Oshkosh 2015 Trip Write-up

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bullojm1
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Oshkosh 2015 Trip Write-up

Post by bullojm1 »

Thought you'd all be interested in my flight to Oshkosh this year.

This is my 4th trip to Oshkosh. 3rd in my RV, and second in a row in Homebuilt Camping (HBC). I am very excited for this year to see many of my RV friends. On top of Oshkosh, I am also taking the RV to Des Moines and Southern WI to visit some of my college friends.


As every year when I am headed to Oshkosh, WI for AirVentures, the day always starts off early.
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The flight was pretty straight forward - more or less a straight line for north-west Indiana, grabs some cheap ($4.04/G) fuel at KOXI (Stark County), chug up the shore of Lake Michigan, and then over to Oshkosh.
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Loaded with all the goodies to get me through the week. The Styrofoam cooler was a brilliant idea someone gave me - no need to take it back home with you!
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She's ready for the day's adventure.
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While the oil temps were warming up I entered in the flight plan into the GRT's.
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The day was spectacular over south-central PA.
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No winds to speak of either.
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This little music player is absolutely fantastic. Cheap, great battery life (12 hours) and it has a micro-SD card in it for a boatload of music storage. It kept me entertained all the way to the show.
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As expected, the headwinds slowly started to creep up.
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This is the airport near Seven Springs in Pennsylvania. It isn't on the charts anymore. That's a shame - I always wanted to land there.
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Yawn! I don't typically do early.
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In west Ohio / Indiana the land was absolutely soaked. I saw standing water everywhere.
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And with water and sun, came some crappy MVFR flying conditions.
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Warsaw (KASW) in Indiana. I stopped here on the way back from Osh last year. Good fuel prices and a crew car.
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The weather continued to degrade.
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Yup, it is getting close to a fuel stop. 11 gallons of calculated fuel left. That's about where I draw the line for needing some more go-go juice.
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Stark County (KOXI) airport was full of people going to Oshkosh. With $4.04/G fuel, it was easy to see why. They had a plethora of sweets and some hot dogs for everyone. Also, they had two fuel pumps for 100LL, so everyone waiting in line got through it pretty quickly.
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I didn't spend too much time on the ground as I knew the approach to Oshkosh was getting busy and I wanted to have a good spot for my plane to be parked in. I mounted a GoPro2 on a suction cup mount to my canopy. Should be interesting to see how this turns out. The weather heading north towards Lake Michigan was crappy out of KOXI.
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All of the sudden the sky broke and it once again was a great day to be flying.
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Coming up on Lake Michigan.
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This is the only footage I got from the under-wing GoPro. It stopped recording prematurely.
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Going up the shoreline.
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Approaching Chicago.
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This is my favorite pic of the trip up the lake.
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I was on this beach about a month ago. I ran a 200 mile Ragnar Relay race from Madison, WI to Chicago which ended right here.
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I had some friends on Powers Lake, WI who I did a flyover for.
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Touchdown at Oshkosh! The approach from RIPON to FISKE was very intense. Lots of airplanes at 1800', and not many of them read the NOTAM. Nobody in front of me was flying over the railroad tracks. Speeds were as low as 70 kts. The controllers were sending every other airplane back to RIPON as airplanes were too close to each other. I was cleared for the 27 runway.
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It ain't Oshkosh until your oil temps are screaming at you after a long taxi!
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My parking spot could not of been better. Row 313, closest to the show. I wish I could request this spot every year.
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After getting settled, I walked around to see if I could find any of my friends here. Captain John's airplane was easy to spot, and parked appropriately next to the toilets.
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Very fitting name!
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Hmmm, I have the same structural components in my wings!
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My friend Bill Roger's RV-7.
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John and I met up at the SOS brothers tent and enjoyed a few beers, as well as contributing to the worthwhile cause.
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Sunday was just great at Oshkosh without the general public being around. I felt like I almost owned the place. The B52 was one of the many big attractions for this years event.
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This was a first! A girl doing a beer-bong at the SOS brothers tent. She did better than most guys I have seen attempt it.
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On the stumble back to the campsite after the SOS tent, I noticed an odd thing - the gate to Homebuilt Camping (HBC) was open. Usually this is closed and we are forced to scoot under it or scale it.
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Mike Bullock
http://www.rvplane.com
RV-7 | Superior IO-360 | Whirlwind 200RV
Garmin GTN650 | GRT Dual Sport SX EFIS
Status: FLYING!

