Resting Your Head at Oshkosh

[smittysrv]

We're looking forward to our next trip this year to Oshkosh, AirVenture, that is... Airplanes, Movie Stars. Oops, sorry. I just had a flashback to the Beverly Hillbillies.

Anyway, we started going to Oshkosh in 2005 and have been going back every year since then. My wife and I are both in our late 50's and we have a 13 year old son, who keeps us young (we have a choice?). My son loves to camp out. Give him a pup-tent and a sleeping bag and he's set. However, my wife and I are true wienies. We like a soft pudgy bed and a non-damp atmosphere. The first year we went to Oshkosh, I found a room at a motel that was 13 miles away and felt lucky to get it. I made the reservation 6 months in advance after going through multiple listings that were "booked up". They charged me an outrageous price per a night, but I didn't care, I was finally at Oshkosh.

The next year we decided to camp out like a lot of people do. The price was right and besides, I've always heard that camping out was really a lot of fun and you're right there in the middle of what's going on.

We bought a tent and some camping supplies and headed out. When we got there, we opened up the new tent bag and started to try to put the damn thing together. I think the instructions must have been written by Picasso. It was a large tent, with all those criss-cross flexible poles, multiple flaps and openings. After about an hour of cussing and discussing, not to mention the approaching darkness, we started to freak. "What the hell do we do now?"

About that time 2 gentlemen came over and said "You guys need help? We have a tent just like that one."

"Yes sir!!" I replied.

I let them take over and soon we had the tent set up. I offered to pay them but they refused. Nice guys. They did, however, didn't blink when I offered them a beer. We tipped our aluminum cans together and toasted our accomplishment.

Then, out in the distance we heard "Rummmmmmble". Oh hell, it's a thunderstorm. Batten down the hatches Matie!

What a night. Pouring rain, tent seams that were leaking, and the Beer Barn right across the street with band music blaring till 2 in the morning, not to mention the eighteen wheelers screaming down the highway all night.

I didn't get much sleep the first two nights, but after that I was so damn tired that I went comatose and all was well. No more tents for this family. Like I said, we're wienies.

The years after that we went back to staying in motels, but it just wasn't the same.

This year, we are going to get an RV. Prices are down, making things really affordable. We talked with a number of RVr's at Oshkosh and they recommended it highly. Luckily I have just enough room in my hangar to store a small motorized RV, which means no storage fee. Back to the Oshkosh campgrounds! We are all excited!

See you at Oshkosh! We'll be the rested, wide-eye wienies with the dry clothes!

 

[flyingcheesehead]

See you at Oshkosh! We'll be the rested, wide-eye wienies with the dry clothes!

Hee hee!

I've never had a problem camping at OSH because I go in a C182, pitch the tent under a wing, and then throw a tarp over the top. The plane/wing/tarp protects the tent well, providing a dry spot and shade.

Being a gadget freak, the lack of power sources is the toughest part of OSH, so this year I bought a briefcase solar panel that I used to run the fan at night (ok, not "night" but you don't need the fan at night - And when the sun started coming up, it turned on automatically! ) and charge spare camcorder batteries during the day. I also picked up a Black & Decker "booster battery" that has a 12V socket on it for charging my phone at night. All in all, it worked great.

Oh, and I'm a wuss too. Queen-size air mattress and two big pillows. But I still get to live with the plane, right on the show grounds.

 

[TMetzinger]

That sounds like a very fun idea. I've been lucky with flying in and camping, but that's been just me in the tent. I don't believe I'd try it with my wife (who acts enthusiastic but I know better), and my five-year-old daughter hasn't been tent-tested yet.

Like Kent, a big tent (and a GOOD one that stays dry, not a coleman disposable), a big air mattress with sheets, battery lantern, and plenty of bug dope and I've been fine. I've also been able to sit by the showers and charge up my phone and/or laptop when needed while listening to a podcast or two.

We've talked about RVs, too. There's an outfit in OSH that will deliver and set up an RV to a campsite for you, at a cost slightly less than an equally convenient hotel. But buying one as you are opens up a whole world of options beyond OSH.

 

[tonycondon]

It will be at least 40 or 50 years before I can talk Leah into an RV, so I think I will stick with a good sleeping bag and a Therm-Rest pad, in a puny backpacking tent.

 

[steingar]

Never had a problem camping. Then again, I'm very picky about tents, which helps. One time a bad thunderstorm knocked over most of the tents around me, though mine stayed up. Admittedly, I didn't get much sleep though. Then again, I doubt you would get any sleep in an RV in a monster storm like that. Oh, and I didn't get a single drop of water in the tent either. Got more in the aircraft.

