Back To Oshkosh

It's funny, I've changed a lot over the years in several respects. One of them is my sleeping habits. I used to be probably the lightest sleeper you've ever heard of, waking up if someone just looked at me. The click on my clock when the radio alarm went off-with the sound all the way down-is what I woke up to in the morning. But one thing seems to have stayed with me. When I need it, I can wake up a few minutes before I need to wake up, without my alarm. My internal alarm used to be really good-I'd tell myself what time I wanted to wake up, and I did. These days I don't need it much, but on occasion it still happens. This morning I was going to get up at 6:25 a.m. I woke up right at 6:20 a.m. Normally I wouldn't wake up at 6:20 a.m. unless my house was on fire, but today I knew I needed to be up, and my rusty alarm clock in my head went off.

I got to the airport about 20 minutes early and I was still the last one there. These darn early risers. :) The weather was hazy and hot, but the ride was very smooth. We took the Baron, with Chuck and Greg R. in the back seat and me & Nathan up front. I flew at 10,000' on the way up, and it was nice and cool up there. We ended up at PEEPS, which is an intersection in the middle of Lake Michigan where they like to send pilots. I landed at Fond du Lac first, and dropped Greg off so he could ride his new Harley all the way home, and then I took off and was almost immediately in Oshkosh's airspace. One more landing there-and we rolled out right past the scorch marks of the pyrotechnics they let off last week, and the scorch marks where the P-51 exploded. A sobering sight. It's like seeing the little crosses on a spot on the highway-they often give me pause, knowing that someone died there. I felt the same way today, rolling on the surface where a man lost his life just a few days ago.

Oshkosh itself still had a lot of the tents and such still up, and there were about two airplanes and a couple of buses out in the fields too. Nary a person in sight. It was a little odd seeing the airport without the masses of humanity-it just seemed like an airport, not a city. A Big airport, with 8 (or 4, depending on your definition) runways, but still just an airport. I stayed on the ground for about 20 minutes to get a little bit of gas and have a snack while Chuck and Nathan were taken to his bus to start their long drive home. I was home in an hour and 18 minutes. On my way out of Oshkosh, I took several photos. Of course it's a little tricky to take photos while one is climbing and turning and talking to Oshkosh and then Chicago, but I managed. (If you click on this one, it will blow up to a bigger size.) The day was really hazy again, so these pictures still aren't much good, but I got shots of the runways, the empty fields, the empty tents, etc. During the trip home I ran across quite a few airliners in my path, at just 1000' above me. Pretty sight.

I landed back at Kokomo, topped off the plane with fuel, wiped off the bugs, and headed to SubWay for breakfast/lunch. When I got home, I got to watch the dvd that Steve took today of Kaylee doing her dance routines from her two-day Dance Camp. Lyrical is the 6th type of dance by the way, whatever that is. :) Her favorite is hip hop of all things, the one type of music I actively dislike. There are no words, it's not a bad 'lyrics' type thing, I just don't care for the music. But she really enjoyed the dance camp and doing all six routines. She's not bad for six years old, and I'm glad she had a fun couple of days learning something new.

Now, for a couple of photos. This one, when you look down the wing of the Baron, you see...nothing. I was in a right turn here, so the wing is actually going "down" into the blue. What you see is Lake Michigan from 9,000'. If you click on this one, it will blow up a little bigger, where you will STILL see nothing but blue. No boats, no traffic, just empty blue. It's easy to see how it can be disorienting, but I do think it's beautiful. I wouldn't care to end up in that cold-year-round water, but it IS pretty.

Next is one of the airliners I passed today. I always enjoy getting a glimpse of these in the air fairly close up-though not TOO close up of course. :)

I might put the Oshkosh ones up on my site so you can blow them up for a better view of the trampled grass, the lone plane on the field, the pyrotechnics scorch marks, the tents or whatever you want to see. Which reminds me, I also added someone else's page (Page Six) of actual flying photos from the event, feeling guilty for not having flying photos of my own to show. So you can go visit those too. ;) On the big version of this one, you can see one plane in the field, all lonely up there...

P.S.

I just saw a commercial on TV for an adult Chuck E Cheese. I can't remember the name of the place, but it's food and games...for adults. Skee ball, basket ball, video games, Dance Mats, virtual reality things, etc. For adults. You can buy food and games packages. Did I mention it's for adults? Uhhhhhhh. :O

Well, tomorrow Chuck, Greg, Nathan and I leave early for a flight in the Baron to Fond du Lac and Oshkosh, so I'm going to try to get some sleep.

Why I Should Always Carry A Camera and other Wild Rambles

This morning we got up early, and I took Kaylee to her first of two days of "Dance Camp". She'll get to do routines in six types of dance. Ballet, Hip Hop, Modern, Jazz, Tap, and...something. Then she'll pick which 1 or 2 types of dance she'd like to do, and we'll go from there. She's pretty excited about it-she loves to dance. It is certainly her way to make a joyful noise and express herself. :)

When I left there, I decided to be productive, and went to the post office to pick up 10 days' worth of mail, and then head over to Kaylee's new school to pay registration. I show up at 8:40 a.m. and the doors open at 9 am. And you wonder why I don't like to get up early. Nothing but the post office and the grocery stores are open at 8 am anyway!

So on my way home from that unproductive run, I see a car driving down a busy road at 2 mph following a duck. You don't see that every day. And that is why I should always carry a camera.

I was reading an article in "Air Classics" magazine about a (true story) family who went on a vacation in their large aircraft (PBY Catalina) in 1960 to Saudi Arabia. In the story, they were attacked by militants, fired on, etc. The story wasn't written very well, but it was interesting enough that it kept your attention regardless. But one thing about this story stopped me and it's like the author didn't really pay any attention to it at all. There's a woman named Susan in the story, and she's amazing! The plane is taking 300-400 hits with automatic weapons. The kids are huddled under cans and their mother is on top of them trying to protect them from bullets. The dad/pilot realizes gas and oil are leaking everywhere, raining down on them, and if they don't move, they will probably go up in flames with one of these upcoming bullets. He crawls up to try to start the engines and taxi out on the water away from these guys, when he gets hit with a bullet-he grunts that he's been hit, Susan lifts her head, and then I quote: "Just then a bullet hit her (Susan's) right arm, exactly where her head had been. She clawed a big chunk of metal out of her arm with her fingernails, but there were two more pieces she couldn't reach. I was dazed for a moment but she gave me a towel and then, somehow, lying on her back, she lifted the seat up so I could reach under and connect the batteries." Later it goes on to say that water was filling a hold and two men couldn't get the door shut. "We kept trying to get the hatch down, but when the water got up to our chins, we had to give up. Somehow, Susan forced that heavy door open enough to get my feet through. She still has a big ugly knot on her arm where the door banged shut on her at some point and broke the blood vessels." The story goes on from there, but I heard screeching brakes in my head. This is some woman. Clawing a bullet out of her arm, lifting seats from her back, forcing open heavy doors even when she's been shot and has a door slamming open on her arm, not huddling in a corner and crying while under a full-fledged attack. I wouldn't mess with this lady! I wonder where she is today.

I made it back to the school, signed over my child and my right arm, and was given the speech on and then a two-page paper listing all the ways I should volunteer for the school. They had sign-up sheets right there on the table, about 20 of them or more, ready to go. I didn't see "fly students around in airplanes" anywhere on that list yet, but I'm still looking. :) Considering I'm paying almost double the tuition of the church members' kids, I believe the volunteer list should first be occupied by the people paying half the tuition. One should try to contribute at least money OR time for sure, and both if one can, but at least one or the other. They're getting a lot more money from me and any other Baptists attending the Lutheran school, so hopefully that will mean something. Besides, they *really* do not want to subject their students to me as a Room Mother or a Meal Planning and Prep lady. "Please teacher, don't ask Mrs. Stants back! Her meatloaf tasted funny! And she's kind of weird! She keeps grabbing her head and groaning and running outside to 'breathe'!" :) Don't worry, I did see a website care and a photography activity, so I shall see if one of them is an area in which they still need help.

I was reading Ted Dekker's "Blink" at Oshkosh, and I found it pretty interesting. I liked his last one "Skin", so I picked up several more of his for Oshkosh. I didn't realize until I was in the middle of "Thr3E" that he was a Christian author (I sure wouldn't have guessed it from 'Skin'), but if you're in the mood for a little mind-bending, he's pretty good. "Skin" is about a virtual reality game that leaves you wondering what was actually real, if I told you what "Thr3E" was about it would ruin it, but it's another mind bend (I didn't see that one coming), and "Blink" is about a guy who can see not only "the future", but EVERY Possibility of what the future might be depending on what circumstances happened or what choices people made. In other words, because people can do any number of things, the possibilities of what the actual future will be will depend on which action the people choose to take. It's fluid, not static. The main character didn't think God could be real because he said that God would know THE future, but there isn't one future but any number of potential futures, so God therefore can't be real, it's all just a random thing and prayer would be futile. At the end he determined that time, like the potential futures, goes well beyond what we as humans can see or comprehend, and basically realizes that what he saw was a tiny variation of what God could see and process and understand as far as all the potential choices people would and could make, the potential futures that could be, etc. Anyway, hard to explain, I did a poor job, but interesting to read if you're in the mood for that kind of thing. Not as deep of a book as it sounds, just hard to explain. :)

That reminds me; the sign on a local church here read:
"Sorrow looks behind; Worry looks around; Faith looks up."
I thought some of you might appreciate the quote...

And thus I've gone the gambit from ducks to ballet (where we're headed in 15 minutes) to torturing small children to gunfights to quantum physics to church signs. Welcome to my twisted mind. ;)

Addendum for the Day-And could use your Help

We got every bag unpacked, we got every piece of laundry done and PUT AWAY. It's a miracle. It took most of the day off and on, but for some reason I really wanted to get it done. I even washed a suitcase full of clothing of Kaylee's (my least favorite to put away) because it had that "I've been in a suitcase in hot weather for a week straight" smell to even the clean laundry. Mission Accomplished. I feel Good about that. In fact, I feel downright giddy about it. I like things clean and in order.

