Brief Description: Camped at Oshkosh AirVenture with Jim and Jack
Colten, Tanner and I made the annual pilgrimage to Oshkosh and met up with my buddy Jim Midtlien and his son Jack. This is the second year we camped together and spent a few days at the convention.
Jim and I went to college together and became the best of friends and don't see each other too much anymore as he lives near the Twin Cities and I am near Chicago. It is great to hang out and take in the whole Oshkosh experience while our sons get to know each other. I have been coming to Oshkosh since 1980 and enjoy pretending to be the aviation expert and tour guide. They have caught on to my trick of just making something up when asked what an unfamiliar aircraft is.
On the day after the convention officially closed, the boys and I were walking the flight line watching the departures when we came across a guy sitting under a tent while his RV-8 was getting it's battery charged. His name was Doug Ball from western Michigan and we had a nice conversation. He is a golf pro and worked on the airplane with his dad and each of them had close to an hour commute to the hanger. They have a beautiful airplane that could double as a mirror.
Oshkosh is a special place and fanned the flames for my love of aviation. The aircraft in Image # 3 is a C-19 and was being piloted by a local kid from Fon du Lac, a town just south of Oshkosh. I don't remember his name, but I would guess we are about the same age and probably walked around the grounds as kids at about the same time. Oshkosh has infected kids from all around the US and the world with the aviation bug. Our military, commercial airlines, and general aviation aircraft are full of many examples of how dreams can become reality.
