21st July
The little pigmy duct taped to the top of the tail of the A380 has a video camera and took the pictures of us, in-flight, and on approach to LAX.
Up at 5am to get to Tulla from Gleesos place, courtesy
of his wife Lyle (AKA the ‘Grievance Committee’, or ‘Mission Control); for our
departure to the land of political malignment, root beer floaters, iced donuts,
waffles and ice cream breakfasts, and Oshkosh.
Heather slept through all this in the Coaster, and I
called her from the airport. Our 9:45 flight was delayed until eventual takeoff
at 12:05. As there had been no
notification from Qantas, we all got a $10 voucher for a good healthy breakfast
at Maccas.
In shorts and Blundstones and displaying that unique
ASIC symbol of authority, the girl at the currency exchange naturally assumed I
was a retired Concorde Captain and allowed the usual commission-free
transaction afforded such persons of real substance.
Aren’t CASA to be complemented for this exception
piece of security nonsense?
Cattle Class in the A380 isn’t too bad, but very
crowded compared to upstairs in the silk department where Heather and I were
with Malaysian last year. (Oh dear, did I say Malaysian?)
After a meal and a couple of Jamesons for ‘dinner’, I
tried unsuccessfully to nod off.
Our amended ETA for LAX is 8:20am today, so we still
should get there before we leave!!.
And then a couple of hours for our connecting flight to O’Hare.
The little pigmy duct taped to the top of the tail of the A380 has a video camera and took the pictures of us, in-flight, and on approach to LAX.
He must get pretty cold up there at 39,000 feet, its
about -50C !!
After arriving at Lax in the early morning U.S. time,
it took the usual local paranoia to get through security and customs and then a
very smooth flight to O’Hare on American; a long walk to the courtesy bus and
to our motel nearby.
The yanks reckon it’s still Monday 21st here,
so who are we to argue? Brain dead and confused, we visited the 'ale house' next door for a meal and a couple
of local I.P.A.’s before crashing in a big way until lunchtime the next day,
which we are told is now Tuesday 22nd.!!
22ndJuly Tuesday
We have accepted that in fact in is 22nd in this strange country and so arose about
lunchtime as mentioned, and dragged ourselves down to breakfast about
midday.
And breaking-fast in Chicago is almost a spiritual
experience and includes French toast, pancakes and cream, hot chocolate, eggs
easy-over with breakfast potatoes, bacon and onions, followed by a rapid dose
of lipid-lowering statins to ease the conscience.
That done, it was back to bed for me while Gleeso
tramped about to get a sim card for his iPhone, which still isn’t
working!! I think he should stick
to Skype.
After a good rest it was down to lunch and I treated my
quoit to a bowl of chilli beans while Gleeso looked on in amazement while
downing a plate of chicken wings with ‘fries’.
Not much to do in a motel near O’Hare, until we head
off to Oshkosh on Thursday. We
have booked the Greyhound to Osh for Thursday, leaves here 1pm local and gets
to the Uni at Osh about 4pm.
Tried to call Al Capone, but seems he isn’t in today,
so we will do the Grand Tour of Chicago on the way home.
Another rest in the arvo and I am now almost on local time.
Hence the pictures are really innovative—food, food
and more food—or at least the yanks call it that!!
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| Shoeless Joes |
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| In-House Transport |
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| Chilli Beans--good tucka |
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| Sponsors |
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| My Chillie Chicken 'soup' |
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| WTF is THIS??? |
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| Deep in technology |
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| About time for bed |
23rd July Wednesday
John Lennon is generally credited with the memorable
line that ‘life is what happens while
you’re busy planning what to do next’, and I guess that possibly applies to
our time in a motel in Rosemont, Chicago; close to O’Hare airport.
Our plan is to catch the Greyhound tomorrow at
Cumberland Avenue, only two or three train stops from O’Hare. We have booked
and paid the $35 each fare, leaving at 1pm and getting to Oshkosh about 4pm
after a half hour stopover at Milwaukee.