Now, how I could use your help. I've never been fond of the blog title "Laura's Life". It's boring. It's accurate, but it's boring. I'd like a clever blog title, but unfortunately am apparently not clever enough to come up with one. "Confessions of a Pioneer Woman", now that is catchy. "Poohsticks" and the meaning behind it is clever. "Daily Mental Multivitamin"-like it. "Laura's Life" is Lame. (Again, considering I cover everything from Kaylee to laundry to ballet to flying to vacation, it IS accurate, but is there anything out there that could be accurate and still catchier? Plus I'm not fond of having "Laura" in it because to half the people or more who read this, I'm Laurie, not Laura, though that's not a deal-breaker.) So if you can think of a blog title that fits with me and my life, post it in the comments section or on the "chat box", or if you're scared to delurk, just email me. :) Winner gets...winner gets...their creativity shown on the internet for all to see? Hmmmm. Well, that and a "gee thanks!". Will that work?

The Aftermath

I could post photos of my laundry piles, but I'll spare you (and myself) the embarrassment. But I AM making progress. All our sheets and clothes and towels are washed and dried. Just don't ask me how long it's going to take me to get it all put away and off my kitchen table. I mean...I'm so efficient, this will all be done in no time! (cough)

Last night I took a shower. Normally that is not blog-worthy, but today it is. I stood in there with the water as hot as I could stand it for as long as I had hot water. By the time I got out, I was red, warm, sleepy, clean, and I couldn't see across the small room thanks to the steam. As Steve said, when I brushed my teeth, I let the water run. Normally I don't. But now I can. So I did. And I liked it. In some ways, it is GOOD to be home! Oh! And I could use toilet paper without moving as quickly as possible so as to not be left...high and not so dry. Yep. Good to be home.

I spent hours and hours working on my photos last night and today. Rotating, cropping, adjusting where needed, and finally getting them up online. Now I have a note about this. Usually I separate the photos of just Kaylee and put them up on her website. I separate the photos of flying and put them up under "fun flying" photos, and I separate the photos of our family/friends and put them up on "fun family" photos. But this year, I just wanted to tell one story all the way through. So the photos are up, all in one spot, under the Fun Flying. I didn't take many flying photos at all. I did that on purpose. Every time I'm at an aviation event, I take tons of photos of what ends up being the same planes and the same routines, and while I enjoy looking at the photos for sure, you can't really differentiate between this year's routine and last year's. You can't see a tail slide any differently. So this year I took photos of us (mostly Kaylee) while we were doing stuff. Watching the show, playing, sleeping, eating, etc. Because unlike planes, people do change, and I'll probably be more interested in seeing what she was doing 10 years from now than I will be looking at the airshow photos. Last year I had some great photos of a formation flight with a B-25 and several warbirds from the photo shoot. Had I anything that interesting to shoot this year, you can bet I'd do it, never fear. lol But if you're looking for that this year, you're out of luck. I took very few flying photos-mostly these photos are of Kaylee and friends, and there are Five Pages of them, chronicling our 9 days there. Now you've been warned, Go Look if you wish/dare!

The Mecca Chronicles: Day Nine

Yesterday evening was the perfect close to our time at Oshkosh. It was just beautiful, and it was the first day since I've been gone where I wished I had an airplane there to fly myself. Instead I watched the powered parachutes and the ultralights do their circuits of flight. There used to be swarms of them, going for hours, but lately the powered chutes and ultralights have really declined. Normally I wouldn't mind so much, but that's one part of Oshkosh I've always enjoyed is watching those guys buzzing around at sunset in the calmer air, in a literal rainbow of colors.

Last night around the campfire, I pulled out my USB cable and my photo card and took a look at all 273 photos I have taken this week. I've got some that I think turned out fairly well, mostly of the kids, and I'm going to try to get some web pages up when I get caught up with everything. Editing 273 photos in itself is going to take me awhile. ;)

I think I'm the only one who slept well last night, and I still woke up bright and early. I ignored being awake for an hour, then crawled out of bed around 7 am. When Kaylee woke up, she put her head in her hands and frowned and whined "I don't WANT to leave Oshkosh!" She did it enough times that I took her picture, which seems to have annoyed her enough to get her on a different tangent. We packed and cleaned the trailer, and got it ready to be hauled away, and by 9:11 a.m. we were totally done and ready to hit the road. Not bad, really. Kaylee and Maggie played with Dawn's kitties (Piper and Stinson) for one last time for 15 minutes or so, and we sat and relaxed after having packed like crazy for over two hours, and then finally we loaded into the Jeep and headed south around 11 am our time. We waved and said goodbye to Oshkosh, with Kaylee frowning in the back seat, and we did pretty well on driving until just outside of Chicago, where we became a (almost) parking lot. We crawled along at 10-15 mph for awhile, and we ended up hitting about 3 of those spots today. By the time I got home, my hip was aching from the hours of being in one basic position. (I drove).

We finally pulled into our driveway around 5:45 pm, so it wasn't as quick or easy of a drive home as it was going up, but we made it with just one stop. We've unloaded everything, but now it's sitting in my living room and kitchen looking at me. I've already got two loads of laundry going at this moment and have unpacked several bags, and it's still a mess of stuff in here. Ah well, this will take some time! Kaylee has been tossed in the bath tub after a light dinner, and my photos are downloading to my home computer as I type. Life, getting back to normal. Once we got home, we did see the actual video footage of the two P-51s that crashed on the runway. I'll just say it gave me goosebumps and a knot in my stomach. It *should* give people pause to see someone's last moments. My prayers go to his family.

But Oshkosh was a lot of fun this year, and the weather helped make it even more so. I think one of the keys to Oshkosh is having someone there to enjoy it with you. It's still amazing in its own right to wander around as a pilot and see what is there, but having someone (or more than one someone) to share it with makes a difference. It's like when you see a beautiful sunset and you want to turn to someone and say "Wow--did you see that??" There were many times all week you'd hear someone say "Wow--look at that" or "Whoa, that's beautiful" or "Quick, come see this!" and boy did they have good taste in views. :)

And thus concludes The Mecca Chronicles: Oshkosh 2007. We'll see you again next year...

The Mecca Chronicles: Day Eight

Gooood Morning, Oshkosh!

Yesterday afternoon and evening it rained and rained and rained. I fell asleep last night to the sounds of rain hitting the roof of the trailer, which is really rather soothing. We were supposed to get "hammered" last night with rain, but other than a lightening show, I didn't really hear anything exciting. But this morning on my way to breakfast, I noticed that all the roads in the fields are now turning into messes. Luckily ours is still fine, but many of them are now mud pits. I don't envy the tent guys on Mud Row.

Kaylee and I went to McDonald's this morning along with Chuck, Judy, George, Rose and Maggie, and let the kids play for awhile at the play land while we ate breakfast. On the way home, I stopped at this waterfall that is off the side of the highway. It's man-made, fairly tall, with blue water falling over rock formations. Every time I went by it I looked at it-and then the other night one of the campers asked me to take a photo of it for his wife to sketch it, so this morning I did. Once I figured out the logistics of taking a photo of something off of a highway, I was good to go. I got my shoes terribly muddy in the process, but I got the photos, so hopefully they turn out even though it was overcast and gray outside again. A sun shining on the water would have been pretty, but you can only get what you can get sometimes.

Mostly today I did a whole lot of nothing. I read a book for most of the afternoon, and enjoyed that just fine. It was gray, overcast and cloudy all morning, then later this afternoon it cleared off just beautifully, and I'm looking at blue skies and cool temps again. Love it.

Sadly though, Oshkosh did have a fatality. From what I understand, one P-51 ran into the back of another on approach to landing, flipping over on its canopy onto the ground, bursting into flames, and killing the pilot on board the one Mustang. The other Mustang was damaged but the pilot survived apparently unharmed. No, I don't know anyone involved, thankfully. I did hear "Air Boss" on the radio calling for a fire truck and closing the runway down, but I couldn't hear why or what the damage was. The accident shut the runway down and cancelled the rest of the scheduled warbird show. It's always very sobering to lose one. The rest of the pilots out there just try to learn from the mistakes of others so as to not repeat them, to the best of their ability.

On to lighter fare, tonight we are eating whatever is left in our fridge/freezer, so that tomorrow we can pull up stakes and head out of town. We leave around 11 am for our journey home. I polished off a pint of Dove ice cream tonight, and I do believe that will be my dinner tonight. It's good to be an adult.

To end my fine day-I found myself forced to reside in a port-o-potty in between two gentlemen doing their morning business, which led me to the following thoughts. Well, besides "Eeew".

Port-O-Potty Etiquette

1. Don't choose a port-o-potty next to someone unless you are forced by circumstances. Put a little space in between you and the next person.
2. If you are forced to sit next to someone, please don't converse with them unless they are immediate family or a close friend who will be amused by it. Or unless you are a child who is fascinated with the view.
3. Please try to keep any verbal noises to a minimum. The walls are thin and plastic and I don't need to hear.
4. When exiting a port-o-potty at the same time as another person, don't bump the person next to you, touch the person next to you, discuss the experience with the person next to you, or look the person next to you in the eye. Just calmly walk away looking off into the distance.
5. Watch what you're doing and hit where you are aiming. Please.
6. Don't leave anything behind (in places other than the main event) that you wouldn't want to walk in and see left from someone else. The Golden Rule Applies.
7. Use hand sanitizer asap.

Let's make this the most pleasant experience possible for all of us...

Next post might be from home. I have taken 260 photos so far by the way. Beware. ;)

Oshkosh: The Good and the Bad

I'm sitting here while Kaylee takes her first nap during the day in probably years, and while coming up with something to do, I've already checked my emails, written my blog post, caught up on other people's blogs, and I STILL have internet! So this is what I will talk about; Oshkosh, the good and the bad.