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bullojm1
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Day 2

Post by bullojm1 »

The first full day of Oshkosh started off bright and early with my friend Brian Chesteen (Brantel). It was a great run to the southern portion of the airport.
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Next up was a visit to the vendors. TruTrak released their $1,000 autopilot which is based on the iLevel ARHS. It uses aileron and elevator trim servos to change the pitch and roll. Because of the lack of dedicated heavy servos, the installation of this AP comes in at about a pound.
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TruTrak also had a wind tunnel on display to show how the autopilot controls the control surfaces.
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I was really impressed with all of the different Angle of Attack readouts that Alpha Systems had. Their heads-up display is about the cleanest method I have seen to put a AOA indication on the dash of the RV.
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L3 promised to have an "affordable" EFIS this year - their Genesis. Too bad their definition of affordable is different than mine. It starts at $6,000. I don't think we will be seeing many of these in RV's.
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The AHRS/Magnetometer for their Genesis EFIS was very impressive. Small and very lightweight.
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Grant Rapids released their Heads-up Display (HUD) system. It is based on a pair of Epson glasses (BT-200) that are wirelessly connected via Bluetooth to either a HX or SX EFIS's.
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The intro price is only $750.
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EMagair had their 6-cylinder version of their electronic ignition on display. Brad indicated they will start shipping in August. Check out the beefy connector they use! I sure wish they used something like this on their 4 cylinder EMAG/PMAG.
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Time for me to put my media passes to good work. The beautiful girls at the Heavens Landing booths just don't take pictures with anyone.
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Jealously quickly set in, and the other model needed to have a picture with the most powerful man in RV media.
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After settling a minor argument, I assured them that there was enough of me to go around for both of them!
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The ICON A5 was on display this year again and it had a major crowd in its booth.
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The cockpit looks just like the interior of a car. Very nicely done.
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It was nice to see they have an AOA indicator up high.
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The A5 has foldable wings and fits nicely on a trailer.
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After a pass through the vendors tents, I met up with Captain John, Noah and Agent Orange and went through the Fly Market. John decided it was a good time to break out his new lightweight, compact folding chair from Spencer Aircraft (http://spenceraircraft.com).
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A trip to Oshkosh isn't complete until we run across our good friend Chad Jensen who works for Vertical Power.
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Next up on our itinerary was the Beer Fairly RV Social. Rumor was beer ran out early last year, so we were the first ones there.
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John enjoying his new Vertical Power chair.
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Captain John with the first beer poured!
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The new Composite Airbus A350 was performing in the airshow - we had a great view of it from the Beerfest.
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We got a kick out the the Ridley V Twin motorcycle Dan Horton was riding around on. This thing sounded just like a Harley.
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The man, the myth, the legend - Albit Girod!
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CJ with Scott and Tanya Card
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The Beer Fairly RV Social turned out quite a large crowd at its peak.
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The remainder of the evening got a little blurry. Luckily I was able to use my camera to retrace the events that unfolded later on in the evening at the SOS brothers tent.
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Mike Bullock
http://www.rvplane.com
RV-7 | Superior IO-360 | Whirlwind 200RV
Garmin GTN650 | GRT Dual Sport SX EFIS
Status: FLYING!

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bullojm1
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Day 3

Post by bullojm1 »

