1500 miles round trip to the homebuilt airplane capitol of the world and home!

Well, we made it to Oshkosh and back. It was an absolute blast! With the economy being slow, there weren't as many airplanes as expected, but there were still about 8,000 of them and they were still coming. I got to see some friends, show off my airplane and not have to worry about work.
We came back a day early because the weather in Oshkosh was supposed to be deteriorating over the next couple of days, and it worked out well as far as traveling on the way back. There were a couple of places that required some maneuvering around the clouds to get in to, but 3 stops for fuel and wait out some weather and got home about 5PM.
The trip was too cool for words.
Next summer: Kitty Hawk to California...

24hrs to go

The Electronic Flight Instrument System (EFIS) came yesterday and I installed it last night. I sent it off 7 weeks ago for repair. It sat at the Post Office for 13 days before they picked it up. It then sat at the company for a couple of weeks before I was notified that it should be able to be sent back in the middle of the following week. 2 weeks later, they said that it was fixed and I needed to pay $280.
I paid it immediately. I kept trying to get them to send it and I finally got an email saying they were out of the office, but would be back in the following Tuesday. I said I was planning on the trip to Oshkosh and needed it as soon as possible.
They sent it Monday, a whole day earlier than they said they would! Does that make me happy? Not really as they have lied about everything up to that point.
Since I'm leaving tomorrow, it would be nice to have more than 1 day to test it, but I'll do that this afternoon.
No wonder they are going out of business.
At Oshkosh I'll be able to talk to the other EFIS manufacturers. I just hope I don't have to get a new one any time soon.

Countdown Has Commenced!

In about 32 hours we will depart the earth for Crossville, Tennessee. Flight time should be about an hour and tem minutes. A friend of mine is not doing very well healthwise, so we will stop by there to say hello and go to lunch. We will top off with gas and head towards Clarksville, TN. Flight time will be approximately 50 minutes.
We will meet up with a couple of friends who have planes similar to mine and depart the next morning (Saturday) at 6:00AM.

The first leg will be to Rantoul, Illinois about 1:50 later for gas, leg stretch and bathroom break. Next stop is Juno, Wisconsin about 1:25 duration for more gas. We could make the trip from Clarksville to Oshkosh on one stop, but we are stopping about 40 miles away for fuel in case we need to be in a holding pattern for landing for an extended period of time (remember 10,000-12,000 airplanes will be showing up for the week).
The last leg will be from Juno to Oshkosh. Flight time is about 20 minutes. We should be there before noon.

This will be exciting! My Electronic Flight Instrument System has been repaired and should be delivered Wednesday. I'll install it and do a test flight. Other than a few minor details, the plane is ready. Calculations of weight with both Eric and I including fuel and luggage (minimal) will allow us 18 lbs shy of the gross weight of the airplane.

2-1/2 Weeks before we fly to Oshkosh

Yep it will be Oshkosh by Gosh!!! The Airventure website says 600,000 people and 12,000 airplanes! Although I'm not a fan of large crowds, when I started building my airplane a buddy and I made a pact to fly it to Oshkosh when it was finished.
This is the year!
The plan is to fly from Spartanburg, SC to Crossville, TN and stop for gas and visit another friend for an hour or so. Then we will make a short hop to Clarksville, TN to meet up with two other buddies who have similar airplanes.
We'll stay overnight and depart Crossville at 6:00 AM. That won't be too bad as they are an hour behind us.
From there it will only take about 4 hours flying time (or so as their airplanes aren't quite as fast as mine. YAY!!) But they can fly longer on a tank of gas....Oh well! (My plane gets about 30mpg)

We will need to make one stop for fuel, but will stop about halfway and then again just before we get there as we may have to fly a holding pattern for a while to get in line to land...remember, 12,000 airplanes?

We won't stay the whole week, but I am looking forward to it. And, I'm dreading it at the same time.
No matter what, it'll be one more lifetime experience I can add to the list.

Summer's are great at school

Schools are great places when teachers and students aren't here. It's quiet, the phone rarely rings and I don't have to deal with discipline problems.
I have enough to do, but I am waiting until the end of July to fly to Oshkosh Wisconsin for the largest homebuilt airplane fly-in in the world.
Airventure!!!
www.airventure.org