The Bad:

1. Lilliput shower
2. Being very careful and stingy with water in general in all its forms.
3. Port-O-Potties
4. High humidity
5. Quick Dissolve Toilet Paper (really, that IS just wrong).
6. Walking, walking, walking and more walking.
7. Not allowing golf carts on the flight line (see #6)
8. Sketchy internet access

The Good:

1. HAVING internet access
2. Air conditioned trailer
3. A flushing (of sorts) toilet
4. A private shower
5. Waking up to the sounds of airplanes
6. Seeing all the cool new displays, planes, electronics, gizmos, gadgets, and whatchamacallits.
7. The Best AirShow In The World.
8. "Roughing It" with 20 of your friends.
9. Nightly meals in nice restaurants with air conditioning and beverages of choice.
10. A refrigerator
11. A grocery store right down the road.
12. Looking at the sky and seeing something interesting to incredible pretty much most of the day.
13. Stopping on the flightline, looking at the massive pile of humanity, and knowing that you could engage almost any of them on a conversation about flying, and they'd be delighted and half knowledgeable at least.
14. Going to a local restaurant and seeing it overrun by folks wearing EAA arm bands.
15. Knowing that when you walk in somewhere, should you say "All pilots in the area, please advise", you'd get 1) a room full of hands, 2) a few snickers at the joke, 3) a few scowls from the stick-in-the-muds who don't know it's a joke and hate the phrase, and 4) just a few blank looks.
16. Look around. It's a city of pilots and airplanes all in one place at one time. They're almost all there because they love it (minus a few spouses and children who were dragged along against their will).
17. RV/Trailer tank empty-ers. Folks who take care of that nasty gray/black water problem for you, for a price.
18. The museum-it's really neat.
19. The displays. Where else can you go see every type of aircraft known to man all in one place at one time?
20. Tents under the wings of planes on the north 40. As long as I'm not in one of them.
21. Watching kids get excited about airplanes.
22. Watching ME get excited about airplanes.
23. Helicopter rides over the whole event.
24. Nightly campfires and star watching.
25. Did I mention the airshow and all it entails? Oh yes, #7 does seem to cover a lot.

I believe I'll rest here. ;)

The Mecca Chronicles: Day Seven

Wow, we've been here a full week, though it mostly feels like just a few days. Again, an early post since I know I have internet right now (so far).

I don't talk a lot about the flying part of it or the airshow part of it, because I know that most people who don't know anything about flying couldn't care less, and those who do know about it, if they are interested, they can go to eaa's website and see and even hear live what's going on up here as far as flying is concerned. There's nothing like seeing it in person, and hearing it in person, but that is hard to describe in any helpful way. But the F-22 Raptors came out to play today. It was a rainy, slightly unpleasant day, but the big boys still came out and flew around. Try to describe to somebody how an F-22 sounds and looks live and in action. Just...not possible. I will, however, tell you I enjoyed it a great deal, even though they couldn't go through their full paces thanks to the bad visibilities, low ceilings, and light rain spitting at the time. Something about the sound of afterburners autmatically puts an extra pump in my heart and tugs my mouth up into a smile even when I try to stop it. ;)

I woke up this morning, took my shower, sat down at the table to put on my make-up, and immediately broke into a sweat. I sat there and thought "Ugh, THIS is the Oshkosh I know and dislike." But thankfully, it clouded over and cooled down quite a bit several times today, making my make-up not as pointless of an exercise as I originally thought. The humidity dropped, the clouds covered over the sun, and all in all it was a mostly perfectly decent day after all. By the way, that reminds me. Super long, super thick hair is a Bad Bad thing on hot muggy days in the sun. Yes sir.

Kaylee, Maggie, Judy and myself arrived in time to immediately hop a bus to the EAA Museum, which has behind it the Pioneer Airport with KidVenture. It's a mostly outdoor facility, all for kids. We spent several hours there, and the girls did everything from sit in the cockpit of several planes (one that had motion you could control with rudder and elevator) to pedal jets on a painted runway to sitting and coloring for awhile to creating a little wooden glider stamped with their names on it. They had a fun time, and I did too. They also played on a playground for a little while, and the most fun thing of all that they did was take a helicopter ride. Yes, a real one. It was $35 per person for a ride around Oshkosh in a helicopter. We bought our tickets, but you have to sit there and wait in line, or you lose your place. So we waited a good 30-40 minutes before I made a pizza run (Red Baron gave away free pizza to everybody who came to their trailer!). Then it started raining, and we were a little glad we weren't wandering around outside in the rain. Shortly after that we got the call that the helicopters were grounded until the Raptor show was done, but it would be 10-15 minutes. About 30 minutes later they said it would be another 10-15 minutes. About 20 minutes later, finally, rides resumed. But really, it worked out rather well, because it rained steadily the whole time we were waiting anyway, meaning we couldn't have wandered around outside at the rest of the stuff anyway! Finally it was our turn, and Kaylee and I went first, and Maggie and Judy were in the next one. We got some pictures of all this of course, and hopefully they turn out okay. My aerial shots of Oshkosh are going to stink because it was completely gray, hazy, and misty outside, no sun, no light, and everything is going to be a gray blob. But hopefully the ones of people in the copter will turn out okay.

The campground was hard to miss from the air. Mile after Mile after Mile of campers lined up; it was pretty impressive. Judy even saw their specific campsite from the air, thanks to their big blue tents. The girls came down from the ride grinning and jumping up and down, and the little grumbles that had started up were all gone.

We got the call that the weather was closing in, so we headed to the museum, so we could be in air conditioned coolness and walled protection when the thunderstorm hit, plus enjoy the kids' area in the museum (it IS neat). We walk in and sit down for a quick drink and snack, and then hear over the loudspeaker "The EAA Museum will be closing in 5 minutes." Apparently they closed at 3 pm today of all things. So we made a dash for the buses. See, if we missed the bus, it was likely we'd get stormed on standing outside in the line, with no protection, and that wouldn't make any of us (or my camera) very happy. We were one of the last 4 people on the bus before it got full, and we did not get wet. Really, other than the museum closing three hours early, everything we did today was timed just beautifully.

I think all the girls had a good time. Right now I'm typing this on the steps of my trailer, with an umbrella hooked over the doorway to protect from the downward rain sprinkles and the trailer door blocking the rain coming at an angle (Steve took a picture so I'll share it later). I'm watching and listening to the airshow as I type, and Kaylee is resting up for the rest of the evening's events. Steve has the scanner on so we can listen to the airshow pilots and the tower and ground controllers all talking to each other. This is how we spend our afternoons from about 3-6 pm each day-sitting in lawn chairs by our trailer enjoying the airshow and relaxing from the busy morning activities. Then each night we go out to dinner somewhere, and then come back to the trailers and have a camp fire and some cool drinks, and watch the stars and just talk and joke and relax while the kids play. Finally when Kaylee gets too cranky for everybody's good, I take her to bed, and sometimes I'll stay up and read for awhile then. And that's how most Oshkosh evenings are spent.

Wow, I don't know what's powering up right now, but it sounds like a Harrier, it's LOUD. Sorry, I got distracted...

Today is Chuck's birthday! Mid sixties is all you need to know. ;) So a big Happy Birthday to my friend. And many more to come! Also this week sometime is Justin's birthday too, which puts him back to the same age as I and no more room to joke about being younger. So tonight we are headed to a restaurant to celebrate Chuck's birthday, and there will be almost 20 of us. We made reservations, so I hope they're prepared for the chaos. ;)

Let's see-some miscellaneous things. Kaylee was playing with a 14-year old girl named Ashley, and boys both also older than Kaylee, and she was holding her own just fine most of the time. Two things that made me laugh: 1) when Kaylee faked having an injury to get the kid who had the ball to come over to her and put the ball down to check on her, when she ran off with the ball, and 2) when Ashley said to me "this girl is STRONG for a six year old." Yes, actually she really is. Oh, and 3) when Kaylee stood on top of one of the poor boys to keep him down and away from Ashley and he couldn't get Kaylee off of him very well. Some days she's a Princess, other days she's a Bruiser. ;)

Right now I just checked on her to tell her Ashley wanted to play, and she FELL ASLEEP. This girl Never Falls Asleep during the day any more. I am So pleased to see her sleeping little noggin lying down right now, because she needed to catch up on some of this sleep very badly.

One more miscellaneous thing-Chuck has a group of friends camping with them who are like family, and their daughter Courtney was actually pulled on stage at the Beach Boys concert where she got to dance with and get her photo taken with them. She was pretty pumped up about that and I think it's pretty neat. She's a beautiful girl, 16 or so I think, and I guess she was dancing on a wing when she was spotted and pulled on stage. Can't beat that! Today she gets to do a tour of the Oshkosh Control Tower, which is Really special-that isn't a free access deal. But she wants to work as a controller when she graduates from college, so they allowed her in. Way to go, Courtney. :)

Well, I'm going to see if I can sneak a picture of her passed out, and post this, and go watch the show with the guys now that it quit raining. Onward and upward. :)

The Mecca Chronicles: Day Six

Typically I prefer to write about my day after my day is actually over, but this time I'm going to try to preempt the evening WiFi dump and write while I have access. You shouldn't try to force genius writing-but luckily I don't have to worry about that.

This day got hot. That I can say before it's over. It was hot and humid, more like the typical Oshkosh I know and dislike. We've been lucky to have this many days of cool and clear, actually, and I've been grateful for every one of them. Weather makes or breaks any event. When it's miserable, you're better off staying home and reading about it on the internet than hanging out sweating in a trailer. Well, not quite, but almost. Today wasn't THAT bad, but it was enough that we turned the generator and our air conditioning on for the first time all week.

Steve and Chuck went boy shopping again (excuse me, Man Shopping), and Miss Maggie came over to our trailer and hung out with me and Kaylee for awhile. After awhile I took them over to a little nearby park with swings and slides, and let them go to town for an hour and a half; about the point where two girls got hot, sweaty, thirsty, and thus...almost cranky. Maggie came up to me all red faced and said "Kaylee is SWEATING me to death." I said "Sweating you? Oh, you mean she's making you sweat?" She responded with "YES! I don't WANT to run any more, she's SWEATING me to death!" I understand, she sweats me to death sometimes too! :) After we left the park, I headed back to the trailer and fixed lunch, and the girls played for awhile until Miss Judy came to bring her home. A short period of time later, the girls had their First Ever Lemonade Stand.

