My wife is joining me this year at Oshkosh

narchee

narchee

Line Up and Wait
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Long Blinker
She isn't crazy about planes and doesn't like camping. What could go wrong?

Maybe if I'm lucky she will catch the aviation bug and support me in my aircraft purchase desires.

Any suggestions? I was thinking of maybe skipping the camping thing just to be safe.
 
See if you can get dorm rooms.

Then, when you're leaving the grounds after a long day, you can say "if we were camping, we'd be home now".
 
narchee said:
She isn't crazy about planes and doesn't like camping. What could go wrong?

Maybe if I'm lucky she will catch the aviation bug and support me in my aircraft purchase desires.

Any suggestions? I was thinking of maybe skipping the camping thing just to be safe.
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Rent a car. Yes, they're impossible. Find one. Give her the keys. Tell her to explore "historic osh kosh". Snicker at the irony lost on her.

Marvel at what they call "salsa" and what we call "tomato dishwater"

Marvel again at the strength and potency of their margaritas, which are sublime, delicious, and high-gravity.

Repeat as necessary.

Have her choose one and ONLY ONE from this menu each day:

1. Suffer an air show and being hollered at by 12-year old CAP goonlets on vespas.

2. Suffer a presentation on how to buck rivets.

3. Suffer a sales pitch by a Garmin representative.

4. Suffer you looking at an RV with an awesome paint job which is conveniently for sale at a killer price.

or... you can skip all of that, and bring along *any other female* to keep her company and they will entertain themselves by following you and heckling you and all of the other bejowled attendees and their flying rube goldberg contraptions.

Pay particular attention when they get near the Sonex booth and jeer the idea of you even fitting in that canoe with wings. Hilarity will ensue for all but you. Bear this cost, it's worth it. :)

Watch them roll eyes at the tacky junk in the Fly Market. Compare, privately, every "sale" you've attended with her. Don't draw comparisons between her shopping Bee-Dances and your own, however right you are.

If you deviate from the guidelines, it may cost you a jewelry item. Beware. :D
 
My wife didn't like to fly (even commercially) when I met her. Her first few flights were eventful (we struck a turkey buzzard on flight #1 and she got nauseous on flight #2). Flight #3 was "I want to go with you to Oshkosh."

My wife was a camper, I wasn't so I let her pack all the camping stuff. Previously I'd stayed in the dorms. You might want to consider finding a house to rent. Often they'll throw in transportation. Even if you want to rent a car it's FAR from impossible. Hertz has them at the Oshkosh terminal and you can also book them through various car dealerships in town.


Margy grooves on the social aspects of it. She loved Machado. She loved talking to people.
She loved sitting in demo planes. By the time she was done she was ready to get her pilot's license. She still goes every year but not for the airplanes so much as the people we meet every year.

The night airshows (Wednesday and Saturday) appeal to a broader non-aviaiton segment.

I take strenuous issue with your "12 year old cap goonlets on vespas." I can guarantee there are not 12 YEAR OLD volunteers on scooters or even doing any other operation in the vicinity of the flight line or near operating aircraft. The state of Wisconsin has EXTREMELY strict rules about where and how children can be used. Further, CAP does an number of absolute crappy jobs at Airventure. I for one is absolutely grateful for them having being there. Some examples:

1. They sit there writing down the N number of every arrival. Boring as hell but necessary in the case a plane goes missing and it's needed to know if they actually made it to Oshkosh.

2. The find dumbasses who have tripped ELTs in the parking areas.

3. When a thunder/windstorm blew through soaking campsites and blowing over tents, they were there as soon as it was safe helping people fix their campsites and taking those whose sites were beyond repair back to their hangar and let them sleep on cots there. They also provided hot chocolate to the cold and wet.