 

[Larryo]

I'm a camper, too. Just too much fun and you're right there. I've done the RV thing too, but camping is better.

A GOOD tent and a GOOD sleeping gear makes the difference. I don't like the air mattress because they fail, but they are comfortable. I use a cot with an auto inflating mattress... works great.

Next year I'll bring my generator. Perhaps I'll air condition the tent, and have a fridge for the beer.

 

[gprellwitz]

We've camped the last couple of times we went to 6Y9 (the first time Leslie's ever camped, and the first time for me on over 25 years), but at OSH we've always stayed in a nice warm dry relative's home. We've talked about camping one of these years, though, especially if we can fly up. OTOH, it's hard telling the relatives that you won't see them when you're only five miles away!

 

[tonycondon]

I'm a camper, too. Just too much fun and you're right there. I've done the RV thing too, but camping is better.

A GOOD tent and a GOOD sleeping gear makes the difference. I don't like the air mattress because they fail, but they are comfortable. I use a cot with an auto inflating mattress... works great.

Next year I'll bring my generator. Perhaps I'll air condition the tent, and have a fridge for the beer.

awesome, ill have to stop by. Ill even bring the Nattie Light

 

[wabower]

Some geological information: The crust of the earth continues to harden with age. This has happened to plant life as well. Even blades of grass aren't as soft as they were as recently as 50 years ago. Furthermore, the hardening is more pronounced nearer the poles. Wisconsin is pretty far north.

We have tent-camped and pop-up trailered. It probably won't rain if you take an RV. It might rain if you take a pop-up. It will rain like a cow peeing on a flat rock if you tent-camp. The guy from the local Honda store sells generators at the show. I bought two last year.

Some really nice people in Oshkosh rent out their nice air-conditioned bedrooms during the show. Cheeseheads are very hospitable folk. Everybody should get to know some of them.

 

[gprellwitz]

Some really nice people in Oshkosh rent out their nice air-conditioned bedrooms during the show. Cheeseheads are very hospitable folk. Everybody should get to know some of them.

I'm related to some of them, and one of them was looking at renting out their house on Lake Winnebago, about 2 miles from the Seaplane Base!

 

[docmirror]

This year, we are going to get an RV. Prices are down, making things really affordable. We talked with a number of RVr's at Oshkosh and they recommended it highly. Luckily I have just enough room in my hangar to store a small motorized RV, which means no storage fee. Back to the Oshkosh campgrounds! We are all excited!

See you at Oshkosh! We'll be the rested, wide-eye wienies with the dry clothes!

Aren't you lucky that I just happen to have a motorhome for sale at a ridiculously low price of $8999.95. 29 feet of dual air conditioned comfort. with a queen in back, privacy bathroom and shower, built in TV, levelers and all the goodies. Holiday Rambler Alumalite XL. Send me a PM, heck I'll even deliver for gas I'm so desperate to sell.

Enjoy Oshkosh in quiet comfort and privacy.

 

[Missa]

I'm a camper, too. Just too much fun and you're right there. I've done the RV thing too, but camping is better.

A GOOD tent and a GOOD sleeping gear makes the difference. I don't like the air mattress because they fail, but they are comfortable. I use a cot with an auto inflating mattress... works great.

Next year I'll bring my generator. Perhaps I'll air condition the tent, and have a fridge for the beer.

You need to camp next to blue from the Babes... She brings an oven. We'd hace a whole kichen. So, can we get a POA section??? Who wants to get there early and stack out the POA area???

 

[vontresc]

Hmmm we could realle confuse the hell out of the OSH parking folks by printing up POA parking signs

 

[Jay Honeck]

Great post! It's only 191 days till our Fly-In Pool Party, a unique shin-dig that we always throw the Saturday before OSH. Stop in Iowa City (IOW) for discounted fuel and a free barbecue. (Download your invitation here: http://www.alexisparkinn.com/iowa_city_pool_party.htm )

If you spend the night, you can join our little caravan of folks who fly in Sunday morning. It's a lot of fun, and -- if you've never done the FISK approach into OSH -- it's educational to do it with a group of pilots who have done it many times before. (Last year we had 7 plane-loads -- see pix here: http://www.alexisparkinn.com/2008_the_flight_up.htm )

Mary and I will be attending our 27th consecutive Oshkosh Fly-In this July, God willin' and the crik don't rise. We have camped at every one of those 27, and I'm 50 this year -- so you *know* things have changed a bit for me since I started attending!