It was cute. Seriously. They made up a sign on white heavy posterboard, and had it taped to the trailer awning post. It said "Lemonade, $.25" and had hand-drawn pictures of lemons. Kaylee also wrote the word "Sugar" on there just to entice customers. The girls' first customers were of course all of us, and then Chuck went out on the golf cart and rounded up a few more. Finally the girls ran up and down the road yelling "Ice Cold Lemonade!!" and actually got more customers that way too. Kaylee was the lemonade pourer and Maggie was the money taker. Maggie was making change for a dollar, which is pretty darn good for a five year old, and Kaylee didn't spill anything. The girls made just over $10 their first afternoon out, including the $2 seed money that Judy had started them out with for change. Their plan is to donate the money they get to "sick kids", which we decided to put towards Riley Hospital. Even if it's not much, it's a great experience for the girls. We went through one gallon of lemonade this afternoon, and before we leave we'll do another lemonade stand and see what they end up with. I took several pictures of the girls and a few of the customers, and I kind of look forward to seeing those.

We were mostly hoping that Paul Poberinsky (you know, the guy who runs EAA) or one of his cronies didn't see the lemonade stand and force the girls to pay the $4,000.00 permit fee. On second thought, I dare somebody try it. ;)

Shortly after the lemonade stand was dissembled, the heat of the day was broken by a surprise thunderstorm. We had just enough notice to start putting stuff away prior to getting hit by high winds and heavy rain. Steve struggled to close our awning, and got soaked in the process, but nothing blew away, ripped, or broke (that we know of yet). And really, the rain and the breeze both feel pretty good to me. Of course I'm now typing this indoors where I don't have a connection and it would just be my luck to lose what I just wrote!

Tonight will as usual be hailed with dinner and a campfire. Well, unless it's still raining like this. Which it isn't supposed to be. It's now later, and the sun is shining and the airshow is back on. In fact, I hear Patty Wagstaff is doing a routine in her Extra 300 and then another in a P-51 Mustang. *sigh* Oh well.

Well, I'm off to see if I can publish this post without losing it. Wish me luck!

The Mecca Chronicles: Day Five

Last night the WiFi decided to take a dive-it was apparently so saturated it couldn't accept any more usersj. Very annoying for the girl who tries to get on really once a day in the evenings. I may need to move my internet time. Steve gets on fine at 6 am, but there's one big problem with that. Okay, two. 1) Steve's on then and 2) It's SIX a.m. This morning, I got up at 7 am. When he finished around 7:20, he handed me the computer, and I never got to the first website. It was just done right then. *sigh*

Anyway. While I was taking my shower, I gazed up out of my little skylight bubble, and watched an airplane go right overhead. It's a tad weird seeing a plane filling your 'window' right over your head while you are showering, even if they can't see in. Just feels a tad exposed. But it was a nice view nonetheless.

The boys hit the exhibit booths today (aka more male shopping) while Nathan flew in the show in the Mustang. Meanwhile, we ladies (me, Kaylee, Judy and Maggie) went into town and went to the "American Girl" outlet. I'd gotten her a little excited that we were there to buy a doll. Except the store only sold clothes for the dolls and accessories for the dolls and pets for the dolls...but no dolls. They had the dolls sitting out teasing kids, but none for sale. So Kaylee's doing better than I expected with this revelation, until she decides she really wants to get a puppy and kitty in a handbag. We find the handbag. We find the puppy. Her favorite is the kitty. They don't have any more and they won't sell you the floor model. Poor American Girl folks didn't feel very good about disappointing a six year old a couple of times in a row. But we got a spider outfit for a doll (don't ask), and the puppy and handbag, and she's been playing quite a bit with those. Next we stopped at a book store where (wait for it) I did not buy any books. I behaved. Kaylee got a book about kindness though. It came with a kitty, which I think may have been a replacement for the kitty she 'lost'. You think? ;) We then headed over to OshKosh B'Gosh, the clothing store, where everything was 50-70% off, and this is where Kaylee was quite pleased. She tried on a bunch of outfits in the dressing area, and she'd turn and look herself over and say "Oh yeah, I'm STYLING!" Or "Oh, this is SO cute!" Or "Ooooh, I love it!" She wanted to continue the clothes shopping thing, but I stopped her after about 4 outfits. She's a shopping monster!

We hit the Red Robin for lunch, then came back to camp for awhile to relax/rest. That afternoon we got lawn chairs out and sat with a cool drink and watched the airshow. It's always fun watching when you can see someone you know flying. The Mustangs were beautiful, and Nathan recorded it from his cockpit with the new helmet cam he got for his birthday. The quality is great, and it's neat seeing Oshkosh from another perspective.

Last night for dinner we went to Kodiak Jack's a good steak and seafood place in town. A group of 17 of us went, which was quite a show. While we were there, I ran into Diana, who recognized us by our Glenndale shirts first (Again, I say, t-shirts really DO make excellent advertising). She came over and talked for awhile, and then let me know that at her table were several AOPA board folks like Ken Ibold, ladybird, etc. So I went over and introduced myself and said hello. Diana and I were standing there talking, and suddenly the guy behind us at a table (not one of ours) said "Excuse Me. Could you please talk somewhere else?" She responded with "I'm sorry, are we in your way?" (We were not). He said no, but that we were loud. This was on top of a crowded noisy restaurant with Karaoke going. So we parted ways after she called him crabby. lol

Every time we go in our out of the campground, Kaylee asks why there are policemen. There were at least 7 police cars at one intersection, and most of them are state cars. It's for traffic. After the show is over, the traffic is tremendous, and the police are there to help keep it moving and civil. But it does rather look like the scene of a bad accident with all those flashing lights, red cones, and uniforms waving you past.

As I was taking my laptop on the golf cart around to WiFi spots to attempt to get on, I could hear loud singing and guitars. It was the South African camp. There is a camp just up the road from us of small tents, and they are there every year. And each year, they stay out late and sing camp songs, religious songs, whatever songs they feel like. I actually enjoy listening to them-they're good, and it's relaxing.

One story to leave you by. The other night I took the golf cart out for my WiFi travels, and when I came back, I pulled into our campsite by the white vehicle. The campfire was lit, the trailers and white tents were up, and people were sitting around. I toss my keys on top of the golf cart and hop down, and hear, "Um, I believe you're at the wrong campsite ma'am." I look around, and sure enough, it's a parallel universe copy of our campsite one row over. I started laughing (as did they) and told them not to ever tell my real camp, lest I never hear the end of it. I then sped off into the night, back to my own universe, and left a camp full of folks highly amused...

Dreams

Not "when I grow up I want to" dreams, or "I have a dream" dreams, or "some day I hope to" dreams, but literal dreams, and not nice ones.

Last night Kaylee was walking and talking in her sleep, and she was pretty upset and scared, although at least this time it wasn't about fire. Steve got up with her and put her back in bed, and she never really woke up even though she was conversing. That's always kind of weird.

After that, *I* had a nightmare too. I used to have very vivid and usually bad dreams, and I remembered every detail. Since Devon, I just haven't really remembered a lot of my dreams any more. But I sure recognized this one, not only because it was vivid enough to wake me up with my heart racing, but because I've had versions of it before. Not this exact same dream, but super close-a version of the same dream. It always starts off feeling normal and fine, and then suddenly something makes me realize that I'm in the midst of something very scary and bad, and nobody can see it but me. Ick.

I don't much care for THAT kind of dream!

Now, back to the Mecca Chronicles!

The Mecca Chronicles: Day Four

Let the Games Begin! The masses have arrived and the greatest airshow on earth has begun. I was brought out of my trailer this morning by the sounds of an F-15 making repeated low passes over the runway and cranking overhead, the sound so loud you can feel it vibrating in your chest. What a way to start your day! We sunscreened up and hit the fly market, the aircraft displays, and finally the Warbird section. Throughout the day, we'd be walking around and stop to watch the Ford TriMotor going by giving rides to those who want to pay, or we'd watch the F-4 as it took its turn. The skies are just alive with helicopters giving tours, and layer upon layer of aircraft coming in, going out, practicing, or showing off. As I started typing this, a plane went up very high and skywrote the letters "EAA", which stood out beautifully in the blue sky. Underneath him, the airshow began with 12 planes in formation, smoke on, flying over center field; meanwhile another group of aircraft came from show left at an altitude below the first. Just layers of massive quantities of aircraft. The Yaks came in from the right, just over the runway, and did a break-away. The military jets are always a welcome addition to the show.

After a day of walking, we came back to the campsite for a little while, and then around 5 pm we headed back to the flight line to attend a Beach Boys concert. They fired off the concert with the Aeroshell T-6 team doing a low pass overhead, and there was a crowd there of at least 12,000 people. Last year we didn't go because it rained, so this year we wanted to say we actually did something. It's an experience being in a sea of that many people. If I were indoors I'd have had a panic attack, but luckily outdoors the space open above my head makes about anything next to me more tolerable. I held my camera up over my head and snapped some shots, so we'll see what I ended up with when I get back home. We enjoyed the concert for awhile, and then Kaylee (who is just exhausted) pooped out on us and laid down on the concrete using my camera bag as a pillow, so we walked back to our trailer, listening to the Beach Boys most of the way home.

We've run into several people who knew us or knew of us out on the flightline. Mostly because Steve and Chuck were wearing Glenndale t-shirts. It's always odd being in a sea of folks in a however many square mile area and running into people you know.

