TUESDAY – July 24, 2007
Sleep was great. I still can’t believe I am here. All of the months of planning still seem very surreal. It is 7:15 and I am in the shower waking up slowly, and unsure about what I will find when I get to the kitchen. Wow! Cantaloupe, Danishes, cereal, fruit, coffee, orange juice. So far the day is going well.
Alan and I headed to the EAA museum, planning to be there for a 10:00a tour. We were greeted at the museum and went to the conference room to wait for our tour guide. Pete Kelly was introduced to us and he quickly volunteered that he would do his best to show us around, but was to say that if we asked specifics his answers would be generic and he would say, “a lot” to anything we asked.
We made our rounds through the museum. I began to see beautiful aircraft, wow. This was going to be quite a day and quite a show. During our two hours with Pete today he took us to EAA kid venture, Compass Hill, the chapel, trough the war birds, past the classics, to the campground, and around by the presidents house where we will go the barbeque this week. As we approached lunch time we joked about a place that advertised beer and bikinis later in the week – Pete had already been there and said the food was great. We parked and walked to this outdoor tent on a private lot, there was no beer or bikinis. But, I had a shredded pork sandwich and an ear of corn that had been dipped in butter.
We parted ways with Pete and headed off on our own. Alan and I went to look at the gift shop at the museum and move our car closer to the show, to our ‘VIP’ lot. We began to walk through the ‘air swap’, a land of tents with vendors hawking sunglasses, old books, hammocks, aircraft parts, and a variety of items anyone would need. After about two hours of walking we decided to head toward the performer’s tent. Alan and I had passes for the day, to be in a tent and watch the air show from the front row.
Arriving at the tent I asked the man checking wristbands if we were in the right place. It turned out it was Pete! He jumped to his feet and said “no, but let me get you a badge to get in.” Suddenly Alan and I found ourselves walking through an air conditioned tent and being offered drinks and food. Pete took us to the rooftop gallery and explained we could watch the air show from there. Alan and I looked at each other and laughed, it just keeps getting better.
For about 45 minutes we sat, not a lot happening as a few airplanes buzzed overhead. In a moment, at 3:00 airplanes appeared from everywhere. I counted at one time at least 40 aircraft in the air. Soon, aerobatic pilots were performing in front of us, doing maneuvers that I could not imagine. Airplanes were going up, down, sideways and in ways that I could not imagine. As I looked around, I spotted Phil Boyer, head of AOPA, just a few feet behind me watching the same show from the same pavilion we were. I sat back and watched in awe, enjoying every second.
After the show, we headed out. It had been a long day. Tonight we ate dinner, after driving all over Oshkosh, at a restaurant called “Jansens”. An interesting neighborhood tavern where I had a delicious rib-eye steak. I lasted for about 15 minutes when we got home, ugh I needed sleep.
I enjoyed today. I realized that flying is not hard, scary, or intimidating. I have never felt that it is, but I probably pass up many opportunities to go places that I could easily reach in my airplane or “time traveling machine” as my friend Andy Millin calls it.
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