Day 2 at Oshkosh started off much like day 1 - a 5 mile run with Brian Chesteen. Our pace was a little slower today. My head was in pretty rough shape from beer being catapulted down my through from the lovely ladies of SOS.
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Hmmm, an extra tent appeared on my campsight overnight. I think Captain John got jealous of all of the fun I was having staying at Oshkosh.
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One of the great perks of running RivetBangers.com - Media passes!
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The RV-14 (tailwheel) was the new thing at Van's booth this year.
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Sheesh! You would of throught they'd of at least cleaned the bugs off of it.
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The paint job was pretty rough - you can tell it was a rush job.
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The interior of the RV-14 was quite roomie.
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It appears as if the RV-14 uses Advance Flight Systems Advances Control Module
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Pinhole City on the wheelpants!
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The A350 took show center. Ironic there is an airbus in Boeing Square?
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There was a steady line of people who were queued up to go into it. I didn't see it being worth the wait to see what the inside of a new jetliner looks like - they all seem to look the same.
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Probe City on the nose! 7 Pitot Tubes and 3 AOA sensors?
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It's not quite Oshkosh until you've walked by Jerry's One Man Band.
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Hmmmm, I always knew this is what made RV's run...money! Very nice plenum on this RV-7 (or was it a 6??). I spoke at length with the owner from CO who was very pleasant to talk to about his airplane.
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Next up was Van's $35 banquet. After some overly-dry buffer style food, Van gave a speech.
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The venue was packed full.
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Vic Syracuse gave a speech on Upgrading your Panel.
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This is the first Van's banquet I have ever been to, and to be honest I don't know if I will go to another. The best part about it for me was catching up with fellow RV builders.
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Yup, you guessed it - made it back to SOS brothers for some more entertainment.
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And I enjoyed a libation or two.
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This entertainment never gets old.
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The entrance gate to HBC being opened up was too good to be true. There were two ways to get around it - one was over, the other was under.
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Mike Bullock
http://www.rvplane.com
RV-7 | Superior IO-360 | Whirlwind 200RV
Garmin GTN650 | GRT Dual Sport SX EFIS
Status: FLYING!

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bullojm1
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Day 3

Post by bullojm1 »

My last full day at Oshkosh. I've done so much, met so many people and I still feel like I have just scratched the surface. Homebuilt camping is packed this year. Airplanes in every direction without a free spot to be seen.
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I heard that Bill Moffet of NavWorx was here at the Seattle Avionics booth. The first job of today was to stop by to see if I could persuade him to move me up on the list for my backordered ADS600-EXP In/Out ADS-B transceiver. Unfortunately he was only here for Monday and Tuesday. Good news is I was able to get my hands on the new device. It is very small and very lightweight. I think my device is scheduled to ship the end of August. Until then my friend..
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I stopped back at Alpha Systems to see if they just sold their HUD display without the LED. Good news is they do! Bad news is it is $500!
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I stopped by Bill Repucci's EICommander seminar. Bill did a fantastic job of describing electronic ignition and how his EICommander can help diagnose all kinds of issues that could occur with the PMAG's. Definitely very informative. Thanks for a great presentation, Bill!
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The facilities were amazing this year! This is light-years better than port-a-potties. Air conditioned to boot!
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I broke down and bought a Spencer Aircraft fold-able chair. This chair weighs next to nothing, and folds down to a very small size.
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Comfortable too!
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It didn't take long for my partner in crime, Captain John, to track me and my free Coors Lite down.
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The Goodyear blimp kept on circling around over us.
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We met up with Agent Orange and his Wife Allison, along with Brian "Brantel" Chesteen. This prop was just begging for a photo op.
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Next up was our annual RivetBangers prime rib dinner at The Black Otter Supper Club. The prime rib is spectacular and well priced - the 32oz Queen cut is a reasonable $30, while the big, bag 72oz King cut is $38! We had a great group of alumni - Eric, Jeff "Painless" Orear, Don Pansier (DeltaPop Antennas), Captain John and myself along with some new blood - Agent Orange and his wife Allison, Bruce Swayze, Eric from Oregon and Brian "Brantel" Chesteen.
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I couldn't resist the value of the 72oz King Cut prime rib.
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We didn't notice RV-10 Eric from Portland wore a VansAirforce.net T-Shirt to a RivetBangers event. Blasphemy! Even though he had such disregard for our organization, we let it go. Eric's a good guy. Hope we didn't scare you off!
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Mike Bullock
http://www.rvplane.com
RV-7 | Superior IO-360 | Whirlwind 200RV
Garmin GTN650 | GRT Dual Sport SX EFIS
Status: FLYING!

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Day 4, off to Des Moines

Post by bullojm1 »