As the first day's airshow closed, we headed out to the store to pick up some more lunch supplies, and as the sun is setting, the Goodyear Blimp is making repeated circuits over the camp grounds with its sign flashing the message of the day. The 30 or so folks from Kokomo are around the campfire, and I'm sitting under a WiFi pole whereby I can access the internet at full strength. Unfortunately as the masses moved in, the WiFi went downhill, and I can't usually get any kind of decent signal from our campsite now. So I take a golf cart once a day and I motor on down to the pole where the WiFi box is posted, and I sit under it and write about my day as the traffic goes by on bike, motorcycle, scooter, foot, car, truck and golfcart. Several times people have pointed at me and laughed, but I'm okay with that, they're probably just sorry they didn't think of it first. ;)

The Mecca Chronicles: Day Three

It's 9 pm my time, but it feels like about 6:30. I do like summer for this reason. It was a beautiful day. More cool temps, more blue skies, more light breezes. It's been perfect so far. It's supposed to heat up in a couple of days, high humidity and all, so I'm really enjoying these days while I've got them.

We sat in our lawn chairs with cool beverages and listened in on the Oshkosh radio traffic with our hand-held radio. The traffic was steady today, and you could see an airplane about anytime you looked up. But it still wasn't "Oshkosh Busy" yet. They were still using N numbers and talking a little too much. When it's crunch time the rest of the week, you won't hear anything but non-stop "red and white highwing, do this." In the meantime we heard a few goobers who should be thankful they came in today instead of tomorrow, a few go-arounds, and a few "Nice Job"s. There's the "exit runway no delay", and the always famous "Welcome to Oshkosh!"

Today the warbirds came in, and while unfortunately we couldn't see them because of the runway they were using today, we could hear them, and of course hear them on the radio. B-25, T-6, TBM, P-51, etc. Nathan arrived today as well, and we walked down to Warbirds to help him carry his stuff back. While we were walking across the area, we saw several new planes being set up. A Cirrus jet for one; a crosswind simulator, etc. The fields were filling up with planes and tents, and the roads are backed up with trailers, motorcycles, pickups and buses, all waiting to get into the camping area. Everywhere you look there are signs "I'd Rather Be Flying", and "Oshkosh or Bust". The invasion is almost here full force...

We spent today walking around the flight line, checking out the new stuff, watching airplanes, listening to the radio chatter, and eating too much food. I sure am glad not to be sitting at home buzzing around in a 172, but rather sitting here watching airplanes from all over the world flying overhead. ;)

Time to get by the fire before retiring for the evening!

The Mecca Chronicles: Day Two

The temperatures are just perfect for me; nice and cool! Of course that means that when the sun goes down, the temps go from slightly cool to a little bit chilly. But one flannel shirt and a camp fire (complete with marshmallows roasting on a stick) later, we had a nice cozy evening.

Did you know that when your battery runs down on your trailer at 4 a.m., that it sets off a very loud and piercing alarm? Steve couldn't find the source of the alarm for awhile, and finally when he did, he couldn't figure out how to shut it off. Apparently the mute switch didn't work. He used his hand to muffle it for awhile, then a pillow. Finally he went outside and hoped up a tiny little battery pack to the trailer, and that little thing powered our trailer for the rest of the night. Kaylee and I stayed in bed and tried to ignore it all while he did the work, as is a pioneer woman's duty. It got cool enough last night that we actually had to turn on the furnace!

This morning the main challenge I faced in this wilderness was...the shower. This is a very nice, very clean, very brand new trailer; however, it still has a teeny tiny bathroom. I felt a little bit like Gulliver visiting the Lilliputs. Standing in the shower, my head was just a few inches from the ceiling, and shoulder to shoulder I was just about touching the wall and the curtain. I was actually looking over the top of the shower curtain and bar into the rest of the bathroom. There's a skylight right over the tub, which makes it bright and not quite so claustrophobic, but really, it's tight even for me. While I'm no tiny thing, I'm also not an Amazon, and I can't quite imagine someone a lot taller or bigger than I fitting in there at all. But hey-for the three of us, it works. You have to choose which way to bend or move very carefully, and it's best to try to do this with the bathroom door open for maximum room effectiveness, but it gets the job done. And did I mention it's clean and new?

Oh, and when one temporarily pauses the water in order to soap up one's big long hair without wasting precious water resources? When one does that, one needs to know that when one turns the water back on, it comes out ice cold first, and one needs to point the shower head away from oneself, not right at one's neck area. Just saying.

Kaylee and Maggie got to play for a few hours today, and no blood was shed and no ill feelings kept. A few minor skirmishes to start with, and then everybody seemed to perk up and settle in a bit, and all was well with the girls.

I got to see some interesting planes come in today. Perhaps a Sea Fury, and a twin-engine Tiger Hawk (or something like them). And then we heard the cry, "The Bonanzas are coming!" Sure enough, 3-5 at a time the Bonanzas flew in and landed. One guy jokingly called them the Doctor/Lawyer Brigade. There were some rusty moments there-some tire screeches as well as chirps, some power boosts, some wobbles, but it was still a nice sight to see wave after wave of a loose formation (make that 'gaggle') of Bonanzas coming in to land at Oshkosh. Tomorrow is the arrival of the war birds. My favorites. :)

Today we had so much free time I had to take a nap and read a book both. It was rough, and we're culminating this difficult day with dinner at Kodiak Jack's, a truly tasty restaurant that does a mean steak and some very flavorful crab legs. An Oshkosh Tradition-at least in our camp. We ended up splitting crab legs and lobster with drawn butter, and that's what even Kaylee ate for dinner. Along with a salad so we could pretend we were being healthy.

Getting to Oshkosh early is a little like watching a city build up around you. Last year there were 93,000 trailers alone and almost 700,000 people total in attendance. No kidding. That's almost the number of people in the entire city of Indianapolis. We're in the middle of a field of grass, but this huge field has street signs (we're at 41st and Elm), port o potties, a grocery store, showers, a computer center, even a post office. For one week, this field becomes home to thousands of people, parked mere feet away from each other. You see tents, you see campers, you see RV's and you see massive buses. You see colored wind socks and hung out wet socks. You've got people sleeping in the back seats of their cars with a sleeping bag, and people's $50,000 cars parked next to a bus worth more than my house. And you'll be walking along the grass "road", and hear an airplane go by, and if you look around you instead of up, you'll see almost every eye skyward, many with cameras or binoculars. Conversations may not stop, but everybody checks it out. Golf carts, bicycles, scooters and mopeds abound as people find ways to get from the back 40 up to the main areas. The few paved or gravel roads are littered with mostly golf carts. It's a little crazy, and definitely interesting. It's hard to describe.

The poor gentleman across the 'street' from us has been the object of some entertainment. He arrived in tweed and a tie, and he promptly began nesting. He strung a hot orange tape around his camp site with stakes, and then he took a measuring wheel, you know, like landscapers or engineers or surveyors use, and he exactly measured out his property. Shortly after he had that all squared away, he got out his Riding Lawn Mower, and mowed down his little piece of Oshkosh to a nice short buzz. He then spent a very long time Raking His Grass. The last time I saw him, he was taking a trash can and walking purposefully around his square picking up little bits of clay pigeons that were there, and collecting them. We've had a bit of fun imagining him as a pilot. I've decided I would most certainly not be available as his instructor. That type of personality would drive My type of personality crazy in 0.4 seconds or less. To be fair, my type personality would send his type over the edge too. I'd be the one tweaking his prop so it wah-wahed without him seeing me do it, just because. In fact, I already have this horrible urge to wander over to his campsite late tonight after he's gone to bed and scatter pieces of rock or grass or toilet paper or *something* all over his little square of perfectly-quaffed field. People that fastidious are just begging for people like me to try to 'help' them loosen up a little. ;) Like I said, you'll see all types out here!

The sun is setting, the Glenndale crowd is gathering, our stomachs are full and the fires are being lit. Time to shut down and enjoy the atmosphere!

The Mecca Chronicles: Day One

Our journey began at 8 am, after herding the wild cats out to their new pasture and rounding up the children to put in the wagon. Or something like that. :) It was a beautiful morning, even for morning. The drive was really fast and easy. We got through Chicago with no traffic stoppage, and we got through one area of construction in Fon du Lac without a bobble, but we did get snarled up for awhile in Milwaukee. Still, we made it in record time, with only one stop. It really does help to not be hauling a trailer.

On our way there, we passed two women riding motorcycles. Kaylee looks over and says "Mommy! Look! There are two women riding motorcycles." I said "Yep." She responds with "That's unusual, to see a woman on a motorcycle without a man with her." I pause, while Steve says "Your mommy rides a motorcycle without a man with her." Kaylee says, "I know. It's unusual to see women riding a motorcycle without a man, but it's usual for Mommy to ride a motorcycle without a man."

Oshkosh "Airventure" 2007 doesn't even begin until Monday, but you'd be amazed how many people are already here. When we pulled in, our area was already filled in pretty well. The closer you get to Oshkosh, the more frequently you see the little wings on the backs of people's cars, or license plates from states all over the country that say things like "YES I FLY" or the plate holders that make statements such as "My other car is a Cub". You pass motor homes and loaded up Harley bikes, and you know you're all going to the same place...Mecca.

Airventure has taken over the city of Oshkosh. There are signs in the stores, re-routed roads, and a whole lot of traffic. The skies aren't filled yet, but you can usually spot something if you're looking. They are trickling in.

When we pulled in, our trailer was waiting for us, generator hooked up, level, and ready to go. It's brand new, never been used, and it's so clean and nice. It's roomy, and private, and air conditioned, and I like it a lot! I like it even better because it was delivered for us and will be hauled off for us too. Can you beat that?!

After we unpacked our belongings, I made a run to the local grocery store, where I stocked up on a week's worth of food and supplies. I found out two things: 1) cheese curds are still very popular in this area, and 2) I have not lived in Wisconsin for so long that I can now no longer clearly understand the accent. The woman at the checkout counter had to repeat everything she said to me, because I couldn't understand her, which cracked me up since I kind of grew up around here. "Doyahovacahd?" Excuse me?? "Do ya hov a cahd?" Do I have a...card? "Yes, a sto cahd." OH, a store card! No, I don't. "Yucudsavtnpucnt." I'm sorry? "If yu hov a cahd yu culd sav tin pucent." Oh, that's okay, I don't need to save 10%, I can't use the card ever again, I'm from Indiana." Whew.

