What an experience this was. Totally above and beyond my expectations. I could write for days about this trip... but I'll try to distill the experience down to a reasonable blog entry. Regarding the photos I'm going to share here: I took 2550 photos in nine days; over 500 made my "best of" collection... and out of those, I sorted out 123 that qualified as the best of the best, cropped and watermarked them, and put together two albums for my facebook page. I highly recommend that you visit my facebook page, go to my photos and see the albums named "OSH thunderstorm" and "AirVenture 2015". These are some of the best photos I've ever taken in the 40 years I've owned a camera. It's impractical to overload this blog entry with a ton of photos, so instead I'm going to feature some of the photos that help tell the story of my journey. Any photo here that has a watermark with my name in the lower right corner earned a place in one of the albums. You really should check them out, at www.facebook.com/drumbiker... they're worth seeing.
I left at 3 a.m. Friday morning, because I needed to be in Ludington by 7 a.m. to catch the S.S. Badger ferry to Manitowoc, which left at 8:15. It was a grey, foggy morning, but that didn't dampen my spirits. 
When I checked in, I discovered that my return ticket was booked on the wrong day, so I got that corrected before we boarded. The voyage was uneventful... in fact, it turned out to be somewhat boring. The cold fog made sitting deckside a bit uncomfortable, and it was quite crowded below. I regretted not getting a stateroom for the outbound trip. I spent most of the trip bundled up in a deck chair, listening to podcasts.
The fog dissipated as we approached the Wisconsin coast, and disembarkation went smoothly. I made the drive to OSH and checked into the campsite first. I scored an excellent location that was centrally located and offered a great view towards the flight line, and quickly set up camp.
Next, I drove over to the Hilton Garden Inn located on the north side of the airport and checked in for the first two nights. The rest of the day was spent lounging in the bar... sipping scotch, taking photos from my table and the observation deck, and having a great dinner.
Saturday morning I woke up just before 5am. I saw a beautiful pink light outside, and hurried to catch the sunrise from the observation deck. As I walked through the darkened bar heading to the stairs, I saw some flashes to my right, and wondered if it was lightning. When I walked out on the deck, I witnessed the magnificently frightening sight of a wall cloud coming in fast from the west. We were about three minutes away from getting pounded by a big storm.
It was amazing to see this lit up by the rising sun, creating multiple rainbows within the storm front. Then the storm hit, and I got videos of all the patio furniture being blown across the deck.
I took shelter downstairs, and told the desk clerk about the damage done to the patio furniture. I watched the storm from inside, sharing views of weather radar with the staff and wondering how badly damaged my campsite would be. The storm passed through quickly, and the rain stopped after an hour had passed. I drove to the campsite and was relieved to find my campsite had survived with relatively minor damage. Some good neighbors had removed the canopy cover and closed the tent windows, which I had unwisely left open in the heat of the previous day. Although there was water inside the tent, the open windows probably prevented the wind from destroying my brand new tent. I had put some supplies inside but hadn't unpacked, so most of my stuff remained dry in the rubbermaid containers. The tent was undamaged aside from a partially collapsed side pole, which snapped back into place with no trouble. I was able to drain out most of the water, then headed to a local hardware store to get repair supplies: shop towels, stakes and more reinforcements for the canopy frame which was once again somewhat mangled; that seems to happen every year. I got back and mopped up the remaining water, repaired the canopy frame and hung up some items to dry.
I went back to the hotel and hung out there for lunch, then caught a ride in a golf cart back to the campsite to stow stuff for the night. Caught the North 40 bus back to the hotel and enjoyed another evening there. I was surprised that the hotel didn't seem very busy so close to the start of AirVenture; even the air traffic was lighter than I expected.
Sunday morning I woke up early, checked out of the Hilton and got back to my campsite in plenty of time to finish setting up camp before I checked into the first day of the SportAir Workshop on Van's RV Construction. The workshop was held at Paul's Aeroplane Factory by the Fly-In Theater, and my campsite was so close to the shop I didn't even bother taking the bike; walking took less than five minutes. Sunday's workshop was 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. with a one-hour break for lunch. Our projects were the same ones that I had done on my own at home; the riveting exercise and the airfoil. I was also the only attendee that had actually started building my own airplane. I was brimming with confidence... almost smug... and as a result, I produced the worst parts I've ever done. I was humiliated inside, and tried to cover it with humor, telling the instructors "Here's my card! Visit my websites! Really... I can do quality work!" I know what happened, and I won't bore you with details... the bottom line is that I didn't approach the work with the right attitude, and I allowed my overconfidence to cloud my judgment which led to foolish mistakes.
