang of the Oshkosh experience. Get up at the crack of dawn and get the best pictures in the dawn light. On the way down to my bird caught the Boeing Flying Cloud at its best with the just rising sun reflecting off the brightly polished nose and propellers. Followed up with a great shot of the Airbus Beluga and the Spirit of Saint Louis replica. But the best shot of the morning was of the Hughes Racer, with the morning dew rolling off its mirror like sides. Its sad to think of the loss of Jim Wright and his beautiful plane, but it is inspiring to see an example of homebuilding taken to the level of fine art. Got a close look at NASA's U2 based research ship. Kelly Johnson sure built some fantastic machines, just think; he got paid to build his dream machines, still the fastest and highest flying ever.

Just about the time I got to my bird for its daily wipe down from the previous nights rain, here comes the Yodeler's wake up call again, by now it just makes me laugh. Kept asking people if it always rains this much at Oshkosh, and kept getting different answers. Last nights rain was really hard, and this time my maps and logbooks got just soaked, good thing my tent has stayed dryt. Decided to walk out to the front gate to check out the vendor displays, and instead made one of the best finds of the week. Just outside the gate was a food stand run by the Sacred Heart School. Walked up and ask for a coffee and sweet roll and they ask for $2. "Excuse me, did you say $2? How much is a hot dog? Only $1.25!" Looks like I finally found a place in my price range. Will be stopping here often. Came here to see Oshkosh, not eat fancy.

Just starting to walk back saw a line of people at the museum bus stop getting on a bus. Why not? Just walked on and a short time later was there. It was much larger than expected and you could spend hours in any section of it reading all the plaques and taking in the experience. There are areas for homebuilt, military, and one whole room just for Charles Lindbergh. Walking into one room, saw a full size mock up of the Voyager fuselage and noticed a crowd of people gathered around the "Museum Speaker" for that area. Bet they get the most knowledgeable people they can and today I hit the jackpot. The speaker was Voyager crew member Dick Rutan, up close and personal. Stood there in awe for about 45 minutes as he related experiences I never heard on the Wings Channel about how it was to take this "Paper Airplane" on its single stage orbit of the earth. After he was done with he stayed there for another half hour answering questions (I had several) and signing autographs. On of the things about Oshkosh that was so thrilling was being able to get so close to the people who made it happen. Ask for a picture next to him, and he put his hand on my shoulder like I was his old buddy. If you look at the picture on my AOL photograph album, what you won't see is the goose bumps all over me when he did that.

Stayed at the museum as long as possible before going back over to do that day's Flight Line Security duty. There were a lot more people today and, just like pilots, some want to test the limits by crossing the line. Began to get that Barney Fife feeling just saying, "Get behind the line" over and over and getting ugly stares. Tried a couple of new lines and got better results. For the first time offenders, "They used Agent Orange to burn that line in the grass, and it will probably melt your tennis shoes" would get a smile. For the problem types, "They said I could run this scooter over anything that crosses that line" usually worked. Got a great picture of a couple of Young Eagles getting on board a Breezy. Neither looked too sure of themselves. Should have seen the grins they had when they came back. Just as the day before, the 2:00pm rainstorm came in just as my duty time ended. Found that mid afternoon was the best time to use the shower facilities without the long line.

While getting a cheap but good bratwurst at the Sacred Heart stand heard my name called out and saw more familiar faces. A group from my home EAA Chapter 35 were getting lunch there. They drove up from San Antonio and if we had tried to plan to meet here, it would have never happened. But by now I was used to these kinds of miracles happening. "Be sure to meet us here tomorrow about 6:00, we are going out to eat in Oshkosh with the rest of the group that made it up here.

On the way back in to AirVenture checked out more of the Fly Market. While looking at a used VW case, a guy with a very British accent asks me "Are you the Bruce King that flew the VW powered aircraft to Florida?" "Yes, how did you know that?" He pointed to the volunteer name badge I was still wearing and said "I read your trip reports of the Sun-N-Fun trip on the internet. We re-printed some of them in our news letter in England". Wow, the power of the internet, we are international! Told him that it was going to cost him. After seeing his surprised look, told him that I would just like to get a copy of his newsletter.

Hopped on the shuttle to the Homebuilt Banquet a little later, which took us out to the "Nature Center", a beautiful pavilion in the trees. Got to fill my beer stein and eat some great food. Took a picture of the scene, not knowing till much later that my brother and his wife were right in the middle of it. A few minutes later we ran into each other, yet another could not have planned it better moment in a really awesome day. Tom Poberenzny was there as one of the dinner speakers and brought out a really good point. No one really owns an airplane; we are just the current caretaker. A good plane can long outlast its current owner, and there are many examples of this at Oshkosh. I saw an award winning Air Camper there that was built in 1927, and still going strong.

What a day, couldn't have planned it better!

Thanks, Bruce King

100% + 190 HRS