And then our plan will involve a week of planes, planes and boys toys
in general.
We may do the Chicago tour bit on the way back, but
Gleeso has previously donated his appendix to medical research here (no, not that one, the bit they remove from the lower GI tract). And I have
previously visited Millenium Stadium for a classical concert, been to the top of
the (former) Seers Tower, and lamented the closure of Miegs Field.
For a slight diversion today we took the courtesy bus
on their round trip to various terminals at O’Hare and back.
Other excitement has included a
After lunch I visited the motels’ wellness centre, and
whilst there are some 500 guests here at any time, this machinery doesn’t seem
very popular, and of course we are far too old to participate.
“Hundred-mile-an-hour-John” has fiddled with a new
local ‘cell’ phone all morning, and now has it working, but of course no-one
knows his number (and I’m not sure he does yet!!)—he’d love to get a call!!
For those who are interested, and even those who aren’t,
he has just advised the number is 9205279877--- please somebody!!
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| More Nutrition |
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| Massive Tower O'Hare |
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| No wellness takers?? 24th July Thursday---
---or it is, according to Michelle Obama who is
visiting Chicago today, so I thought we’d better get going on the Greyhound and up to Oshkosh.
Motel courtesy bus to O’Hare, train two stops
towards ‘downtown’ and onto a clapped out Greyhound from Cumberland station to
Milwaukee. Then a decent bus to Oshkosh, with just one stop at Fondulac, to
drop the ‘Fonz’ off.
We are now established in out base on the tenth floor
at UWO, Kellys is still deserted, only a few dozen here yet, but things will
hot up from tomorrow.
So we are sipping scotch in the air-conditioned lounge,
while Gleeso is ‘entertaining’ Don, who has just flown his Piper Cherokee 140
in from Freidsburg, Texas, and is listening intently to the trials and
tribulations of building a Murphy Rebel!!
Hence, the ‘forward’ trip is finally over and the fun
starts tomorrow. And I am looking forward to a ride from Juneau into Whitman
field on Saturday as part of the Cessnas to Oshkosh mass fly-in.
Expect to see a few aircraft pictures during the next
week!!!!
 
25th July Friday
After breakfast I decided to see if we could change
rooms.
It’s OK at the moment with only a few here, but
stopping all stations each way in the lift from the tenth floor could be a pain
in the bum when the place fills up.
So down to reception and accomplished a move
downstairs to the fifth floor, and ALSO into an air- conditioned room for a
‘few’ extra dollars.
The new room is bliss for me!!
Ironically it’s the coolest it’s been on my four trips
to Oshkosh, but very humid and no doubt very hot during the coming week.
Then we made many calls and sent many emails to
confirm a ride t to Juneau for the C2O mass arrival tomorrow. And eventually got an offer far too
good to refuse.
We will be picked up by Jeffrey Shultz at Whitman
field at 9am in his C210 (Centurion) for a flight to Dodge County Airfield,
Juneau, to join the mass fly-in to
Oshkosk.
Something that has definitely been on my bucket list
since I discovered Oshkosh in 2002.
Then down to Kellys to celebrate this win far too
enthusiastically. It just happens that if you but a ‘shot’ (of Scotch in my
case) you get a free ‘pitcher’ of beer tossed in!! Their Friday night ‘special’.
I think we had Chinese for tea on the way back to our
room!! Oh dear!!
  
oh dear!!
Saturday 26th July
Here come the aircraft!!
A bus to Whitman field, and we were picked up in Jeffrey’s
C210 for a great ride over to Juneau to Dodge County Airport. Very overcast and quite hazy, but a
great ride and saw a bit of the Oshkosh area from above—lush green fields of
corn and many lakes.
At Juneau we were assigned aircraft for the mass
fly-in, I am with Steve Wolf in his C182. He has flown in from Colorado and his
local airfield has an elevation of 5000 feet!! (YKTN at 1600, is one of the
highest back home)
We registered for the event which includes several
social events in the Cessnas to Oshkosh (C2O) base.
