October 6th, 2009
When I got to Oshkosk, Sam gave me instructions on where to go and met me outside the gate with a parking pass, a big smile and a kiss. We drove to a concrete pad and parked my Jeep and camper where it would stay for the duration. It was just down a little hill from his coach. The airport grounds had been turned into a giant campground! It was incredible to see! There were about 500,000 people camping out in tents, multi-million dollar motor coaches and everything imaginable in between. What is the EAA AirVenture Fly-in? The EAA is the Experimental Aircraft Association - or a club for people, like Sam, who build and fly their own planes, or at least have a love for home-built aircraft. AirVenture is the annual gathering of these aircraft lovers and it's called a "fly-in" because many of them actually fly in from other places to attend the event. Obviously, many more drive in than actually fly, but it would sounds pretty silly if they called it a "drive-in." So, you get the idea - a convention of sorts geared towards aircraft for aircraft lovers. It's kind of a mix of a campout, a fair, a craft & trade expo and an air show. In addition to the 500,000 or so people who were camping out on the grounds, another 500,000 plus came throughout the week, making this the world's largest aircraft event with over a million visitors!
The original and new entry pavilions:
All of the aircraft on display were not home-built or experimental. Many of them were military, commercial and private executive jets. The Airbus 380, the world's largest commercial airliner was on display along with Virgin's new Spaceship Two (Click for more info) and several military transports.
Airbus 380: Massive people mover with huge Rolls-Royce jet engines:
Airbus 380: Massive people mover with huge Rolls-Royce jet engines:
Virgin Atlantic's Spaceship Two:
Military Aircraft:
Ironically, Under the Airbus 380, the world's SMALLEST aircraft was displayed:
And if that wasn't ironic enough for you, how about this - this generator has a warning: "CAUTION! Hazardous Noise Area. May Cause Hearing Loss. Hearing Protection Required." This generator was 10 feet from the line to tour the Airbus 380...
As we entered the Airbus 380, every 10th person had to wear a tag so they could keep track of how many people visited. I was lucky number 10.
This is inside one of the main trade expo buildings:
Sam and I, and his daughter Kim visited the Sea Plane Base. It was one of the best parts of the week.
As cool as all the aircraft stuff is, I think the real reason all the hundreds of thousands of people show is... for the PARTY!
The campfires, the beer tent, the "swine-fest," the costume party, the karaoke, the camaraderie... the FUN!
The AirVenture was definitely an adventure and lots of fun - the best part, of course, was spending time with Sam and getting to visit with Kim for a few days. I love you, Sam. Thanks for inviting me and making me feel welcome at the fly-in.
While I was in Oshkosh, a man named Steven contacted me on Bear411 and invited to to spend a few days at his house if I wanted to visit Minneapolis. So, I did! I arrived at his house in the evening, parking the Beast and the camper across the street out front. He welcomed me and showed me to the guest room. I changed my clothes and we went out for the evening. Steven treated me to sushi! I had a spicy tuna roll, unagi (freshwater ell, usually served seared with a japanese barbeque sauce) and hamachi (young yellowtail, a type of amberjack, similar to tuna). Steven isn't a sushi eater, so he had teriyaki steak.
On Wednesday morning, Steven dropped me off at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, which was a big surprise for me. It rivaled collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. More on that later in a separate post.
After the Museum, I walked through Morris Park to a Starbuck's to check my messages and have a coffee and whole grain bagel. While I was on Bear411, I chatted with a man named Bill who also lost his weimaraner. I had planned to walk down to Loring Park for the rest of the afternoon. Bill lives close and decided to meet me there. Loring Park is just across the street from The Walker Art Center and the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. We traversed the pedestrian bridge to the sculpture garden, which I will write about in it's own journal entry.
From the garden, Bill drove me to the infamous Mall of America. Yeah, I know... tourist trap. But I had heard about it my entire life and wasn't about to miss it! I'm usually a hippie nomadic mountain man, but I like being a tourist in the city from time to time. Bill and I were on a mission to ride a roller coaster! But, finding out how to get a ticket to ride just one ride was harder than you'd think. We went to the automated kiosk and the only options were for multi-ride or all-day passes. After wondering around for about 15 minutes and asking several employees, we finally found a ticket office and were able to buy tickets for the two coasters we wanted to ride. WOW. I hadn't been on a roller coaster in years. It was fun. The first one was very tame and went around the entire parka nice relaxing ride with a few ups and downs, like most of my journey. The second one was crazy. The first drop went straight down and into two loops and a cork-screw! Whew! It was over in about 30 seconds. I preferred the first one, and I know Bill did. I think the second one gave him a concussion!
This is what the park looks like:
After riding the coasters we called Steven to see if he wanted to join us for dinner, then we headed back to the car... in the west parking garage... or was it the west? Hmmmmm... After finding the car we headed back downtown to meet Steven for dinner. We went to an awesome place called The Birchwood Cafe that serves mainly vegetarian cuisine. We had sangria with dinner and sat outside on the patio. The weather was perfect and it was a lovely evening.
To be continued...
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