After the workshop ended Sunday, I retreated to my campsite to lick my wounds. That evening I walked over to the Fly-In Theater and got a special surprise. They were showing the new Bob Hoover documentary, Flying the Feathered Edge. The surprise was that Bob was there, along with Sean D. Tucker and Kim Furst (the film's director and producer), Dorothy Cochran and Brian Terwilliger. They were onstage in front of the inflatable outdoor movie screen, and talked at length about the movie and Bob's legacy. It was a truly historic event, and I was honored to be there.
Monday morning brought day two of the workshop, which was from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Things went a little better that day, although the resulting wing section wasn't much of an improvement on my original. That afternoon I watched the airshow from the back of my campsite, and that evening I attended the VAF Social... which was packed. Met some people I knew from builder's blogs (most notably Danny King) and made some new friends. The beer ran out fast, though... I suspect this event just might be outgrowing their venue. I considered going to Aces Cafe for more beer and live music... but that was insanely packed, so I retired for the evening.
Tuesday morning I got up early and headed for the homebuilts and warbirds, taking as many photo as I could before attending Budd Davisson's forum on Welding Basics. I was there mainly to say hi to Budd, whom I've met at previous forums and corresponded with via email. In case you don't know Budd, he is a renowned aviation journalist, author, master of the Pitts Special, and all-around Renaissance Man. His website is www.airbum.com; visit it and you'll spend many enjoyable hours reading pilot reports and chasing links. After that, I met up with Kermit Weeks at his corner of the EAA Merchandise building. We chatted briefly about our facebook exchanges, and he taught me his method of taking selfies. Then it was off to Hangar C, where Steve Thorne of FlightChops was appearing at the ForeFlight booth. It was so great to follow up online correspondence with meeting these notable aviators in person.
I returned to the campsite area, took a quick shower and got ready to attend the Van's Banquet. Another great time sharing good food and drinks with like-minded enthusiasts. When sharing stories with others, the statement I found myself repeating most often was that it was so wonderful to attend AirVenture and finally feel like I was an "insider".
Wednesday morning I delivered the EAA 113 canopy I had transported to OSH for the Thursday night spaghetti dinner. I had intended to get a ride in a Bell 47 helicopter that morning, but there had been a landing accident that closed the field for several hours, so that didn't happen. The accident aircraft was a Piper Meridian that crashed after avoiding a runway collision; there were injuries but fortunately no fatalities. I caught Budd Davisson's forum on Mastering the Tailwheel, and enjoyed some banter with him during the presentation. That afternoon's highlights were the arrival of the F-35 and Burt Rutan's presentation of his highly-anticipated new design, the SkiGull. These two events were scheduled at around the same time, but fortunately the F-35 arrived a few minutes early so I was able to catch both.
That afternoon I returned to the campsite; sipped scotch, watched the airshow and texted with my wife Amy. Maybe it was the hot sun, or relatively empty stomach... or the fact that I don't drink very often anymore. But the scotch started out tasting great, and feeling great... but pretty soon I didn't feel well at all. I ended up going to bed early that night, waking up briefly to watch the night airshow fireworks through my tent screen. Another lesson learned.
I felt awful Thursday morning, but I didn't let it stop me. Took a shower and headed off to attend a forum on Van's RV fiberglass construction techniques, presented by Sam James. It started later than I originally thought, so I headed to the flighline and took photos of many different aircraft coming and going, on the ground and in the air. After the fiberglass forum I attended a presentation on Aerobatcs in an RV, presented by Steve Johnson. That put me in the right place in the right time: close to airshow center at the start of the airshow. Got a lot of excellent photos of Mustangs, the Avro Lancaster, De Havilland Mosquito and many other aircraft. During the aerobatic portion of the airshow, I retired to my campsite and watched the rest of the show from there.
The EAA 113 Spaghetti Dinner took place after the airshow, hosted by Jim and Nancy Trick. Lots of familiar faces, and more good times. I had considered attending the NASA presentation on the Orion program at the Theater in the Woods at 9 p.m. but didn't want to leave the party so early. When I got back to my campsite, I realized I could still catch the second half of it, so I got on my bike and made it in time to catch the best parts. Really glad I made the effort.
Friday morning I went directly to Pioneer Airport with the goal of being one of the first passengers in one of the Bell 47 helicopter flights. They begin at 8 a.m. so I got there at 7 a.m. and hung out until they opened, taking photos of the Goodyear Airship on its mooring mast. The plan worked; I was the third passenger in line. I decided to take two five-minute flights in a row, so that I would have time to both take pictures and enjoy the flights. I was really glad I did that, especially since the flights actually seem like less than two minutes. I knew the flight path would take me directly over my camp site, so I got great photos... and I'm not sure I want to share them, because I don't want to give away my secret and excellent location. But I got other great photos of Camp Scholler and Airshow Center.