After a very thorough briefing, we were lined up in
groups of three aircraft, the slowest first, and the fastest last so our
arrival was as a close line of 54 Cessnas landing on the 6000 foot runway, one
after the other.
The flight into Oshkosh was memorable. OSK tower
allocated us runway 36, and other inbound traffic were directed in on another
runway.
Directed to the C2O base for a group photo, then
Margaritas and ‘sandwiches’ in the marquee before getting a ride back to the
Uni.
An unforgettable day, a professionally organized
event, without any incident.
I videoed our arrival, a long final straight-in on
runway 36.
The field is still being set up, and there will be
many more arrivals tomorrow, with the event getting into full swing on Monday.
A light tea at Molly McGuires this evening, and no
more pitchers of beer tonight!!
  Our C210 ride--Whitman to Juneau  Dodge County Airport-very pilot-friendly  Briefing  Steves C182--my fly-in a/craft  Pre-flighting, Dodge County Aiport   Steves Panel  Steve Wolf--MY pilot  A few C172's  Steves C182  JOHNS MOUNT, a C210  CESSNA BASE, NORTH FORTY  MARGATIS AND 'SANDWICHES'
Sunday 27th July
Had breakfast at Blackhawk Commons (UWO), then back
for a rest for me; and Gleeso out to the airfield where everything is still
setting up.
The ‘show’ starts tomorrow.
Many more arrivals today, but the weather is overcast
and several heavy showers.
In arvo I went out on the shuttle bus, had a real Brat for lunch, a bit of a
look round, and then the C2O BBQ in the late afternoon, evening. Back to UWO by
7:30pm.
Many more arriving at the Uni today.
      
Had C2O ON IT BEFORE THE KIDS GOT AT IT
Monday 28th July
Having realized retrospectively that yesterdays’
effort was pretty miserable, I will to endeavor to make today’s entry a little
bit more user friendly.
I skipped the sausages, breakfast potatoes, ‘eggs
easy-over’, waffles and maple syrup and icecream at UWO and headed out to the
show early.
A nice Wisconsin Bratwurst from the little Sacred
Heart stall outside the main entrance was a much wiser choice for breakfast,
and better value than anything at the hundreds of food outlets inside the
grounds.
‘Hundred mile an hour Gleeson’ headed off to help
build an aircraft for the ‘One-Week-Wonder’ project! By the end of the week hundreds of EAA members will have
built a Zenith aircraft from scratch up to test-flight-ready.
John did his session on one of the wings this morning,
while I waddled off to the Cessna Pilots Association tent to pick up our
tickets for the Wednesday night dinner, and buy another years’ supply of Cessna
tee-shirts (ie ONE!!)
The CPA tent is quite close to the flight line this
year, and a great place to SIT in the shade (if we get sunshine) and watch the daily
air-show, and aircraft arrivals.
Then with a combination of buses and trams I rode
towards the southern end of the field, past the Vintage area, which will
require more time, to the ultralight airfield where just about anything that
flies, does!
This is a quaint grass runway; a sort of airfield
within an airfield. Here I chanced
upon Peter McCarthy who looked in reasonable nick for someone who had just
arrived from Australia last night!
We watched a few of the ultralight antics together.
Then it was down to the Cessna corporate area for me,
to view their latest offerings including a C172 with a diesel/JetA1 engine!!
I guess I will never get to own, let alone fly a
Cessna Citation, however they have a simulator there for the latest model, and
I will get a ‘fly’of the ‘sim’ during the week!!
After that I met up with the aforementioned ‘One-Week-Wonder’
participant, and we registered at the International tent and got passes for the
International night on Friday night—one of the social highlights of the week.
Over 200 Aussies have registered on day one, but it
will be a lot more during the week.
Highest visitors numbers are usually Canada, Australia, South Africa and
New Zealand, in that order.