After I unloaded the groceries, I got out my laptop, and what do you know-I'm LIVE and WIRELESS! Woo-hoo! Chuck called and we hit Culvers here, and then the boys went shopping while the girls came back to camp. I'd repeat that for you, but I think you got it the first time. Besides, it doesn't count as shopping, because they went to Fleet Farm, and everybody knows that's a guy store, so the fact that a group of guys went shopping isn't funny at all.

Right now, I'm typing this on a lawn chair, with a Diet Mt. Dew in a cup holder by me, with a light breeze, blue skies, late afternoon sunshine, flags waving, and the soothing sounds of silence, birds singing, airplanes buzzing by overhead, and the occasional "chirp" of tires on the runway when someone comes in for a particularly nice landing. (When one is flying into Oshkosh, in front of a few hundred thousand pilots, it's a good time to put on your "A" game.)

Well, I've tested this out and it seems to work. So I'm going to shut down, grab another beverage, and perhaps go be sociable. :) I'll check back in tomorrow!

Sorry Folks, That One Was Just For Me.

North American Aviation P-51D Mustang

Soloing a Mustang for the first time
By Barry Schiff

There is nothing that can be written about the North American P-51D Mustang that hasn't already been said. It is the ultimate single-engine, propeller-driven airplane, a sculpture of aerodynamic eroticism that stirs a pilot's heart. The distinctive snarl of its liquid-cooled, V-12 engine turns heads wherever and when-ever it is heard.

Can there be a pilot who has not yearned to fly one?

Dream flight

The clearance crackled through my headphones, "Mustang One-Five-One-Delta-Papa, cleared for takeoff."

This was the moment of which dreams are realized and memories are made.

I pushed forward on the control stick to unlock the Mustang's full-swiveling tailwheel for the turn onto Camarillo (California) Airport's Runway 26. Pulling the stick back limits tailwheel swivel to 6 degrees left or right, enough to make wide-radius taxiing turns.

I held in position to collect my thoughts, to ensure that I was ready for what lay ahead. The idling Rolls-Royce Merlin engine made that distinctive popping sound. I nudged the throttle to 1,500 rpm for a final check of the gauges.

At the age of 69 I was about to solo a Mustang for the first time and felt as much anxiety as when I had made my first solo flight 53 years ago. I dried my hands on my pant legs.

I couldn't help thinking about the Mustang's reputation for being difficult to control during the takeoff roll. An unsettling rumor says that more P-51s were lost during training than in combat, although Bob Hoover doesn't agree with that. It was comforting, though, to know that the typical World War II pilot stepping into the single-place fighter for the first time had only 200 hours of flight time. I had a wee bit more.

The long nose seemed to slope up and away for as far as the eye could see but thankfully it is slender. Although I could not see directly ahead, I could see a considerable length of the runway edges. More of the runway is visible than when flying airplanes equipped with wide radial engines that block more of the view. The 11-foot propeller made humongous, blurred slices across the sky.

I rechecked rudder trim: 6 degrees right. The canopy was locked, engine-coolant temperature was in the green, boost pump was on, and the mighty Merlin was feeding from the left tank.

Toe brakes firmly applied, I advanced the throttle to 2,300 rpm and 30 inches of manifold pressure. The Mustang trembled slightly as if champing at the bit, impatient to be cut loose.

Brakes released, we began to accelerate, and I kept my feet dancing to arrest directional transgressions. As airflow increased across the rudder, I advanced the throttle to 3,000 rpm and 40 inches. (The geared propeller turns at only 1,437 rpm.) I held the stick fully aft to keep the tailwheel on the ground and assist with tracking. I had been taught that the best way to maintain directional control is to increase power in steps as control effectiveness increases.

At 50 knots I slowly but forcefully pushed the stick forward. The end of the runway came into view, and I increased power to 55 inches (120 gallons per hour of fuel flow). I began to appreciate why the British (for whom the P-51 was developed) called this airplane a Mustang, a wild stallion of the American prairie. The unbridled acceleration, energy, and noise level are startling and impressive.

Although 61 inches of manifold pressure are available for takeoff, I was not ready for the combination of twisting and turning forces that accompany 1,490 horsepower slinging that huge propeller. (Torque alone is impressive and causes the left tire to wear much faster than the right.) A takeoff using maximum power could wait until I had more experience.

Besides, a lightly loaded Mustang inspired by 55 inches of manifold pressure performs better than a wartime edition loaded with armament and drop tanks using 61 inches. During emergencies, combat pilots could pull 67 inches (1,720 horsepower), and modified Mustangs racing at Reno develop as much as 155 inches.

I raised the nose at 100 knots and the Mustang was airborne immediately unlike any other piston-powered single I had ever flown. With landing gear retracted, the climb at takeoff power is exhilarating, almost 4,000 fpm.

I was relieved to discover that it takes less right-rudder pressure during initial climb than a Cessna 210. The immediate goal, though, was to accelerate to the best glide speed of 150 knots, just in case.

If you have to make an off-airport landing, I was admonished, be certain that the gear is up. If the Mustang flips onto its back when landing on an unimproved surface, the top of the canopy could wind up pressing against the ground. Getting out would be impossible. Also, don't ditch; the P-51 wants to dive for the bottom.

Although the Mustang can be trimmed easily, it is almost a constant process when maneuvering. Rudder and elevator trim are needed with even the slightest changes in power or airspeed.

In-flight visibility is unlimited in all directions. Maximum speed for opening the canopy is 130 knots. The down-sloping cowling initially gives the impression that the nose is too low during cruise. As advertised, control pressures increase and stiffen with airspeed but are not heavy.

The challenge

Wanting to solo a Mustang and doing it are obviously two different things.

I was fortunate to have a friend who owns one. I had known David Price for years but never had the courage to ask if I could fly his pride and joy, Cottonmouth.

Price is a 5,500-hour Navy pilot who has owned a wide variety of warbirds. Recognizing that I was not getting any younger, I kiddingly but on the square asked Price when he was going to let me fly his cherished Mustang. Surprisingly and without hesitation, he said, "Whenever you'd like."

"You're kidding, right?"

"No, I'm not. Just get some back-seat time in a T-6 to prepare for the Mustang."

Needing no further encouragement, I joined the Southern California Wing of the Commemorative Air Force. After two hours of touch-and-go landings from both seats of the T-6, CAF instructor Steve Barber, who is also an experienced warbird pilot, felt that I could handle the Mustang. He said the T-6 is actually more difficult to fly than a Mustang. Sure, I thought skeptically.

I called Price and announced my readiness. His insurance company, however, had other ideas. The underwriter said I could fly Cottonmouth but only after obtaining an endorsement to solo a Mustang from a P-51 instructor.

Stallion 51 in Kissimmee, Florida, is the only place in the world to obtain formal, FAA-approved Mustang training. The school has two magnificent TF-51s, Crazy Horse and Crazy Horse2. These are P-51Ds that have been highly modified with a second, fully equipped cockpit.

Stallion 51's curriculum is not a quick-and-dirty checkout; it is a full-blown program that is as professional and comprehensive as the transition courses I had taken at Trans World Airlines. Instructors there take their responsibilities seriously.

My instructor was Lee Lauderback, whom I am tempted to call Mr. Mustang. He has more than 7,000 hours in P-51s and might know more about flying the airplane than any man alive. His modesty, however, defers that honor to Hoover.

On my first and subsequent days at Stallion 51, Lauderback provided numerous hours of one-on-one ground school for each hour spent in the air. I had no idea that there was so much to learn about the airplane. My classroom notes include these interesting items:

The liquid-cooling system is an engineering marvel. Air enters the inlet on the belly, travels through radiators, and exhausts in a way that produces as much thrust as there is cooling drag, a phenomenon known as the Meredith Effect.

The coolant-temperature gauge is arguably the Mustang's most important instrument. An overheating engine requires immediate action such as fully opening the cooling door, reducing power, and possibly making an emergency landing. (The cooling system is reportedly very reliable and normally operates automatically.)

The laminar-flow wing delays until Mach 0.77 the development of supersonic shock waves and the drag rise associated with them.

Be careful about inadvertently moving the landing-gear handle on the ground. There are no switches or downlocks to prevent retraction. In flight, the wheels free-fall into position in case of hydraulic failure.

Flight lessons ran the gamut of Mustang maneuvering and nibbled at the edges of the performance envelope. Emphasis was placed on emergencies, stall characteristics in all configurations, and a variety of takeoffs and landings. More than an instructor, Lauderback is an effective, enthusiastic teacher who enjoys passing along his love and lore of Mustangs. He is thoroughly dedicated to the safe operation of these thoroughbred aircraft.

Although the full-blown course is expensive, those wanting to sample a Mustang can obtain dual instruction during one or more orientation flights. You will leave with precious memories, a video of your experience, and some appreciation of what it takes to fly the airplane.

Final approach

The Mustang is so aerodynamically clean that it glides more efficiently than most general aviation airplanes, but only when the propeller is set to high pitch. Blade pitch affects glide ratio so much that it can be modulated during descent to vary glide performance as necessary during an engine-out approach. (The P-51 loses about 2,000 feet per 360-degree turn.)

You probably have seen fighter aircraft make high-speed overhead approaches. This enables pilots to make a dead-stick landing on the runway irrespective of where an engine failure might occur during such an approach. This is not true about a conventional traffic pattern, especially when extended downwind legs are required.

I reminded myself on final approach not to overreact to a botched or bounced landing by jamming in full throttle. It is possible at low airspeed for the Merlin to torque the Mustang into an uncontrollable half-roll into the ground. A go-around can be made safely with only 46 inches of manageable manifold pressure.