Sad times - my last day at Oshkosh and time to pack up the campsite. This has been a great home for the past 4 nights.
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Homebuilt Camping really seemed to clear out between yesterday and today.
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The new Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II. The $104 million Air Force fighter jet made its civilian air show debut at EAA AirVenture.
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Right next to it was the F22 Raptor.
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I decided to wander over to airplanes I could actually have the possibility of owning one day. AirCam has a new canopy for their ship. This makes it even more appealing as a next airplane for me.
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Time for takeoff to by next destination - Des Moines, IA to visit a great college friend. I thought I'd document the takeoff out of Oshkosh with three GoPro cameras. One mounted inside facing me.
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The other on the tail.
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And the final one under the wing. Unfortunately, I got rushed as soon as I pulled my airplane out into the taxiway and forgot to turn on the two outside cameras! Oh well, there's always next year.
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The trip out of Osh was very straightforward, and no weather was along the route. My plan was to stop off at KOVS for some fuel.
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The day was spectacular leaving Oshkosh.
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Minimal headwinds.
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Excited for my next adventure!
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Pulled back to 7.5GPH getting 20.3 MPG.
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My fuel stop - KOVS - Boscobel.
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The fuel here was priced right - $3.99/G. I was really lucky - the pumps tanks started to run dry as I was topping off my last tank. I felt sorry for the twin behind me who needed 100 gallons.
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Boscobel has a free airport car to drive into town. Perfect, as I was getting hungry.
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Yelp didn't offer many fine dining choices in Boscobel. Double K's had the most reviews - 3.
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Double K's definitely lived up to it's reviews. The grilled chicken club was out of this world.
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Approaching the Mississippi river I noticed a farm with some interesting designs.
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First time crossing the Mississippi in the RV!
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The weather in Iowa was fantastic. Perfect flying day.
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I had some time to kill while my friend who was picking me up was in meetings, so I pulled back into efficiency mode. 7.1 GPH doing 133 kts.
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I landed at KIKV, Ankeny Airport north east of Des Moines and tied down for the night. The staff at Exec 1 Aviation could not of been nicer. No overnight fee, plus they offered me all kinds of food (Cake, Brownies, Jimmy Johns and fruit). Great FBO.
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My friend Rene picked me up not too long after I got settled and off to downtown Des Moines we went. The first stop was the Hessen Haus for some liters of Hofbrau.
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We did some bar hopping and ended up at Proof Restaurant . The charcuterie and cheese platter was out of this world.
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Mike Bullock
http://www.rvplane.com
RV-7 | Superior IO-360 | Whirlwind 200RV
Garmin GTN650 | GRT Dual Sport SX EFIS
Status: FLYING!

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bullojm1
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Day 5 - Back to WI

Post by bullojm1 »

I wanted to stick around Des Moines a little longer to have breakfast with my friend Rene, but the weather was worrying me. I figured it was better to get in the air just in case this storm decided to move south at a faster pace.
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After takeoff, you can see in the distance the weather.
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At 3,500' I had a great 23 kts tailwind.
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As I got further east, the skies got darker and darker. ADS-B still said I was in the clear.
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My best attempt at pretending to look worried.
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This was the view to the south - CAVU all over the place.
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This was the extent of the weather I ran into. More bugs than raindrops on my canopy.
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Crossing back over the Mississippi river.
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This leg was very painless. No traffic to speak of, the the weather was well to my north. This is Lake Geneva to my left.
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This was a surprise - I didn't realize Country Thunder (4 day country music festival) was in town this weekend in Twin Lakes, WI. I've been to this venue a handful of times in my life. It's a party and a half!
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Powers Lake, WI - where I will be spending the next 2 nights.
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The location of my air conditioned abode, as well as the pontoon boat I will be drinking some cold beers on.
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Westosha Airport (5K6). After landing, I found out from a student pilot the airport is owned by the local quarry and they use a lot of the hangar to store their equipment in. The runway has a fair amount of grass growing through the cracks, but it is a stones throw away from where I am staying, and the price is right ($0!). They have about the cheapest price I have heard of the plane rentals. The student pilot I was chatting with let me know they rent out a Cessna 172 for $80/hour wet! That's cheaper than what I paid back in the early 2000's. I can see why he commuted here all the way from South of Chicago!
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Airplane covered and secured for the next two nights.
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My friend Kara was coming back from Portland, OR, so her fantastic mother Carole picked me up. We had a fantastic afternoon preparing food, boating and cocktailing. I am really lucky to have such great friends as Kara and her mom.
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The sunset skies in WI were just breathtaking. I am really looking forward to air conditioning tonight!!!!
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Mike Bullock
http://www.rvplane.com
RV-7 | Superior IO-360 | Whirlwind 200RV
Garmin GTN650 | GRT Dual Sport SX EFIS
Status: FLYING!

