Wednesday in Oshkosh was mellow. T’s cranky ankles* (crankles? ha!) were really screaming by this part of the week and we puttered around, stopping to chat with friends, hanging out on the flight line watching the airshow and, of course, seeing way-cool planes.
For dinner, a group of us went in search of non-fried vegetables. I’ve never been so happy to see a salad bar in my life. I’m not going to say it’s a “Midwest thing,” but damn, I’ve never seen nor tasted so many fried foods before. EVERYTHING was fried… cheese curds, jalapeno poppers, mozzarella sticks, onion rings, fries, fish, mushrooms, you name it. I joked with my friend Sue that all I wanted was a head of broccoli. She said, “They’ll probably fry it.” Sure enough, fried cauliflower appeared on the menu. With cheese sauce. Hmm. In any case, we did find a non-fried salad bar but our virtuousness was undone when fellow traveler, Mark, dragged us to Culver’s for “Concrete.” What our Dairy Queen would call a Blizzard, these Concrete concoctions boasted custard and mix-ins much to my diet’s dismay.
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Some people wonder if I *really* like airplanes or if I just pretend for T’s sake. While I can’t claim to care about the innermost engine details, I love the look and feel and sound of planes, particularly warbirds. I mean, what’s not to love about this toothy beast? I especially enjoy capturing color and angles. |
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Tim and Stan with the Stinson Model O. |
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Beechcraft stagger wing. Remarkable story… something like the son burnt the plane to the ground. The dad worked to rebuild it and then on the way to Oshkosh died of a heart attack mid-flight (commercial flight). The son made it his life’s work to rebuild again. It’s a beautiful plane. |
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F-4 Phantom. The only one in civilian hands that flies. |
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F-4 Phantom. Burns lots and lots and lots of gas. |
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TA-4 skyhawk aka Scooter. |
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TA-4 skyhawk, aka Scooter. |
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DC-3. |
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L-19. Our friend, John Crouse, flew this exact plane in Vietnam for observation purposes. He was able to fly it during the airshow. Pretty cool! |
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T-28s. |
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Duggy! |
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Jets in formation. |
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F-4 deploys it drogue chute to sloooow down. |
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The air show kicks off with sky divers that jump out of Duggy. |
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Flag or no flag, I still wouldn’t jump out of a perfectly good plane. |
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Duggy! |
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Aerobatic Beech-18. |
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This guy does a crazy night show. |
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In honor of veterans, this 737 shuttled servicemen from World War II to Washington DC for a special commemoration. They left in the morning and returned by 6 p.m. |
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Erickson sky crane. |
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Weird contraption. |
Up next: Last full day in Oshkosh. Then Traverse City and Mackinac!
xoxo,
Shawna
* I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it, but T has monster arthritis thanks to an ankle injury in his early 20s. While hiking in the bay area, he fell 50 feet off a cliff and shattered both ankles. Lucky to be alive, the doctors told him he’d never walk again. Have I mentioned how stubborn and persistent this man is? 😉
All photos by The Blue Muse!