MONDAY - July 23, 2007

A beautiful day greeted me when I awoke this morning. I felt some anxiety to finish a few chores at home as I rolled out of bed at 6am. The sun was coming over the ocean when I walked downstairs to the office and it looked like a great day for flying. Finally! The day to go to Oshkosh was here. First, though, I wrapped up some final details and loved on the kids. LeeAnn was hard to say goodbye to – and of course I had to remind her how much I love her and how excited I am about the baby. Haley, Marcella, and Jack are headed out on vacation with their mother. Letting go of them ripped at my heart and I cried when I got in the car. I love them and will miss them.

Off to Alan’s house! I packed my gear last night and now just had to pick up Alan. Both of our wives wanted to make sure we did not starve - Leeann made two loaves of banana bread and Amy made two boxes of cookies. Alan and I were able to quickly load the plane and get ready to leave. I offered him the left seat and he eagerly jumped at the chance.

Our plan – X50->KAJR (Cornelia, GA), about 2.75 hours, we planned to leave at 8:30, but got in the air at 8:45. We landed Cornelia at 11:30 EDT. At Cornelia, where I just bought a cabin, we would get a car and go get lunch and then head on to Battle Creek, Michigan. The first leg went exactly as planned and we climbed to 5,000 and then 6,000 feet. We picked up 30 gallons of fuel at AJR and some Wendy’s for us. Next, we checked weather via the computer and filed our flight plan for a 12:45 departure, putting us in Battle Creek at 4:15 EDT.

Climbing out of Cornelia I was in the left seat and found myself in IMC within 5 minutes. I kept the climb steady for 8,000 and watched the instruments. Even after leveling out we were in hard IMC with nothing but gray on the windshield and an occasional glimpse of the ground. About 1.5 hours later, we passed Lexington, Kentucky and the clouds began to break. We were making progress. Enroute, we looked at the charts and decided to go a little further north and get close to Lake Michigan, so we decided to land at Tulip City, Michigan (KBIV). This should be easier and less expensive than going to Battle Creek; small airports tend to have some charm. We watched the Ohio River pass under us leaving Kentucky under gray and cloudv skies. Soon, we were crossing Indiana with bright sunlight, small lakes, and the beauty of the farmland.

Lake Michigan appeared in front of us as we made our final 30 miles into Tulip City. Wow, like an ocean size, the lake showed us how impressive it was. On the ground in Tulip City we ran into other pilots headed to Oshkosh – except they were in an open cockpit ultra light airplane. They looked beat up and weathered since they had left Baltimore about nine hours before. They planned to cross the lake at 500 feet, I planned for 6,500 feet with GPS routing to Hartford (HXF). We decided to have the tire on the plane changed since the cord was showing on the right main and we had about two hours we needed to wait so the field would be open at Oshkosh. So, we ate cookies, I talked to LeeAnn, and we checked the notams to see if the field was opening.

Not knowing any better, we filed a VFR flight plan for Hartford, Wisconsin and left with a plan to fly direct Hartford (HXF), direct RIPON, and direct FISKE. Alan and I climbed out over Lake Michigan with the sun in our eyes and Alan keeping a keen eye out for the ultra light at 500 feet. We steadily climbed to 6,500 and I thought to myself that the moment I was concerned about for the last seven months, the approach into Oshkosh was only 55 minutes away. I wanted to make a good landing and most of all I was concerned that I did not want to do anything wrong. About half way over the lake we tuned in the ATIS at Oshkosh – it did not tell me anything. So, I tuned in the FISK controllers and quickly heard them giving instructions to other aircraft following the approach. The same approach we had studied from Cornelia to Tulip City. When I heard her say, “Bonanza, great wing rock, enter the downwind for runway 27 at the gravel pit and monitor the tower 118.5.” Whew! I can follow those instructions.

Alan and I listened to the radio and quickly realized that we could follow these instructions. More importantly, there was not a lot of traffic from what we could tell from the radio. We quickly headed to the town of Ripon and watched for aircraft. We made the turn, spotted the railroad tracks and headed to Fisk. “Piper, give me a wing rock,” came the call. I rocked the wings hard.

“Great wing rock, Piper. Follow the railroad tracks and enter the downwind for runway 27. Enjoy the show,” she responded on the radio. We were on our way. As we approached the field we saw the dots and made our downwind. Interestingly, there was a Ford Tri-motor on final – but it turned out he was turning base for runway 18. Alan and I were told to land on the ‘green’ dot and I put the wheels down right on the dot with no problem as we slowed and headed straight into the sunlight. We turned off on the taxiway and headed for the grass. We parked within 60 seconds on the grass and had a volunteer enthusiastically greet and welcome us. Grinning like kids we tied up the plane and started to discuss our plan.

A friend of mine, Kevin Jensen, had left me a message that he saw my company logo on an aerobatic airplane and that I needed to call him. Sure enough, it was on the plane and he invited us to a ChevronTexaco barbeque at the Weeks Hangar. Alan headed that way and found ourselves with beers in hand and talking to the pilot, Julie Clark. So far the trip was going great. Shortly thereafter we realized we were beat and headed to the private residence where we planned to spend the week.

Christine and Gary greeted us with smiles and hospitality. We had borrowed Kevin’s rental car and found our way to the house, driving through Oshkosh for the first time. My bedroom is great – a double bed, towels laid out, a bathroom that Alan and I will share and lots of friendly welcomes from our hosts.