4. When One Eyed Jack crashed his jet into the middle of Taxiway P (where I had been standing several hours earlier), Vintage was providing crowd control for several hours as well as moving campers out of the zone that the FAA/NTSB wanted clear. We had booked a catered dinner (fortunately the restaurant promised us they'd hold it open until we could get there) but it looked like we'd be there all night when around 9:30 the CAP cadets came marching in to replace us.
 
narchee said:
She isn't crazy about planes and doesn't like camping. What could go wrong?

Maybe if I'm lucky she will catch the aviation bug and support me in my aircraft purchase desires.

Any suggestions? I was thinking of maybe skipping the camping thing just to be safe.
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Why did you marry her if she isn't crazy about planes and doesn't like camping?

Oh, wait.
Never mind. :redface:
 
Get a car, hand her the keys. Typical shopping mall in Appleton, number of museums in Appleton and Green Bay. If you stay in the dorms, you have privileges on the campus including the atletic dept with the pool, gym, etc.
 
narchee said:
She isn't crazy about planes and doesn't like camping. What could go wrong?

Maybe if I'm lucky she will catch the aviation bug and support me in my aircraft purchase desires.

Any suggestions? I was thinking of maybe skipping the camping thing just to be safe.
Click to expand...

Camping ain't like it used to be. We have 12" air beds, and down comforters. :)

Make sure you partake in the two big parties -- Grant's on Tuesday in Camp Scholler (the car camping area), and our HOPS Party on Wednesday in the North Forty (the airplane camping area).

Make sure you take her to the restaurants adjacent to the North 40. Friar Tucks (and their baked french onion soup), the Hilton (for their usually good breakfast buffet), LaSure's (for their always amazing breakfasts), and the Charcoal Pit (for their unique freshwater lake perch dinner).

Make sure she dresses properly. This means more like Crocodile Dundee, and less like Kim Kardashian. Comfy shoes, big floppy hat, lots of sunscreen.

Make sure she's up to walking 3 - 5 miles per DAY. Start after dinner walks now, if you're not up to it.

Take her up in the Ford Trimotor. It's fun, cheap, and historic.

Do the EAA museum and the Seaplane Base -- two commonly missed parts of AirVenture. They are both excellent, and the seaplane base is unique, for most of us.

Put together a list of stuff you want to buy (headphones, GPS, whatever) and put HER in charge of finding the best deal. Use your woman's innate sense of shopping to your advantage, for once! :lol:

Be sure to drag your chairs up to the RWY 27 flight line (in the North 40) after the airshow. This is the REAL airshow of arrivals/departures. The beer seems to taste especially good after a long day on the flight line.

Ah, I can hardly wait!
 
Get a room in Green Bay ,rent a car and let her do her thing,take the bus to the show and have a good time.Take your wife out to a nice dinner in Green Bay ,or Appleton .
 
frfly172 said:
Get a room in Green Bay ,rent a car and let her do her thing,take the bus to the show and have a good time.Take your wife out to a nice dinner in Green Bay ,or Appleton .
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Good grief -- if you're going to isolate the poor girl, at least take her somewhere nice.

Take her to Fish Creek, WI (in Wisconsin's famous Door Peninsula, AKA: "Door County"), and stay at the White Gull Inn. People from Chicagoland have been summering in Door County for generations, and the shops and restaurants are first class.

Just be prepared for a credit card bill that will rival anything on the field at AirVenture short of a King Air. :lol: :lol: :lol:
 
I scored! I checked out the Hilton Garden Inn and they had a room available for three nights. Somebody must have cancelled. I've always heard they are booked out for years. That will take care of the camping issue for sure while being close to the action. Expensive yes...but what do they say? Happy wife happy life? If she gets excited and lets me buy the plane I want it will have been worth it.
 
They're usually not booked out for years as they don't take reservations that far out. You have to make them the day they open up (just after the show the previous year). The pricing is egregious. I've looked at it before. Did they hit you with a minimum stay?