The entire runway is visible over the nose when on final. The goal is to be in landing configuration with the flaps at 50 degrees and indicating 100 to 110 knots when a quarter-mile from the runway. You then very slowly reduce power and airspeed for the wheel landing. If you begin to hear the crackling pops of the idling, backfiring Merlin at the same time that you touch on the stiff mains, you will know that you have done it properly. Maintain directional control by working the rudders and positively lowering the tail to get the tailwheel on the ground.

(When making a short-field landing, move the mixture control to idle-cutoff after touchdown. This eliminates the thrust produced by an idling Merlin. Propeller inertia and windmilling prevent the monstrous "flywheel" from stopping quickly. As the Mustang slows and you begin to see individual blades, return the mixture to auto rich. The engine restarts nicely and in time to taxi.)

It is axiomatic that an airplane that looks good flies well. That certainly is true of the Mustang. It is not a difficult airplane to fly, easier in some ways than a T-6, but it demands respect and adherence to procedure.

More than anything, the Mustang is addictive and intoxicating. The more you fly it, the more you want to fly it.

Soloing a P-51 was the culmination of a lifelong desire and truly was one of the most profound and memorable experiences of my flying career.


SPEC SHEET

North American P-51D Mustang
Price (in good condition): $1.5 million to $1.8 million
Specifications
Powerplant Rolls-Royce Merlin V-1650, 1,490 hp Supercharged (2 stage), liquid-cooled V-12
Time to overhaul (typical) 450 hr
Propeller Hamilton Standard four-blade, 134-in dia
Length 32 ft 2 in
Height (three-point attitude) 13 ft 8 in
Wingspan 37 ft 0 in
Wing area 235 sq ft
Wing loading (at 10,500 lb) 44.7 lb/sq ft
Power loading (at 10,500 lb) 6.6 lb/hp
Cockpit length (panel to seatback) 3 ft 3 in
Cockpit width 2 ft 0 in
Cockpit height (seat to canopy) 3 ft 5 in
Empty weight, as tested 7,208 lb
Max gross weight (without armament) 10,500 lb
Max gross weight (with armament & drop tanks) ~13,000 lb
Useful load, as tested 3,292 lb
Payload w/full fuel, as tested 2,212 lb
Max takeoff weight (armament & drop tanks) ~13,000 lb
Max landing weight (armament & drop tanks) ~13,000 lb
Fuel capacity, std (wing tanks only) 184 gal (180 gal usable)
1,104 lb (1,080 lb usable)
Fuel capacity, w/85-gal fuselage tank 269 gal (265 gal usable)
1,614 lb (1,590 lb usable)
Oil capacity 12.5 gal
Baggage capacity (in ammunition and gun lockers) Whatever fits
Performance
Takeoff distance, ground roll (9,000 lb) 1,000 ft
Takeoff distance over 50-ft obstacle (9,000 lb) 1,750 ft
Rate of climb, sea level (with wing racks, 10,200 lb) 1,500 fpm
Rate of climb, sea level (military power) 3,200 fpm
Limit load factors +8 to -4 Gs
Max level speed, 5,000 ft 395 mph
Max level speed, 25,000 ft 437 mph
Cruise speed (fuel consumption)
@ 2,700 rpm, 46 inches, 10,000 ft 361 mph (98 gph)
@ 2,200 rpm, 40 inches, 5,000 ft 303 mph (66 gph)
@ 1,800 rpm, 36 inches, sea level 255 mph (50 gph)
Range (with drop tanks) 1,650 sm
Service ceiling 35,000 ft
Service ceiling (military power) 41,900 ft
Max glide ratio (propeller in high pitch) 15.3:1
Landing distance over 50-ft obstacle (9,000 lb) 1,850 ft
Landing distance, ground roll (9,000 lb) 1,000 ft
Limiting and Recommended Airspeeds
VX (best angle of climb) 100 mph
VY (best rate of climb) 170 mph
Best glide speed 175 mph
VA (design maneuvering) 264 mph
VFE (max flap extended) 165 mph
VLE (max gear extended) 170 mph
VLO (max gear operating)
Extend 170 mph
Retract 170 mph
VNE (never exceed) 505 mph
MMO Mach 0.77
VR (rotation) 95-100 mph
VS1 (stall, clean, 9,000 lb) 101 mph
VSO (stall, in landing configuration, 9,000 lb) 94 mph
All specifications are based on the United States Air Force F-51D Flight Handbook. All performance figures are based on standard day, standard atmosphere, sea level conditions unless otherwise noted.

100 Mustangs headed to Columbus

The Gathering of Mustangs & Legends takes place from September 27 through 30 in Columbus, Ohio, at Rickenbacker International Airport and is billed as "The Final Roundup" of the Mustangs still flying and the fighter pilots who made them famous. At this writing 106 owners of North American P-51 Mustangs have committed to bringing their aircraft, and 29 legendary pilots plan to attend. There are 164 still flying out of 15,868 built around the world. Hotel rooms in Columbus are getting scarce and ticket sales have reached $225,000, mostly for the box seats with the better views. A formation of 51 Mustangs will fly Sunday September 30 while a smaller flight will form the numerals 51 on Saturday. The U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds perform September 29 and 30 in addition to other top airshow acts. For details and online ticket sales, visit the Web site. — Alton K. Marsh

I'll be there. :)

The Last Day

A disorganized and random posting to match a random and disorganized day. :)

Well, my bag is packed, and Kaylee's bag is packed. I ran to the store for quick-dissolve toilet paper (ick) and oil, and I shipped another case of Tolerex at the last minute here. UPS just delivered Kaylee's DVD player (and my iPod) from Kentucky, which makes us both pleased to have something to do during the drive, and I'm trying to figure out how many toys to let her bring and where to put them. One last trip to the post office, several checks of emails to see if there are any fires prior to leaving, and we'll probably be up late tonight getting everything put together. That reminds me, I need to get the cat stuff ready too. *sigh* But it's progress.

Last night I went to dinner with some local lady friends, and we enjoyed spending about 3 hours just sitting and eating and catching up. One thing that was kind of funny; we were at a deli style place, and apparently the manager was there and crawling on the employees a bit, because we had someone come to our table dozens and dozens of times asking if they could take a plate or if we needed anything. Never before have I felt aggravated at service that was TOO good. But one would come up and interrupt us and within a matter of moments, another would come up. Literally, one walked away, and within just a few minutes, another was right there, and sometimes they came within seconds of each other. I wanted to put up a sign that said "We're fine, thanks!" It got to be pretty comical, and I almost felt sorry for the folks who were probably forced into stalking their patrons. :)

My temporary Flight Instructor renewal "Airman Certificate" arrived today, just in time to have in hand. I also just got my new membership card for the "EAA Warbirds of America". That's a car window sticker I'd actually consider putting on the back my car-if it wasn't a lease. Not sure what they think about those kinds of things, but I know I've seen other leased cars with stickers on them, so maybe it'll be okay.

I apologize for complaining, but Oprah's dog dying just made national news-for the 3rd day in a row. She discusses how she feels like she was stabbed in the chest every time she thinks about it, and newscasters are treating it as solemnly as they are the plane crash in Brazil that took 200 lives. I like dogs almost as well as the next person, and I am truly sorry she has lost a beloved pet, but I'd like that to be the last time I hear about the trauma over her dog on the national news. I have a few other stories I'd like them to pick up nationally and share with people, if they'd be so inclined.

Okay, I've got to get some more packing done, get Kaylee in the tub, and go through my mail. I'll probably be back one last time before we go, to leave you with something deep and thought provoking. (Yeah, right.) :D

Here's a photo of Kaylee at Oshkosh in 2003. For more cute "old" Oshkosh photos, you have to visit here at the bottom of the page, here and here. Boy she's getting big! *sniff*

Nervous Ramblings

I'm not ready.

Chuck is headed home to finish packing up so they can take off at 6:30ish a.m. (Ick!) So by tomorrow afternoon, our chairs and fan will be in Oshkosh waiting for our rears to arrive. Nathan leaves tomorrow as well I believe, though he'll be making a couple of trips back and forth with the Mustang and once with the bus. And we leave bright and early Friday morning in the Jeep, where our brand new rented trailer/rv/whatever will be sitting there delivered and ready to go. Boy do I have a lot to do still. :O

Justin is a friend out at the airport who revamped our airport website, updated our scheduling, and has taken over a lot of Greg's work at our-sma-angels.com which also consists of me asking him dumb questions and his dealing with FrontPage nightmares. He calls Oshkosh "Mecca", as it basically is the Mecca of aviation, and thanks to him I may have some form of internet access up there. So if I can get on, I may post a "Mecca Chronicle" if there's anything to say. There very well may not be after: "Mecca Chronicle Day One: we saw airplanes, we heard airplanes, we ate food, it was hot, it was neat, the kids played and after the shows the adults sat around by the fire with a drink and laughed at each other." But it's funny how you can be there for a week and still not see or do everything.

I have to admit, I used to not really care to stay at Oshkosh. I liked it when we went for a day and left, like we used to. I preferred that, because I could literally not have to use a port-o-pottie All Day. Maybe once if we were there from sun up to sun down. But I hated those things that badly. And the showers were public. Oh sure, there's a screen around your shower head, but if you want to dry off and get dressed, you have to walk out naked along with everyone else. Now maybe that's no big thing for most people, but, well, I'm SHY. I don't care to see or be seen, and boy the one time I went did I see some things I just didn't need to see. I'm traumatized by that. (At least I didn't walk into the men's shower by mistake like SOMEONE I know.) I do realize I'd have never made it in the military. Or prison. But these days, it's better! For one thing, they really do a good job keeping the port-o-potties clean. They still smell a little cloyingly fruity, but that's really better than the alternative. The view still...stinks...but hey, I don't spend a great deal of time in them, so I can handle it now. (Last year Kaylee, Jamie and Maggie all went from port-o-pot to port-o-pot exclaiming at the size, shape and consistency of the messes in there. "Hey Kaylee, you should SEE the size of THIS one!" Gross.) Well, I can handle it except at night, when the boogieman or his bug friends could crawl where I couldn't see them, and my choice is to use a flashlight for a view I don't really want but can't avoid, or let my mind go wandering as to what's down there. I can't do middle of the night trips. But I digress. These days it's not so bad, because we stay in a trailer, with a shower and a toilet and a bed and a place to charge up my camera battery and my iPod. It's not my favorite, and I'm usually glad to get home to my own shower and stuff, but it's also better than the alternative. I have air conditioning I can sit in when it gets hot. I have a roof when it starts storming. I have a heater the one time in 10 years it gets cold. I can pack snacks in the fridge, sit in a lawn chair and watch the airshow from the shade without spending $3.00 on a small diet pepsi on the white hot flight line. I can have a golf cart to tool me around to places. I get to hang out with people I (mostly) like. So, I've officially been taken over to the Dark Side. I kind of like it here...