Time flies at Oshkosh and there is much, much more to
see. The area known as the North
Forty is named as such as it consists of forty acres of aircraft parking.
When our C2O mass arrival parked there on Saturday it
was virtually empty, and today in is crammed with forty acres of private
aircraft.
And of course there is also a South Forty, also filled
with flying machines. Then there
are acres of warbirds, show planes, vintage aircraft and much more.
After watching a bit of the airshow (each to his own)
I headed back to UWO. I think the ‘ole pins need a bit of a rest; then I need a
good meal, a light ale and a sound sleep tonight.
At present I am planning to spend most of tomorrow at
the seaplane base, about 10 miles away.
A quiet, beautiful grassed and treed area beside an inlet of Lake Winnebago.
These guys are a different breed again, but we all
love our flying machines.
         
Tuesday 29th July
A three-dollar bus ride through the lush green
Wisconsin corn fields and dairy farms leads to the EAA Seaplane Base, some ten
miles from the crowds and bustle of the massive main airfield.
A privately owned inlet on Lake Winnebago adjacent to
a dairy farm is ‘donated’ for a week each year for the EAA floatplane aficionados.
The inlet provides a safe haven for aircraft parking
on the water, and short access to the open lake for take off and landing, or is
it watering??
I have spent the day in this tranquil setting, relaxing
on the manicured lawns under giant cottonwoods, watching aircraft being towed
by boats out from their moorings to take off, and others to approach and alight
on the lake.
I struck up a conversation with the wife of a bloke
who seemed to be taking passengers up for short flights in a C172 on floats!!
I asked her how much he was charging and the answer
was ‘nothing’. Explaining I was a visiting Aussie with a C172 on wheels, not
floats, she spoke to her husband and he was delighted to offer me a ride.
WOW!!—We taxied (or is it sailed) out into the open
lake and soon after take-off, Sean offered to let me fly it—what a buzz!! Rather that the usual ten minutes, we
had about half an hour flying over the lake, over small islands, and including
a ‘touch and go’ (or is it splash and go?)
The base looked breathtaking from up there,
particularly on the approach to landing/watering.
What a peaceful setting, with only the occasional Ford
Tri-Motor chugging along a bit above us, taking people for rides out of Whitman
field.
To my surprise I have learned that there are over
15,000 lakes (yes fifteen thousand!!) in Wisconsin, so there are plenty of
places to fly float planes from. And ‘lakes’ are defined as 10 acres or more in
area. My hosts had flown up from Minnesota, which has 10,000 lakes, quite a few
also!!
Another coup for me, I have now flown a Cessna 172 on
floats!!!!
                 
Wednesday 30th July
My CEO, Flight Approvals Officer, Home Handiperson,
Nursemaid, Gardiner and Lover, is acutely aware of my tendency to bring
home ‘junk’ from aviation events and fly-ins.
Over one hundred caps from airfields I have flown to
have been methodically packed into cartons and relegated to the rats in my
‘man-shed’.
So why would I queue for over an hour in the Oshkosh
sun from 8am to get a ‘free’ hat from the Jeppesen headquarters on the field??
Quite simple—because they’re free to the first five
hundred each day who booked and paid for their EAA weekly tickets
‘on-line’. Never mind that the cap
really cost several thousand dollars!!!!
The queue was several hundred metres long, but I got
my cap today. However, I have made
a pact with the abovementioned to refrain from bringing a load of junk home
this time, and apart from this cap and a Cessna tee-shirt I will respect the
agreement.
And so that consumed the first hour at the airfield,
and it was time for a ‘free’ coffee and a sit down at the CPA tent.
I passed one of the Oshkosh icons, Jerry’s One Man
Band—and paused to listen for a while. Jerry was on the same corner here in 2002
when I first visited this place, located opposite the Theatre in the Woods.
Sadly, this will be Jerrys’ last year at Oshkosh where
he has played daily during the week for twenty eight years!!
He sells CD’s to offset his costs, and purely on an
honesty basis. People just take their selection, put money in the box, and take
their own change.
