Up early Friday morning July 22, we're off to Airventure 2006 at Oshkosh. This will be our first visit to
an aviation mecca that only happens in the good ol' U S of A
Our route out pretty much follows I-80 except that we are still far south of it here as we approach South Lake Tahoe.
In Nevada now, looking at the eastern side of the Sierra range
Heading northeast across Nevada, which is a washboard of successive high mountain ranges, we will pick up I-80 at Wendover
Fly an airplane across the Great Salt Lake Desert - check
And what would one expect to find on the other side of The Great Salt Lake Desert other than The Great Salt Lake
Notice it took 30 minutes to cross the desert
After fueling up at Ogden we have a choice of three passes to take through the Wasatch Range. We took the northern one
The Wasatch and the valleys beyond Salt Lake are amazingly green
But soon we enter the high lands of south western Wyoming - not so green
where there are lots of gas wells
and giant coal fired powerplants
and desolation
with a few isolated pockets of humanity wherever it can cling on and survive. This place was like a beautiful oasis
surrounded by stark desolation (there's that word again)
Most of the airports back in Wyoming are around 7,000 feet elevation and during this hottest summer on record
the density altitudes were reading close to the service ceilings of many general aviation aircraft
so we continued on to Scotts Bluff Nebraska for our first overnight stay
Here's a video of our arrival at Scotts Bluff
The next day we flew over lots of prarie land and saw a lot of cows. Eventually we made it to Wisconsin
Talk about green! and humid too
Now this is what all landing strips should look like!
We stayed at a decaying Ramada Inn (marked for demolition) in Janesville that reminded us of 'The Shining' with halls
that seemed to get longer as you walked down them and exit signs that flashed on and off like they do in all horror movies.
So we went and had a few beers at the Hooters across the street and paid tribute to Elsie on the way back
Next morning we get up and fly a hundred miles north, get in the stream of incomming traffic and here it is - our first visit to Oshkosh
The taxi to our parking/camping spot took as long as the flight up from Janesville. We had to pull off the
taxiway a couple of times to let B-24's and the like get by
We ended up in row 599 which is about a 15 minute bus ride past what they call the 'Back 40'
You're not gonna see anything like this in many other places
Everyone had their goodies on display - here are a couple of Rotacs
The ultimate flying motorhome
After the extremely hyper routines of the Extras it was nice to see this guy do some graceful old fashioned stuff in a modified Chipmunk
Howard Row
Remnants of an era of class bygone
When big honkin' wheelpants spelled S P E E D !
Of course, what would Oshkosh be without a thunder storm(s)
This was just the first wave of several to follow over the next day and a half but it was part of what we came for
A day in the sun and a night camping in the rain. Good thing we sprang for those two dollar EAA ponchos
The next day was hot, humid and sunny, the tornadoes only come at night
The ultimate 'Cub' on shaved 33x12.50x16.5's
It's a long ways from California and with only a week we have to depart after just a couple of days
We also have to take advantage of the weather window that has presented itself to us
So long Oshkosh
We head west under a 2000 ft ceiling and soon we are across the mighty Mississippi into Minnesota
We intend to follow the I-90 route back out west
Under clear skys now - Lewis and Clark Lake on the Missouri River
After a fuel stop we head off for Gillette but a big thunderstorm over Rapid City forces us down in, of all places, Wall SD
We remember our first road trip out west back in the sixties. The 'Wall Drug' billboards started half a mile out of Chicago
and I swear were every 300 yards all the way to South Dakota. This was, and still is, the quintissential 'gateway to the west'
tourist trap.
As we get tied down anticipating the approaching storm we hear two other aircraft approaching to land.
They are headed back from Oshkosh as well. We all walk into town together and get rooms in the hotel.
We sit in the Cactus Lounge sipping frozen Margaritas as the storm passes
I stepped out to take a picture of this budding rainbow over Wall Drug and accidentally got a picture of this lightning bolt
The storm finally passed around sunset. Tomorrow would be clear and we decide to do a fly over of all of the tourist sights
that we visited back in the sixties - The Badlands, The Black Hills, Mt Rushmore and Devils Tower
First up next morning was the Badlands, just south of good ol' Wall, South Dakota
Followed by Mt Rushmore and the Black Hills
And finally The Devils Tower in Wyoming
looks just as weird from the air as it does from the ground
When I was a kid I thought it was a giant petrified tree stump
On westward we pass over the Little Bighorn Battleground then stop in Billings Montana for gas.
The runway is on top of a sloping bluff and has a pretty decent grade to it, Not much worse than Placerville CA though
After that we follow I-90 over Bozeman and on to Butte - arguably THE most polluted area of the nation
with huge old open pit copper mines and slag pools that dwarf the depressed little city next to them
We spend the night at the Comfort Inn and after looking at the sectionals decide we just don't have the time it would take
to thread our way through all of those mountains to northeastern Washington and then down to California
So we abandon our I-90 route and beat it south to the Idaho Falls area
The afternoons are hot and turbulent so we get an early start but regardless, afternoon will come upon us somewhere
along our return route and we've still got a lot of rugged terrain to get across regardless of which route we choose.
But the early morning ride through the valleys headed south is smooth and enjoyable
We decide to take a shortcut across this saddle in the cool calm air - absolutely spectacular!
We cross over southern Idaho and snap some pictures over Craters Of The Moon National Park
After that we had to cross some incredibly rugged and desolate terrain in southeastern Oregon to get to Klamath Falls
There were a lot of fires and it was really smoky so - no pictures
From Klamath Falls we slip down the east side of Shasta. The smoke begins to clear up.
Back home in California after 6 days - it's always good to get back home
I know we said we were going to visit grass strips and people along the way but when it comes down to it this country is
just so big and Oshkosh is so far that you would need months rather than weeks to pull something like that off.
It was an enjoyable trip, the scenery was stunning and at times down right frightening. It's what we all live for.