I flew west out of Laporte and then turned north around the west side of Chicago’s class bravo airspace. This is looking east towards Chicago. Before I left Laporte Robert told me I should fly east of Chicago right up the shore line of Lake Michigan a short distance off shore. Quicker and scenic but I already had my flight planned and perhaps I am too cautious and I stayed over dry land. The air was smooth and the flight was great.

I did fly over these quarries just west of Chicago. They do have SOME water in them. I was struck by how deep they are and how the roads have been preserved.  About a half an hour out of Oshkosh I reviewed the NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) on procedures for flying into Airventure. As many as 10,000 airplanes attend Airventure and there are very specific procedures for handling all of the traffic. As it turned out, they were not very busy at all when I arrived and I did not have to join a sequence of aircraft with 1/2 mile spacing which is the published procedure. The controllers on the ground at Fisk, a town about 15 miles southwest of Oshkosh even asked me what runway I wanted. I told then whichever one is best for homebuilt camping. They told me to make an immediate right turn, follow the road, expect 36 left and switch to tower frequency. Oh yes, they also thanked me for coming to Oshkosh.

The tower cleared me to land on 36 left at the yellow dot. That is about halfway down the runway. As soon as I landed I was told to taxi off the runway into the grass on the left side. As I turned off I saw a Ford Tri Motor take the runway and depart. By landing halfway down the runway he was able to taxi into position as soon as I flew over his position. Once on the grass, flagmen marshaled me from one taxiway to another and finally to a volunteer on a motor scooter with a “follow me” sign on his back. He took me right to my camping site, welcomed me and gave me a brief overview of what I had to do to register.

But first I had to tie down my airplane. I was driving stakes into the ground with a small and fairly light hammer that I had brought with me when a volunteer approached in a golf cart. He asked if I needed a hammer and I held mine up and told him that I already had one. He just smiled and said, “That’s not a hammer, now this here is a hammer”, holding up a small sledge hammer. He proceeded to hand it to me and drop an orange cone on the ground. “Just leave it by the cone when you’re done. Welcome to Oshkosh!”.

When I registered and they found out that this was the first time I had flown my airplane to Airventure, and that I had built her, they presented me with a wood plaque, the “Persistence Award”. Before long, the plane was secure, my tent was set up and I was taking it easy. This place is amazing and I will post more later!