Airventure 2014

[Av8r3400 1179]

My place at Friday 5 pm to whenever.

See the map/ satillite photo previously posted in this thread for location.

Or to all you can call my cell: seven one 5 - 218 - eight 00 two.

[lostman 198]

Wife and I are headed out the door. We plan to be at Oshkosh on Wednesday after a few days in upper Michigan. If anyone wants to get a hold of me while you're there my cell is 6 two 3 262 three 3 two 8.

 

Take care all and happy travels if you're headed this way too!

[C5Engineer 1170]

See ya there Kenneth!

[Av8r3400 1179]

***UP-DATE***UP-DATE***UP-DATE***

 

 

 

 

My inside the Seaplane base sources tell me that Brett McKinney, of Airdale fame, is NOT, repeat NOT having an Avid Lunch on Thursday this year.

[Chewie 19]

Kenneth I'll call you, maybe on Thursday.

Mark

[Av8r3400 1179]

Waiting out a little fog then I'm off.

Wife already left with the camper...

[Luked 71]

Heading out the door to Oshkosh. It looks like the weather might be a little interesting tomorrow evening though   Looking forward to putting some faces with the names.

[C5Engineer 1170]

Had our BBQ tonite. It was great to finally meet everyone in person! Thanks Larry for Hosting. Just finished watching the Valdez STOL masters play on the ultralight field for an hour. If you've never been to Osh GO! It is absolutely amazing!

[Av8r3400 1179]

I'm home now again.  Joey is languishing in Green Bay due to a cancelled flight, Doug is surely on the road looking forward to Chicago traffic and everyone else is looking at Airventure 2014 in the rear view mirror...

 

I'd like to thank every one that came to my little gathering on Friday evening.  It was great to meet everyone.  From our AFF family Kenneth, Luke, Herman, Joey and everyone else.  Doug was previously engaged… 

 

 

I'm especially grateful to Joey and Herman for camping with us at our little corner of Airventure.  It was lots of fun.  You have an open invitation to return any time!

[C5Engineer 1170]

HUGE THANK YOU TO LARRY AND DOUG!! You guys made the experience even more amazing and your hospitality is greatly appreciated. I will start a picture thread soon and try and get some stuff posted. It's going to take a while to get thru it all.

For those who have never been and keep saying if like to someday stop making excuses and GO! It FAR surpassed my expectations and I still don't think it's all soaked in yet.

[Luked 71]

Yeah, thanks a ton Larry for getting this thing together. It was great to talk with everyone in person. Hope we can do it again next year.

 

Looking forward to pictures Joey. I didn't take nearly as many as I should have. I was too busy staring at all the cool stuff everywhere. I've got a few that I could post though.

 

Luke D.

[Av8r3400 1179]

Don't feel bad, Luke.  After 25 years of going to Airventure, I still wander around staring at all the awesome stuff and never take any pictures...

[dholly 718]

Left 9 PM Sunday due to morning rain delay, Chicago was still a mess at midnight and Milwaukee not much better. Se jackass in an 18 wheeler tried to take me out in a construction zone around 3am and I had to opt for him or the construction barrels. Bent one of the camper jacks but the truck unscathed. I'm writing this on my phone from a Denny's Internet café in Mars PA after diverting to visit and help a son move out of his college apt. Trust me, you haven't really lived until you try to drive a truck camper towing a trailer down narrow clogged Pittsburgh streets at rush-hour. Well, back on the road. Great to see my old friends again and meet some new as always. Sorry to miss Mark and Luke, next year perhaps.

[marksires 484]

Sorry I missed it. I had planned to stay all week, but business needs forced me to leave Wednesday evening.  That may have been good - getting my camper out of the campgrounds after the rain might have been more fun than I could stand!

Mark

[Luked 71]

Glad you made it out of there in one piece Doug. Mark, we had some good entertainment Friday evening (and Saturday too), watching people try to get through the mud in the campground. Too bad we missed you guys. Hopefully next year.

[marksires 484]

Luke,

I would imagine, I remember a few years ago at Sploshkosh, watching the same entertainment on Thursday morning.  All the guys with the giant, fancy motorhomes decided it was time to leave after the torrential rains Wednesday night. EAA had a John Deere 8 series 4wd tractor pulling them out.  One guy won the prize though, buried it front and back to the axles.  They had to call the towing service, and they had to use airbags to get it lifted out of the hole.  My thought through the whole thing was 'Really?  You can afford those motorcoaches, but can't afford to stay one more day and let it dry out?'

Mark

[Luked 71]

Haha! Having grown up on a farm, that's good stuff!

[akflyer 1427]

One would think that after being an issue year after year, they would have some mats that they could throw down pretty quick across the known mud holes if need be...

 

Hope to see you fellers there next year, I am working on the schedule now to hopefully have the time off next summer.

 

[lostman 198]

Finally getting caught up enough with everything at home as well as unpacking, to get online. A huge thanks to all the AFF crowd I was fortunate to meet this past week. Doug and Larry, thanks for hosting at your campground. My wife and I are already seriously considering another trip. Who knows what's in the cards for us both and where well be next year. At least this year was a stellar vacation and we both really enjoyed it.

 

For those that asked about Karla's pictures, I'll let you know where she posts them once she has them organized and up. She took over 4,300 pictures in one week, and some of them are absolutely spectacular, especially the night fireworks and airshows.

[Luked 71]

I just saw this:

 

http://www.eaa.org/en/airventure/eaa-airventure-news-and-multimedia/eaa-airventure-news/eaa-airventure-oshkosh/2014-07-31-knapp_tops_stol_competition

 

Everyone who came to Larry's Oshkosh get together on Friday went over and watched the STOL competition afterwards. I didn't even realize they were giving the pilots official scores. It looked more like an exhibition. Looks like Frank Knapp and the "Lil Cub" got the top score.

[C5Engineer 1170]

Luke that occured earlier in the week on Mon-Wed out on the main runway. What we watched was just them playing.

[Luked 71]

Ah. Makes sense now.