Today was more of the typical errands-post office, shipping stuff, bank run. I got Kaylee's doctor appointment successfully scheduled, got another guy's multi and multi instructor checkrides successfully scheduled, but I never did hear back from the veterinarian for Fat Rat Cat. (Reminds me, after Oshkosh, I need to start limiting Roadie's access to food. She's plumping out like crazy.)

Um, I got the photos back from Steve & Kaylee's canoe trip. Not the best quality, but what did I expect from a generic brand name disposable camera with their own developing process. :) I'm getting them up now, since I am going to procrastinate on doing anything truly important until later tonight and tomorrow when it's really crunch time. Ah, the joys of planning for a big long trip!

Today

Today was spent just trying to 1) Recoup from the Kentucky trip and 2) Prepare for the Oshkosh trip.

We took the Jeep in to get it serviced for the long drive, and I called and begged to have the portable DVD player and all her movies that I left in the truck in KY UPSd to me to arrive prior to our (did I mention) long drive. Called the vet to see about getting the Rat Cat in quickly, called the pediatrician to try to get Kaylee in for an appointment and shots prior to starting first grade, you know, that kind of thing.

I also took a trip to the book store, because after all I will be 1) driving for 20 hours at least and 2) sitting and relaxing in Wisconsin. Boredom is a state of mind, and personally, I don't mind at all. Ha.

I got some SMA stuff ready to ship out tomorrow, got most of my clothes clean and ready to pack, and I think we're getting close to the cram. I've got tomorrow and Thursday to finish packing and getting ready. I look forward to being there and relaxing to the sounds of the channel "all airplanes, all the time". Sitting by the nightly campfire with a cool beverage, knowing Kaylee will have a playmate or two for a week straight (or for as long as they don't start getting on each others' nerves), excellent food, a comfortable place to sleep, a private place to go to the bathroom and shower that doesn't include coconut odor eaters or naked folks wandering around, and good friends near by. Works for me!

Tuesday Top Ten: Ten Things I'd Do If I Won The Lottery

"We all like to daydream a little, and who hasn't thought a little about this one?: Ten Things I'd Do If I Won the Lottery. New house, new car, new face? Get those creative juices flowing, what would you do with millions of dollars?"

First I'd have to actually play the lottery in order to win, so it's not looking too good, and actually we'd have a plan with living off the interest and keeping the principle invested, setting up a fund towards SMA and keeping it going on interest as well, etc. But aside from that on the more frivolous side, if someone handed me millions of dollars, I'd probably...

Ten Things I'd Do If I Won The Lottery

1. SMA. Well, I'd make sure I was able to do something lasting and large for families dealing with SMA. Maybe I could finally afford to get the handicapped accessible vans that so many people need. Maybe put some towards a diet study, heart study, or a worthy drug trial. Or all the above.

2. Perhaps...consider adding to the family.

3. Land. We'd buy some nice land somewhere and build a home on it. Somewhere out in the country, but close enough to real people that I could get fast internet and find a store open 24 hours a day. Not that I go out at 3 am any more come to think of it, but just in case the urge ever strikes again.

4. Oh the Airplane(s) I could buy. I can't begin to drool over my options here. I'd want something fast and good for family travel, I'd want something big powerful and good for my own thrills, and maybe something small for local pretty evening sunset relaxing flights. Maybe I should have titled this one "Oh the maintenance and fuel I could pay for." *sigh*

5. A bus or RV. It's not like we need one of these. We only use one a time or two per year, but if we had one we could do weekend camp-outs at the airport and tag along a little easier on the airshow circuit camps. I started thinking to myself why I wouldn't get one, and then I remembered: someone handed me millions of dollars.

6. Oh the places I would go. I'd get my passport post haste, and we'd be gone in a flash. I have a lot of countries I want to visit, a lot of things I want to try or do. I want to get that magazine listing all the rich and posh places to visit, and I want to check some of them out. And to freely visit family and friends whenever I wanted. Now that would be nice.

7. Makeover. I'd actually go along with it. A hair, face, clothing and body makeover. Sure, why not? I wouldn't care to be Princess Laura with the perfectly coiffed hair and the always stylish clothing-it's not me. I'll always like the smell of fuel and oil and prefer jeans and t-shirts. But I could use some new duds and my own scary personal trainer for sure. ;)

8. Savings. It's a boring answer, but true. I'd save a lot of it. Retirement, Rainy Day, Kaylee's College; all worthy saving goals. I wouldn't care to just blow it in a big wad of fun, I want it around for years to come, even if it means I can only buy one cool airplane at a time. ;)

9. Whatever I want. Okay, I'm just kidding, mostly. Life doesn't work that way. Next sarcastic answer-"Pay Taxes like crazy". Or "Suddenly find an amazing number of relatives I didn't know I had on my doorstep." No, if I was given millions of dollars, other than SMA, I'd take some of it to have fun with, some of it to save for the future, some of it to take care of family/friends in some ways as I could, and some of it to make a difference in areas where I could. A small church, a small private school, the SMA community, etc.

10. Heaven. By the way, 'heaven' for me would be a cleaning service, a laundry service, and a cooking service. Can you imagine?? Someone to cook healthy but tasty meals every day for my family. Someone to PUT AWAY my laundry, the #1 job I detest. Someone to make it so that when I walk into my house, it smells fresh, sparkles, and I can sit and relax and not worry about picking up, putting away, or scrubbing anything like cat barf off the floor. Oh, I need to stop and dwell on this one for a minute. It gave me as big of a tingle as #4 did. Yep, I need to end on this one. There's nowhere to go from 'heaven' anyway, right!? (Quietly moves this to #10).

Awww

I checked on Kaylee right before heading to bed, and this is what I saw:

Personally, I think they're both happy to see each other. ;)

And They're Off...

The plane started and the weather cooperated. It was another hot muggy one, one of those days where you're already sweating at 9 am; one of those days I can't stand. But once we got loaded up and headed out, we did the finger crossing dance, held our breath, I hit the Master switch, and away she went. It was about 90 minutes home. The flight home was really pretty; I wish I'd had my camera up front. When we left out of Kentucky Dam, there was a broken ceiling of some building cumulus clouds. I picked up my IFR clearance in the air, and as I was climbing through the clouds, they were just far apart enough I could "canyon fly" around them. That's when you have these big puffy white clouds kind of close together and you weave in and out and around them without going through many of them. You get a sense for how fast you are really going when you're racing past/around them, and with the blue skies in the background, it's just pretty, and a little majestic. Once I got on top of the clouds, it was pretty clear sailing all the way home. No big turbulence and no spilled Diet Coke this time. :)

Pictures are up. These photos mostly just have Kaylee in them, and these photos have the other family members at the reunion in them.

Let's see. Some things from this weekend...

Kaylee learned about Maid Service. We came back from the boat the first day, and she walked in the room and stopped and said "Hey, somebody cleaned our room!" When we explained that it was the maid service, Kaylee said in wonder "They Make your BED for you and they clean up your bathroom too??" She wants one at home now. Next she wanted to know if our maid was a boy or a girl, and then she said we should clean up our own room so the maid didn't have to clean up our mess for us. Apparently she'd had a similar conversation with her father, because the next thing she said was that they got paid to clean the room and we didn't want to take their money away by cleaning it for them. This is how her mind works. :) Anyway, each day that we came in and our beds were made and floor vacuumed and bathroom spic and span with fresh towels, she got a kick out of it. I wouldn't mind walking in my house and seeing the same thing either!

She also caught another fish. Her cousin Jake had tried fishing off the docks for a couple of days with no success. Kaylee gets out there with her little rod and within minutes she's snagged a striper. In fact, she saw the fish in the water, went and got a pole, stuck the bait in the water by the fish, and snagged the thing within just a few minutes. She caught the fish in front of an entire group of people, which is the way one should catch a fish if one is a fisherperson-two other boatloads of people watched her reel him up, and she got a round of applause. Shortly after that, her father broke her fishing pole, so her days of fishing were over for the weekend, but at least she had success first.

I don't remember off-hand what other stories there were, so I'll finish today and if they come to me, great, if not...won't be the first (or last) time I forgot something.

I couldn't sleep for anything last night, I was awake up until it started getting light out. Which meant I was dragging my heels today. I hand flew most of the way home just to keep myself awake, and the sad side effect of me not getting any sleep usually comes with a bit of the crankies. So my apologies to anyone I ran into today if I was less than my usual brilliantly pleasant self. ;) Seriously, I'm TIRED. In fact I just yawned while typing the word 'tired'...

When we landed at Kokomo, we fueled up the Baron, put it away, loaded up the car, wiped down the Baron, stopped at Arby's (Kaylee has a new favorite-I made her try roast beef once and she loves it), unloaded all the stuff at home, hopped back in the car, hit the post office, hit the computer store (they were temporarily closed), hit Glenndale to pick up my car, left Steve at Glenndale and took Kaylee home...put her in her room for a little wind down time, unloaded and edited all my pictures, started to unpack my bag and ran out of energy. Dinner? Who needs dinner?

For now, Kaylee is braiding my hair, and putting make up on both of us, and Steve is trying to get some work done at the office since we only have until Thursday night, and we're gone to Oshkosh for a long time. I guess I'd better put some laundry in and figure out food...