Back from OSH

After 14.1 hours of flying a circuitous route, I'm back from OSH.

I met lots of VAF members, saw some very beautiful planes, ate lots of brots and drank a beer or two. (Hey, when you land, they give you a beer stein so I had to make sure it didn't leak!)

When I taxied in on Friday they parked me right next to Jay Pratt?s RV-8 "Borrowed Horse" and then later Dayton Murdock in his gorgeous RED RV-4 parked on the other side of me.

On Monday I came back to my plane to find two OSH judges looking over both Jay & Dayton's planes and not even giving my -9 a 2nd glance.

Let me just say, those two airplanes were drop dead gorgeous and I hope my presence didn't detract from them winning awards!

I think I ran into Doug every day I was there, that was a bit strange.

Bummer I couldn't catch up with the rest of you but I had to leave on Tuesday morning, drop my buddy off in Northern Michigan, then head to Ohio where I spent the night with some old friends, and then dodge a POTUS TFR on the way back to Charlotte.

The VAF gang is really made up of a bunch of very nice people. I really enjoyed meeting those I did and bummed I didn't meet the rest.

Good hanging out with you, Bill. Our trip home was long as well, as we had to thread the needle on a few storms. We couldn't have done it without XM WX!

Matt,

It was good hanging with you and the rest of the gang.

Both Doug and I had a blast! He has a line on a C-120 that needs restoration and after giving his 14 year-old son a ride in the -9, he too is excited and offered to help his dad with the restoration. Needless to say, Doug is very excited by that prospect.

Next year he will be back with his son, either in the 120 or via ground mode.

Camping @ OSH

Bill,

Good to meet you, finally! We had fun hanging out. Hope to see you at LOE.

Jay,

It was good to finally meet you in person! Your GF is a very nice lady and I enjoyed meeting her as well. I can't wait to hear she got her PPL and you let her fly your -8.

Good thing I only had two beers that first night, even if they were Foster's oil cans, any more than that and I wouldn't have made it the rest of the weekend.

We will look into LOE, maybe we can make.

Oh, the guy that took my parking space when we left on Tuesday was a friend of mine. We flew from Charlotte to Mid-Ohio together on Friday before I split off to pick up my passenger. Kind of odd coincident. Just like he and I going to the same collage, but 20 years apart and living in the same small town in Northern Michigan at the same time but never meeting.

My passenger Doug got a line on a C-120 that is in need of a restoration. Sounds like he is going to jump on it so he and his 14 year-old-son will have a project to work on together. Ya just gotta love the power of OSH.