I too have lucked out at the HGI at Sun n Fun. Stayed there on points for less points than it would have cost me to stay in a Hampton closer to Tampa.
 
flyingron said:
They're usually not booked out for years as they don't take reservations that far out. You have to make them the day they open up (just after the show the previous year). The pricing is egregious. I've looked at it before. Did they hit you with a minimum stay?
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I got Sunday through Wednesday. Those were the only days they had. I'll go elsewhere after that since I want to stay Wednesday night at least. The price is high when compared to the other local rates at other times of the year, but if you compare it to hotel prices in NYC it is comparable so all things are relative. Considering the comfort and the convenience of being practically in the North 40 area I'm okay with the price. Maybe I'll camp Wednesday night I think my wife could handle that as long as it is one night only. :D
 
It's like $400 during the show, which I guess isn't too bad (right). It's about $120 any other nite though I get the rate down to about $99. We actually pack up our camp gear on Sunday and spend Sunday night in the HGI (the crowds have moved out and the rates go back down). We get a nice shower and breakfast prior to our departure for home.
 
Last time we checked, it was a 7 - night minimum for OSH, no cancellation allowed.

You got really lucky. Go buy a lottery ticket!
:)
 
Jay Honeck said:
Last time we checked, it was a 7 - night minimum for OSH, no cancellation allowed.

You got really lucky. Go buy a lottery ticket!
:)
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Yep, that's if you book at the initial time. Looks like he got a nice deal on someone's cancellation (or they shifted their 7 days).

I got to stand in line in a dinner buffet behind Baron Hilton a few years ago. I asked the guy carving the meet if he was nervous serving Mr. Hilton. I talked to the manager on a number of occasions and he says Mr. Hilton as long as you kept his steaks rare.
 
There is a craft tent for them that wants, I'll be teaching Origami Monday-Wednesday. Of course the museum really is worth a visit, and it's air-conditioned. Plenty to do for those not enormously enamored of airplanes.
 
narchee said:
I scored! I checked out the Hilton Garden Inn and they had a room available for three nights. Somebody must have cancelled. I've always heard they are booked out for years. That will take care of the camping issue for sure while being close to the action. Expensive yes...but what do they say? Happy wife happy life? If she gets excited and lets me buy the plane I want it will have been worth it.
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Sounds like you are set. Will you have a car? I'm sure she will find some things of interest. Then you can always explore off campus some to round out the experience.
 
Last year in Warbird camping at the SWAMP it was "Testostakosh" (guys only) this year it's "YOTO" (year of the ovary) which means the wives a.k.a SWAMP Foxes are going- and as a proud SWAMP Fox we have a great time at OSH- As we did 2 years ago, we are off to the Kohler Spa for the day with a little shopping- as mentioned earlier, rivaling the spending of almost everything on display at Airventure! Don't get us wrong ---we love flying as most of us are pilots too - but it's a great way to let the men play and get some great girlfriend time in too at least once a year - We all look forward to OSH too!
 
narchee said:
She isn't crazy about planes and doesn't like camping. What could go wrong?

Maybe if I'm lucky she will catch the aviation bug and support me in my aircraft purchase desires.

Any suggestions? I was thinking of maybe skipping the camping thing just to be safe.
Click to expand...

Hmmm, considering the amount of walking that happens for no reason except to look at airplanes, I'm not seeing this going particularly well after lunch on day 2. :lol: Pay close attention to what she likes in airplanes.:yes:
 
chictac said:
Last year in Warbird camping at the SWAMP it was "Testostakosh" (guys only) this year it's "YOTO" (year of the ovary) which means the wives a.k.a SWAMP Foxes are going- and as a proud SWAMP Fox we have a great time at OSH- As we did 2 years ago, we are off to the Kohler Spa for the day with a little shopping- as mentioned earlier, rivaling the spending of almost everything on display at Airventure! Don't get us wrong ---we love flying as most of us are pilots too - but it's a great way to let the men play and get some great girlfriend time in too at least once a year - We all look forward to OSH too!
Click to expand...
Aieee! Do not, not, NOT let my wife see this! lol

You can buy a glass panel for what we spent at that danged Kohler Club.
 
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