Certainly a sign of the times; Jerry is not the only
one who has aged with the progress of aviation.
I no longer feel uncomfortable taking seats on buses
reserved for ‘seniors and the disabled’, and several younger people have
assisted me on and off the buses and trams!!
Age is a moving feast to which all aviators are
invited, and there are many of my age and well beyond who continue to visit
Oshkosh, and FLY!!
And it is comforting to see young budding pilots
getting their early taste of flight here!!
I spent several hours in one of the four major
exhibitors hangars, where every aviation accessory is available for sale; and
then returned to UWO for a grandpa nap.
The evening entertainment was the CPA dinner at the
C2O tent in the North Forty. About
200 for a sit down ‘dinner’, on the grassed area beside the Cessna marquee.
Luck was on our side, as last night this area had a
severe rain-storm, but this evening it was in cool sunshine.
The usual yankie BBQ ‘dinner’—brats, baked beans, very
creamy potato salad and ‘chips’.
Nothing very original—I don’t think they know what a REAL BBQ is all
about!
So the Gleeson person and I returned via buses to our ‘dorm’ for a couple of REAL Scotches
(me) while he drinks that red stuff
from either a box or a bottle.
Tomorrow I am having a day at home basically, although
I could be cajoled into something a little more aviation oriented; perhaps!!
            
Thursday 31st July
As advised yesterday, it has been a day of comparative
rest here at UWO for me.
No ten course breakfast over at Blackhall, just a
blueberry yoghurt, coffee and donut down stairs in our dorm blocks’ ‘snack area’.
And then back to the room for a feet-up rest.
The CMPH Man caught the bus out to the field as my
representative for the day.
I surfaced at lunchtime for a bowl of chilli beans and
a ‘sandwich’ from a little shop opposite.
I’m sure you all needed to know that!
Then I spent an hour in the UWO library, reading the
Wisconsin Year Book.
A few statistics I found may be of interest, or at
least were to me!
The State is the largest producer of cheese in the
USA, (most of it is soft and tasteless however); it is second only to
California in milk cream and butter production, but has more dairy cows than
any other state. (Friesians Schnook??).
Hence it is known as the ‘Dairy State’.
Wisconsin is also the largest producer of crops,
mainly corn, (most of which when ‘popped’ ends up a foot deep on the floor at
Kellys’ late at night!!)
Oshkosh itself has a population of 66,000 (as of
2012), plus a further 500,000 during the EAA week each year.
In contrast to many other States, the racial mix is
99% white, with the remaining 1% made up of Native Americans, African
Americans, Hispanics and ‘others’.
The name Oshkosh is of American Indian derivation, and
the city is represented in Congress as the County of Winnebago.
The capital of Wisconsin is Madison whilst Milwaukee
is the most populous city in the State.
So there we have our history lesson for today.
At 2pm I watched the air show from the comfort of a
good lounge chair in reception here.
A great view of much of the show, without the ear shattering noise.
It rained heavily on and off during the day, and we
needed our ‘ponchos’ to get from this building to another a block away for the
‘ice cream and root beer float’ social!!
Cobden Ange also joined us for this auspicious event,
after giving the CMPH Man a quick lesson in iPad-ology.
Then a brat roll for ‘dinner’ for me, and up to our
room for a REAL Scotch.
Back to aviation tomorrow, including several Cessna
Forums, followed by the International Night in the evening.
     
Friday 1st August
Breakfast at Blackhawk with Gleeso, Peter McC and
George Martin (Bendigo)—we will meet again tomorrow morning to work out the
best way to get to Chicago on Monday—Bus, hire car, rickshaw etc.
Caught up with Tony and Peter Brand from Horsham
Aviation who have had discusssions with the Cessna and FAA brass re the proposed
‘older aircraft maintenance programme’—pity they don’t have a maintenance
programme for old pilots!!
Attended an FAA forum on the use of unmanned aerial
vehicles (drones) by police and emergency services.
