Oshkosh 2016

Well another successful Oshkosh trip is in the books.  This year we were suppose to be a group of at least 4 airplanes but unfortunately we ended up with just Jeff and I as Harry got called to work the week and Chad had to bail due to work related activities earlier in the month.  Regardless Jeff and I had a great time and here is a brief recount of the trip.

We had planned on a Thursday afternoon departure with a stop in Montana for the evening.  The weather looked pretty good during the week leading up to Thursday.  On thursday itself the weather started to take a bit of a turn and it looked like we might be trapped behind some convective stuff if we departed as planned.  Since we were all off of work early we made the call to depart early and it turns out that was a good idea.

Here is a video I took and edited of the arrival into Oshkosh...

Packed up and ready to go.

Obligatory selfie with Martin as we cruised at about 15,500' above sea level.

Tied down in Townsend Montana for the night.

We had a relatively uneventful flight to Townsend Montana where we were treated to a well deserved night of train horns and high temperatures at the Mustang Motel.  What a treat to listen to the trains drift by about every 15 minutes during the night with their air horns blowing off and on.  To add to the ambiance the hotel owner turned the central air conditioning off at about 11pm so we got to sweat as the trains serenaded us.

Ah yes...the mustang motel.

After a very long night we decided to launch for Oshkosh.  Next stop, North Dakota.  It wasn't until we were on the east side of Montana that we decided to go the north route and land near Fargo.  Enroute we passed over Dickinson ND where my sister lives but thunderstorms and rain prevented them from seeing me wave.

Some cloud formations and rain as we passed Dickinson, ND.

This is what the central plains states look like....flat.

Filling up in North Dakota.

After filling up with fuel we launched for Oshkosh.  It was a nice flight and as with the previous two legs we had a wonderful tail wind that pushed us along nicely.  We arrived in the early afternoon, got a nice third row parking spot and set up camp for the week.

A panorama of our camp site.

A few sites to be seen at Oshkosh but only a few pictures...

Yep, we made it....

A few other planes made it...

A nice sunset

And a nice sunrise...

Oh, and a picture of a formation of warbirds flying over head as I laid under the wing of my airplane (to avoid the sun).

And a formation of fighters doing a bomber escort as part of the airshow.

Obviously there was a ton more to see and do but that's exactly what I was doing...seeing and doing...not taking pictures so if you want to see more....come to the Oshkosh and see for yourself!