After the helicopter flight, I hung out a bit at Pioneer Airport taking photos of aircraft on display, then headed to the Warbird area to see the Warbirds In Review presentation of the F-100 Super Sabre that featured aircraft owner and pilot Dean Cutshall and F-100 veterans Dick Rutan and General Charles Boyd. This was another historic event that I felt honored to attend.
When the presentation concluded I took the North 40 bus over to the Hilton to see if there was a room available for that night. Much to my surprise and delight there were rooms available, so I jumped at the opportunity. The price was very high, as you might imagine during AirVenture... but this was a bucket-list item for me: to be able to stay at the OSH Hilton Garden Inn not only before AirVenture started, but during the event. I would be able to watch the Friday and Saturday afternoon airshows from the observation deck; to me that was worth the steep price of admission... and it proved to be worth every cent. I debated on whether to pack up my camp that afternoon or wait until Saturday morning. There was a chance of rain later that evening, so I decided to hurry back to camp, pack everything as quickly as possible while it was still warm and dry, and bring the car back to the hotel in time to catch the best part of Friday's airshow. Once again, the plan worked. I caught the bus & tram, raced the bicycle back to camp and had everything packed in an hour. I left my Camp Scholler reservation open for parking on Saturday and took the packed car back to the hotel. From then on, I could relax and enjoy the rest of the day in luxury. I captured some spectacular photos from the deck that evening; here are a couple of the very best:
After the airshow, I enjoyed sipping scotch in my room as I sorted and washed all my laundry in the guest laundry room. I enjoyed another fine meal in the bar, and went to sleep in a wonderfully comfortable bed in my air-conditioned room... a very happy man indeed.
Saturday morning I got up early, as usual, and got some more photos from the deck before heading back into Camp Scholler. I got a great parking spot very close to the walk-in entrance by the Theater In The Woods, where there was an informal meeting of RV-8 builders scheduled at 10 a.m. I arrived around 9 a.m. and spent time exploring the Vintage and Ultralight areas. There turned out to be only four or five builders at the meeting, but one of them was my fellow Blogspot friend Bryan Raley, whose blog served as an inspiration to me for years. We had played text-tag all week, and I was glad we were finally able to meet and chat in person. After the meeting, I checked out of Camp Scholler and received a refund for two days of paid camping, which helped to offset the cost of the room a bit. I went back to the room and enjoyed it until I had to give it up. For the rest of Saturday I hung out at the Hilton, enjoying the airshow from beginning to end, and getting more fantastic photos. Again, I'm finding it hard to limit what I'm posting here, because I got so many great shots. If you visit www.facebook.com/drumbiker, this is just a sample of what you'll find in my AirVenture 2015 photo album:
As the last sorties peeled off to land, I hopped in the car and headed to Manitowoc. I had planned to have dinner at a blues club I had read about while I waited for the 1 a.m. ferry, but when I arrived in town I found it closed. That turned out to be a blessing in disguise, because I ended up getting some excellent cuisine at the Courthouse Pub. There was a street fair going on nearby with a band playing - the Charley Bucket Band - and I ended up staying there most of the night, taking a lot of photos of the band and even recording the last 20 minutes of their set.
The street fair eventually wound down, and I headed for the ferry port a few blocks away. As I waited for the ferry to arrive, fatigue began to hit hard. It had been a long, wonderful experience and I had expended a lot of energy getting the most out of it... but now I needed rest. When we finally boarded I went straight to my stateroom, took a few photos, made a recording entry, then set an alarm and hit the cot... and I was out like a light, and stayed out for four hours. I awoke just before the crew pounded on the doors to roust us, and greeted Ludington with the dawn. The trip home was uneventful, and I arrived home before 10 a.m.
So that was my excellent AirVenture 2015. What an incredible trip. I'm so grateful I got a chance to do it. Since then, Amy and I took another three-day trip up north to join a gathering of her relatives in Northport, also visiting Traverse City and Charlevoix. After all those good times, it will take a little while to get back into the normal routine. There are a lot of loose ends to tie up, this blog entry being one of them. It was a huge task going through all the photos, organizing and sorting them, sifting out the best of them and then editing the very best... but that task is done. Getting back on the diet has been difficult, but I was amazed to learn that in all my travels, I didn't gain any weight at all. I find that very encouraging! I've done some puttering in the shop. I had my grinder and vise pedestals welded up; a vast improvement over the weak pinch bolts that held the bases and tops to the poles. My brother-in-law Dave gave me a brand new band saw and I assembled a work stand for it, then added a caster dolly to make it portable. Sometime this week I'll start working on the rudder again... after I fix a leaky sink drain... and mow the lawn... bla bla bla. But all that is ok; it's all good. I'm going to be basking in the glory of the past month for a long time to come, and it will help set my mind right for all the work that lays ahead. I used to say the future is rosy; I just gotta get there. Now I say the future is rosy... I'm on my way... and I can smell the roses from here!