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Trip back home

Post by bullojm1 »

This weekend was great on Powers Lake! Very relaxing hanging out in the third cleanest lake in WI.
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Before I departed back home, my friends all wanted to get rides in the RV. Bethany was the bravest and went first.
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Can you tell Bethany like aerobatics???
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The next victim was Kara's husband Tezza from Australia.
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While he wasn't keen on aerobatics, he loved taking the stick and flying around. He was a natural pilot!
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Kara's Mom was next on the list.
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And finally Kara was bold enough to go for a flight after I safely returned her mom, husband and friend back to the earth safely.
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I picked up a valuable 12-pack of Spotted Cow to bring back home. For safety and weight-and-balance reasons, I put it in the passenger seat.
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The girls got a kick out of my front seat cargo - fresh Wisconsin corn and beer.
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The trip home was pretty straight forward - I needed fuel, and Burlington, WI (KBUU) had the best price at $4.19/G. After that, I could easily make it back home on one tank.
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There was quite a large crowd at Burlington coming back from Oshkosh getting fuel.
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A dozen ears of corn weighed WAY more than I thought it would. I put it just forward of the front spar and secured it to the seat belt to move some of the weight forward.
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Heading south over Northern IL.
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There was some slow moving dissipating weather to the west moving towards chicago.
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I need to kick this headwind!
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Chicago....
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Scary...I mean Gary, IN....
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As I got to the south of Lake Michigan, I picked up a slight tailwind.
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Climbing the tailwind increased a tad.
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At 9,500' it was respectable.
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22.2 MPG at 8 GPH...
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...doing 174 kts over the ground. I love the RV!
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There was some weather to the north
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.. and south.
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Garmin Pilot via ADS-B easily showed it. It was easy enough to navigate around.
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Crossing into PA
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The clouds were lowering, so I needed to go down too. Back to 3,500' I went.
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I don't like being this low over PA, but the clouds wouldn't have it any other way. I used the terrain feature of the EFIS to let me know if there was anything concerning in front of me.
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The west-bound entrance to the Allegheny Tunnel on the PA turnpike.
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It was an uneventful trip back home, with a total of 3:38 in the air. I think this is the longest leg yet I have taken in the RV.
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The girl is safe back at home ready to be tucked into the hangar.
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Something has got to be wrong with me! I sacrificed valuable beer carrying weight for Wisconsin corn.
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Another sign something isn't quite right with me. I gave away one of my coveted Spottee Cowls to my buddy at the airport.



What a great trip in the RV. The airplane performed perfectly. The weather was outstanding the entire time. And I don't think it would of been possible to do what I did with visiting such a great and vast group of old and new friends any other way than with the RV. Hands down, this was the best vacation I have ever had. Bring on Oshkosh 2016!
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Mike Bullock
http://www.rvplane.com
RV-7 | Superior IO-360 | Whirlwind 200RV
Garmin GTN650 | GRT Dual Sport SX EFIS
Status: FLYING!

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plbarrett2004
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Post by plbarrett2004 »

Excellent trip write up Mike! That Spotted Cow went down well with dinner! Thanks! <3
Peter Barrett
CFI, CFII, MEI
RV-8 Fastback - Fuselage in progress
Build Log @ papalimabravo.com
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cjensen
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Post by cjensen »

Excellent...llllllooooooonnnnngggggg read, but always great to see you and the RB gang!
Chad Jensen
Missing my RV-7...
Vertical Power support
920.216.3699
http://verticalpower.com

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BSwayze
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Post by BSwayze »

Mike, what a FANTASTIC write-up! You certainly had a most excellent adventure and a wonderful trip. Thanks for posting all the pictures! I really appreciate the time and effort that went into that.

As you know, this was my very first trip to OSH, after dreaming about it for many years. I got a ride in my friend Trevor Conroy's brand new RV-7. His first flight was just in March of this year. I may post a few of my own photos, just for fun, but I won't even try to compete with your efforts. It was good to finally meet so many of my Rivetbanger friends in person, whom I've known online for a number of years now. Highlights of my trip include hanging out with you and CJ and the others, visiting the S.O.S. tent with you guys for cold beers, and of course, our dinner at the Otter! My regret is that the time was so short and I didn't get to see your plane. Can't wait now for next year!
Bruce Swayze
Portland, Oregon
http://www.BrucesRV7A.com
RV-7A Working on Firewall Forward

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cjensen
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Post by cjensen »

So glad you stopped by the VP booth Bruce! Was great to see you...send me an email, I have a couple things to send you.

support@verticalpower.com

8)
Chad Jensen
Missing my RV-7...
Vertical Power support
920.216.3699
http://verticalpower.com

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