These are limited to 500’, and look like toy
helicopters---perhaps that is the way forward for older pilots—just sit in an
armchair with a cigar and a scotch, and play with the controls!
The visitor numbers (to Thursday) posted in the
International tent show Canada leading with 433, Australia next with 365,
followed by South Africa (118) and the Kiwis (51).
There are even one or two from such places as
Thailand, Slovakia, Lebanon, Angola, Zimbabwe, Vietnam, and a spattering from
many more countries.
And we sat with a couple from Argentina at the
International night.
As usual this week, it has been sunny and warm/hot today,
with occasional heavy rain and a bit of thunder.
The loudest thunder however, was from the US Airforce
aerobatic team, the Thunderbirds.
A rapid way to turn dollars and fuel into smoke and
noise.
Loud noise!
And the smoke behind the tower (below), is from what
they call a ‘bombing run’ or ‘dump and burn’, which is also regarded as clever.
Bloody clever!
I guess it’s just another way to get their rocks off!
I completed my window shopping of all the ‘boys toys’
in the exhibition hangars, with great restraint.
The beer queues at the International Night were a
challenge but I don’t think anyone went home thirsty. There was even red wine
served from that Australian icon—the cardboard box, or ab---‘ handbag!!
And the usual catered-for, 'always the same' BBQ, fed a
cast of thousands.
Pity they didn’t listen to Paul Hogan way back when!!
           
Saturday 2nd August
Our breakfast meeting resolved a number of important
issues.
It was generally agreed that scones with white sauce
ladled all over them should not be known as ‘biscuits and gravy’, which at present
they are referred to as.
'Eggs easy over' are acceptable, but fried sausage
patties and grated fried potatoes together with cream donuts and waffles with
maple syrup, should not be eaten off the same plate, if at all.
Calories and cholesterol aside, the main topic was an
acceptable method of travel down to Chicago on Monday.
It was resolved that a hire car would be shared, if
available, and Peter McC has successfully arranged a one way hire from Oshkosh
to O’Hare, for a very reasonable price indeed.
The meeting closed at 0900 local time.
There being no further business, I returned to our
digs and slept comfortably until lunchtime, whilst Peter and the CMPH Man
scattered in all directions, aviation-wise.
I then spent a very pleasant afternoon at the seaplane
base again. A punt ride round the
inlet to get a close up look at the aircraft, many of which are now departing
for their home bases.
Being truly adventurous, I decided to remain there for
the Water Melon Social, which I have been curious about since my first visit to
Oshkosh.
The meal consisted on a ‘pulled pork’ sandwich,
together with creamy potato salad and coleslaw, baked beans, and of course
water melon.
I don’t know what they used to pull the poor pig with, but
it sure must have hurt. Strands of
finely shredded pork, with a piquant flavour reminiscent of kerosene.
We all got a souvenir glass beer mug filled with some
local stuff then call ale; presumably to wash the taste away.
I escaped by 5:30pm to beat the rush back on the
buses. The crowds at Wittman
field have been massive today, with many locals and families attending to
watch the Thunderbirds bursting eardrums again.
A Scotch back in our room finally got rid of the lingering
kero-flavoured pork taste.
                
Sunday 3rd August
….and on the
seventh day……’ole fartz like me deserve a rest.
After breakfast including waffles and icecream (when in Rome, and all that), it was back
to the Alumni Department of Snooze
Research.
The noise droned on, but I think I have seen enough,
and as people streamed in for the final airshow, most of the weekend warriors were
on their way home.
A fierce downpour got everyone scattering, and the
winds blew over a few trees.
And a whole row of portable dunnies collapsed like a
pack of cards.
They all fell ‘doors down’, hope nobody drowned in
their own (and everyone else’s)….!!
Kenny would have had a real job on his hands.
And so what were the highlights of Airventure 2014 for
me?
Certainly the flight out to Dodge County airport in a
C210; followed by the Cessna mass arrival as a RH seat observer in a C182.
