After Oshkosh - taking the scenic route back

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aggie06

Line Up and Wait
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Aggie
After Oshkosh this year, I get a chance to take an extra few weeks off. I won't have to be back in Dallas until August 19th, so I was thinking I'd take the long way back. My wife and I were thinking about her meeting me for a few days somewhere along the way (maybe Mackinac or Put In Bay) and then I could drop her off to commercial back so she can go back to work while I continue the scenic route home.

Any ideas for some interesting stops to make on the way back? I'd consider just about anything since I have plenty of time. Looking for fly-ins, cool airport experiences, and even things that just happen to be near an airport. I'm not opposed to camping at all, so if there's a neat place to camp with the airplane, throw it out there. Thanks all.
 
Air Force museum ,Dayton Ohio.
 
frfly172 said:
Air Force museum ,Dayton Ohio.
Click to expand...

:yeahthat:

After a week at Oshkosh you'll already be OD on airplanes. Might as well keep at it and avoid the withdrawal symptoms, LOL.

I'd probably plan a circle tour of air museums to work my way back. Alternating one day flying, one day looking at airplanes. :D
 
Go west, young man!

Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Devil's Tower, Grand Prismatic Spring, take a mountain flying course, go see some of the beautiful, huge mountains out in the PNW (Rainier, Adams, St. Helens, etc), museum at McMinnville, Crater Lake, and anything else you want to see on the west coast - Then head back on the southern route, hit up Sedona, Santa Fe, etc.

There is so much beautiful and, yes, challenging flying to be had in the west. If you have the time and money, it is well worth it if you have an airplane that's up to the task. (I don't necessarily recommend such things if you're in a Cherokee 140 or C152.)
 
If you haven’t been, I’d do Mackinac on the way out, weather dependent. After that I’d head where your interests are. If it was mean I’d lean West, Rapid City and beyond.
 
Shameless plug for the family business, but if you decide to head west, we have a fly-in vacation rental less than a mile from our family winery and restaurant. We're only about 140nm west of OSH at Caldbeck Field, 7MN3. Some pretty midwest scenery, plus great food and wine. My avatar pic is the field, and you can see the house on AirBnB if you search Conway House in Spring Valley, MN.
 
Thanks for the ideas, all. To update, I picked up my wife in Milwaukee and doubled back for a stop in Sturgeon Bay for lunch. Great people there. The courtesy car wasn’t working, so the lady working on Sunday just gave me her car. Flew on up to Beaver Island and stayed there for a couple nights. Did a day at Mackinac and then headed south to Cleveland for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. My wife headed back commercial and now I’m in Dayton. This museum is amazing. I haven’t even scratched the surface, so I’m staying an extra day. Stevens Aviation let me take their courtesy car for basically the whole afternoon, but I plan to Uber out there tomorrow. More to come.
 
Spent another full day at the National Museum of the USAF. I could spend a week on those 21 acres. Had the chance to see the Memphis Belle and talk with some of the folks who work in the restoration shop there. It was interesting to learn how they recreate some parts based on the original drawings and then just 3D print others and paint to look like the original metal parts. All the aircraft are gorgeous, nonetheless.

Made my way to the Outer Banks for a couple days after that. Landed at KFFA because duh. Also went down to Ocracoke so I could put my feet in the Atlantic and then get picked up by a golf cart to go to Howard’s. I’ve had some airplane issues so I’m cutting the trip short. A stop in Charlotte for the NASCAR hall of fame and then I’ll be headed the rest of the way home.

So far, it has been an adventure. Lots of neat stuff. Plenty of figuring things out I’ve never dealt with before. Got yelled at by a controller for flying VFR and navigating myself between some restricted airspace areas. He got a little upset when I told him to standby after a request for the identifier of my departure airport. I think he was training someone, so I’ll cut him some slack for that.
 
That’s some good stops, Door Co, Beaver & Mackinac Island. I’m sure the other half enjoyed it too.
 
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