FRIDAY - July 27, 2007

Alan and I had another great day – a little mellower than the others. I called Leeann this morning, I really miss her. She was in a great mood and we exchanged lots of ‘I miss yous’. Alan made me laugh because he said every time I call I get a different person – happy, sad, crying – all due to being pregnant. She has been very busy all week, work has been tough and she has had dinners to go to and been working bingo for Kiwanis. I am looking forward to seeing her on Sunday.

We started at the museum again, picking up a gift for our hosts. They have been great and we wanted to get them something nice. So, we picked out a wind vane with an airplane on it for their garden in the back. After we finished at the museum we went back to the card and worked our way back to our parking lot. Next, we headed in to the show and found ourselves at the tents, the pavilions where different workshops take place. We started in a welding tent where people can use and try an actual welder. Next, and very fascinating, we went to a fabric covering tent. Woodworking, sewing, and fabric lying were being done. When we asked what wing they were working the answer was, “it is an aileron for a DC-3.” I just learned something new, the aileron on a DC-3 is fabric covered, not metal like the rest of the airplane.

By the way, I confirmed this later today when we looked at the restored Piedmont Airlines DC-3. I paid a$1.00 each for us to tour that airplane. Up close I was able to confirm that these control surfaces were indeed not made of metal.

We slowly meandered our way toward the homebuilts. One thing I wanted to do was get dog tags for the kids, I had remembered seeing a dog tag making place up by the war birds and hoped to find it again. As we headed north we walked past Glastar, Velocity, and Van’s. I finally learned the difference between an RV-4, RV-6, 9, 10. John from last night said he has an RV-6A. I understand now – a 2-seat side-by-side configuration with a sliding canopy on tricycle gear. We met a man that had built his own airplane (RV-6A) and talked to us about what went well. We even helped him push it out so he could taxi away. By the way, he was using the “claw” for his tie down. He said for $93 it was the best deal to secure your airplane – ropes, claw, hammer, and bag all included. (Birthday gift?).

At the Van’s booth I saw Van sitting there and spoke to a salesman about the aircraft. He was building a RV-9A. The non-aerobatic version of an RV-7. The RV-6 is not made anymore. Wanting to learn more I bought a Van’s info packet and DVD to watch when I get back home. -- By the way, did I mention that we watched “16R” (one-six-right) the other night? If you have not seen it I strongly recommend you watch the movie. You will understand more about general aviation than you ever did. – I had a chance to sit in the RV-9 and found it very comfortable. Alan and I then went to a tent right behind Van’s and ended up meeting Jan Eggenfelter (sp?) who owns an engine company and is based at Massey Ranch (X50) where I keep my plane.

We began heading south again and I finally found my dog tag place and had a tag made for each of the kids as a souvenir. Something different, something fun.

Within a few minutes we bumped into Finn again. Alan had a chance to visit with him more and discuss how his company, Tireswing, could help with web site. Hopefully something good can come of that for Alan.

At the Flightline Pavilion I discovered that ChevronTexaco was having a party in the other tent so Kevin Jensen was able to visit with me again. He was still grinning like a kid from a T-34 ride he had earlier in the week. Lucky dog! He talked about the F-22 Raptors coming in yesterday and that he had tried to get a ride on the fuel truck out to them. The Veeder-Root equipment has been running great at the show. While sitting there we found out that two P51s had collided at the south end of the runway and the air show had stopped. One of them had overtaken the other on landing and the pilot of the second aircraft was killed.

Alan and I found a tram and headed south to take more airplane pictures. I think my next airplane, in addition to the Saratoga, will be a Piper Tri-Pacer. What a great looking older airplane. I had a chance to photograph five or six different planes tonight. At the President’s BBQ I met a gentleman that actually owned one of the planes we photographed. He was very proud of the plane and very excited as it was his first time flying into Oshkosh.

Our final stop for the night was the President’s BBQ. We actually changed clothes in the parking lot so we would have on fresh, collared, shirts and shorts. It was nice to be in flip-flops and not tennis shoes too. Alan and I did not know a soul at the event. Finally, Pete who escorted us on Tuesday came up and said hello. We got our steaks and food and picked a table. It turned out we sat with the team that has conceived and is developing “Andy’s Airplanes”. The conversation was fun and we enjoyed learning about this as we had visited their booth yesterday. The children’s video series they have and the icon they have created are pretty cool.

After the BBQ instead of heading back we went to the theater in the woods. On Tuesday we had seen a small theater, thinking that was the theater. Wrong! It was a giant blow up theater with a great sound system. It is reminiscent of a drive-in theater of days gone by. We wanted to go because we realized the movie was going to be Apollo 13. More importantly, Jim Lovell was on stage to introduce and discuss the movie. Alan made me laugh because he pointed out that Jim had on the same green wrist band as an attendee that we did.

It has been a great week. I think we are both looking forward to going home Sunday. We just checked weather and I have re-planned our flight. We are going to go VFR to KIKK (Kankakee, Illinois) and then go IFR with a stop at KAJR again. It looks like rain and clouds in the southeast Sunday afternoon though, we will see what happens. I am not ready to get back to work as the week has been great. But, I can’t wait to see LeeAnn and then the kids on Tuesday.