The first few were spent in pup tents at friend's houses in the area. We'd just pitch our little 2-man tent (a high-quality Moss that we still have -- it has never, ever leaked in all these years) and sleep on the ground. Ah, to be young again!

Then the kids came, and we bought a pop-up camper. So, we'd drag that up to Neenah (just North of OSH) every year, and park it at Mary's aunt's house. This was pretty comfortable, but we still weren't "on-site", which everyone told me was the only place to be.

In '98 we bought our first plane, a Warrior. In '99 we flew her in to OSH with our two (then small) kids, and camped in the North 40. We had a cheap 6-man tent, and slept on roll-up mattresses from our motorcycling days. Being 40-ish, we discovered that those weren't NEARLY as comfortable as we had remembered... We also discovered that camping on the field truly WAS *the* place to be, and it opened up an entirely new fly-in experience for us. We would never consider staying anywhere else now.

That said, we've learned a thing or two over the years. One major thing was that the Warrior, with just 150 hp, wasn't going to be able to bring the four of us and a week's worth of camping gear as the kids got bigger. So, in 2002 we bought our Pathfinder, a Cherokee with an awesome 235 hp 6-cylinder Lycosaur under the hood. That extra 85 hp -- a 56% increase over the Warrior -- made all the difference in the world. With the same awesome useful load as a Cherokee Six (1460 pounds) we can literally carry anything that fits inside.

Another major learning experience was the discovery of the new-technology inflatable beds. These things are not at all like the old blow-up air mattresses of my youth (remember the things that would deflate by morning?), and are every bit as comfortable as any real bed. In fact, they are MORE comfortable than any motel bed I've ever slept on (and I own and operate a motel -- so I'm a pretty good judge!) and only require one mid-week shot of air from the battery powered pump. These mattresses have completely changed the Oshkosh camping experience for the better, and if you're not sleeping on one you are really missing out.

Then there are tents. In 2003 we came back from the show to discover our tent wrapped around the right wing of Atlas (our Pathfinder). It was completely destroyed by the straight-line winds that blew through that day. What to do? You're standing in the North 40, at the largest aviation gathering in the world, in the middle of 10,000 airplane, with your entire family, two hours from sunset and no motels available for 100 miles.

So, we walked to the nearest big-box store (Target), kids in tow, and bought their very last 8-man tent. No shopping, no price comparisons, no worrying about features -- it was "this tent or no tent".

As luck would have it, it was a pretty good tent, and we've continued to use it at OSH each year. With much more room the kids could each have a "wing" to themselves, while Mary and I occupied the middle on our queen-sized bed. Ah, heaven.

Since then we've purchased smaller twin-sized air beds for the kids, and have slept in perfect comfort at every subsequent Airventure. Now, of course, our son is a pilot, too, and last year flew into the Big Show alone in our Ercoupe. (Read about his journey here: http://www.airventure.org/news/2008/2mon28/growing_airventure.html )

Interestingly, the circle is now complete, cuz he camped down in the Vintage section in our Moss 2-man tent, on my old roll-up mattress. (Funny how, at 17, the ground seems so soft!)

Two more tips for camping in the North 40.

1. Bikes. They make getting around SO much nicer. If you can't carry them with you, hike to the Goodwill store nearby and buy an old beater. It won't be pretty, but it sure beats walking or waiting for the buses.

2. Ear plugs. With all the road noise and people, sleep can be hard-won at OSH. Foam ear plugs and eye shades make ALL the difference -- although that first B-25 in the morning IS gonna wake you up, no matter what. (And I'd pay double what EAA charges, just to have that thing fly low over my tent every day!)

Each year I get a little creakier, and the idea of camping for a week seems more daunting -- but Mary and I dream about it every year (especially now, when the temperature is -8 and the snow is deep), and Oshkosh has truly become our favorite place in the whole world.

Stay tuned for more announcements re: OSH 09. (We also throw an on-field party that's a lot of fun each year!) See you there!

 

[flyingcheesehead]

awesome, ill have to stop by. Ill even bring the Nattie Light

Hmmm... I see you've upgraded from starving-student-part-time-CFI crappy beer to full-time-CFI crappy beer!

(It's OSH, it's an "occasion," at least spring for some "good-crappy-beer" Point Special! )

 

[tonycondon]

Hmmm... I see you've upgraded from starving-student-part-time-CFI crappy beer to full-time-CFI crappy beer!

(It's OSH, it's an "occasion," at least spring for some "good-crappy-beer" Point Special! )

Obviously you didnt hang out with Larry at Gastons