And then of course a ride in a C172 at the seaplane
base, with me taking the wheel after take-off for a great ride around the lake.
Then there were the vintage aircraft, the activities
at the ultralight airfield, the C2O base camp, CPA tent, the International
Night, and much much more.
This afternoon PMc turned up with the car, and we did
a mini tour of the lakeside areas of Oshkosh, including the Historic Area,
which is a bit of a local Toorak.
Then we had our final dinner here at Molly McGuires,
where we joined in with a tour group of mainly Aussies.
And I finally tried fresh battered cheese curds, a
local peculiarity, and they were tasty, and certainly different!
Off to Chicago by car tomorrow.
            
Monday 4th August
Bid farewell to all our fans at UWO Oshkosk and left
by car about 0820, with P.Mc in command and the First Officer and the Navigator
giving useless advice.
A breakfast stop somewhere south of Fondulac for
McMuffins and coffee and the ‘rest rooms’.
Then on, bypassing the centre of Milwaukee to the
outskirts of Chicago where the signage to O’Hare became confusing.
After consulting scrappy maps and giving erroneous
directives to the Captain, we ultimately chanced upon the inbound route to the
Hertz car rental return.
After checking the car in, a friendly 'south of the
border' lady kindly drove Peter to the terminal for his flight in about five
hours, and John and myself to our motel; the Great Western at Rosemont,
virtually within the O’Hare precinct.
After a grampa nap until drink o’clock, we adjourned
to Shoeless Joes pub within this complex, for a couple of I.P.A’s, and a bowl
of chilli beans for tea.
Now back in our room, waiting for maintenance to fix
the shower, and having a wee drachm.
Will possibly do the on-off bus ride downtown tomorrow
including a boat ride on lake Michigan, beside the tall city buildings.
          
Tuesday 5th August
Some serious rain over the ‘windy city’ during the
night, with just on 3 inches recorded here at Rosemont.
It was decided we would visit ‘downtown’ Chicago,
which is thirty Km from O’hare.
Thorough planning eliminated the option of walking,
and so it was a shuttle from the motel to O’hare, and a train to downtown,
which takes about 45 minutes and stops at 33 stations.
Arriving at Washington station right in the middle of lunchtime, the first question was WTF are we?
So Maccas was the obvious choice for sustenance, ‘rest
rooms’ and tourist information.
Then a bus to Navy Pier, which is apparently the #1
tourist attraction here these days. Stuffed if I know why—heaps of restaurants, shops and
theatres.
The CMPH man had to get a couple of souvenir
tee-shirts, and then we took a ferry ride along the shoreline of Lake Michigan
to view the tall buildings from the water and lament the demise of Meigs field.
How great it must have been to fly VFR along the edge
of the lake, outside controlled airspace and below the tops of the skyscrapers!
Bugger Mayor Daly!!!
Got the train back to O’Hare as the rush hour was
getting into full swing, then back here on the motel shuttle.
Pizza for me next door, a couple of Scotchs as a
mouthwash, and off to the land of nod.
          
Wednesday 6th August
Tomorrow we will be up at 6am to have coffee and
cornflakes before a shuttle ride to Terminal 3, followed by a flight on
American Airlines to LAX, a10 hour wait there, then QF94 to Melbourne, leaving
LAX 2300 local time.
Then, Somehow we will loose a day, and get to Tulla
early Saturday morning!
And so what did we do on our last day in Chicago?
Gleeso sprinted about checking on shuttle times, out
to O’Hare to confirm check-in times and the like.
And me?----SFA, Zilch, nothing, naught, zero!
Accept of course to pack my massive luggage!!.
And sit on the bed taking pictures of aircraft passing
our room window on final for (about) ‘09’ at O’Hare.
I will now pack this Mac away in my carry-on handbag and try and forget about the dreaded l-o-n-g flight back to civilization with a
Scotch or three.
So, that has been it for ‘Oshkosh 2014’.
I am so looking forward to getting HOME!!!!
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