Sadly, the 18th Annual HOPS Party is canceled this year...

[Jay Honeck]

I never thought we would cancel the HOPS Party for any reason short of my untimely demise, but even though we are still flying into Oshkosh during Airventure week, there seems to be no logistical way to do the party.

(The HOPS party -- HOPS stands for "Homebuilders", "Owning", "Piloting", and "Students", the old Usenet aviation groups -- predates the modern internet.)

That said, our usual group of ne'er-do-wells (AKA: "The OSH Trailer Trash") are not letting the Governor of Wisconsin or EAA ruin our tradition. We will all be arriving on July 20, and staying three days at the nearby Hilton Hotel, maintaining our streak of 38 consecutive Oshkosh fly-ins!

We plan on haunting all the usual gin joints and restaurants (Friar Tucks, La Sure's, Charcoal Pit, etc).

If you are of like mind, and in the area, perhaps we can get together for a couple of cold ones. I'm afraid that's the best we can do this year.

Who else is flying in?
--
Jay & Mary

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[weirdjim]

Jay ... I feel your pain.

46 years of cup collection. A few years missing, but not many. And I only have two more posts left for cups, including the one I'm going to always leave blank ... the missing cup formation.

If you've got a webcam, and if you are going to bring it with you, I'm planning on opening my Google Meet video chat site every afternoon of Oshkosh from Monday through Saturday at 2 pm (PDT, 3M, 4C, 5E) for a couple of hours of virtual beerdrinking. Especially the 22nd, Wednesday.

If you will give me a date and time, I'll open it up early and we can work out any bugs in the system before going online. Just drop me a line (jim@rstengineering.com) giving me date and time and I'll meet you in the room. THe URL to get there is https://meet.google.com/skq-ynmu-huk

Best to you and yours...

Jim & Cyndi

 

[AggieMike88]

@Jay Honeck, if your return flight could include a stop in the DFW area, many of us here would love to do food and drink with you and Mary.

 

[tsts4]

Jay, we’re interested. Are you aware of anyone else that’s going?

 

[FlyingElvii]

Can’t change my Vacay days, so I am planning on picking a good weather day that week, and going.
Like to park on Boeing Plaza to take a few pics of the plane and the emptiness, then hit Wendt’s or Tucks, depending on the time, before heading back south. Thought I would call Basler next week.

Going to be a weird year with no migration, but that should make next year even busier.

 

[Jay Honeck]

Jay, we’re interested. Are you aware of anyone else that’s going?

No, but I don't haunt the forums like I once did.

If you do, spread the word!

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[Jay Honeck]

@Jay Honeck, if your return flight could include a stop in the DFW area, many of us here would love to do food and drink with you and Mary.

We just might do that, although we are usually at 12,500' over DFW, heading Southbound. If the weather doesn't cooperate, or we are running out of daylight, we might drop in on you!

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[tsts4]

Can’t change my Vacay days, so I am planning on picking a good weather day that week, and going.
Like to park on Boeing Plaza to take a few pics of the plane and the emptiness, then hit Wendt’s or Tucks, depending on the time, before heading back south. Thought I would call Basler next week.

Going to be a weird year with no migration, but that should make next year even busier.

parking anywhere other than Basler won’t be permitted: http://wittmanairport.com/airport-status-due-to-cancellation-of-2020-eaa-airventure/

 

[Jay Honeck]

parking anywhere other than Basler won’t be permitted: http://wittmanairport.com/airport-status-due-to-cancellation-of-2020-eaa-airventure/

The Hilton has their own ramp.

 

[Jay Honeck]

FYI: Now that their corporate office has finally realized that AirVenture was canceled, we have moved our group to the Hilton, to take advantage of their aircraft parking.

Their price dropped from $500+/night to ~$100.

I have edited the original post to reflect this change.


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[weirdjim]

FYI: Now that their corporate office has finally realized that AirVenture was canceled, we have moved our group to the Hilton, to take advantage of their aircraft parking.

Their price dropped from $500+/night to ~$100.

I have edited the original post to reflect this change.


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See if you can book them for the next ten years at that rate while corporate is numb to the process.

Jim

 

[tsts4]

We’re in — arriving the 20th and departing the 23rd at the Hilton. We’re gonna get a car and do things we’ve never done like hit the Harley museum in Milwaukee and actually explore the town of Oshkosh. I really hope EAA reopens the EAA museum by then.

This is only 1 leg of a 3 leg trip as we’re going to see friends in Iowa and Indiana on the way there and back.

 

[masloki]

Interesting....I've got an ace in the hole for this weekend so call it 90% chance we are raising a beer.

 

[masloki]

Room and plane booked for July 20-22. We'll get in the evening and out early morning on Wednesday. @Jay Honeck

 

[tsts4]

We plan to arrive Monday morning (July 20th) and depart Thursday morning. This time of year I like to fly early in the morning as much as possible.

 

[masloki]

Afternoons have definitely been bumpy up here. But, its less than 100nm for me so its more about just getting up after the worst of the heat, and hoping it didn't spin up any convective junk.

And this is the hops stand-in, everyone is bring some local brews to share, right? As usual, I will have some OSH famous homebrew including the barleywine that never made it to Rough River.

 

[tsts4]

And this is the hops stand-in, everyone is bring some local brews to share, right? As usual, I will have some OSH famous homebrew including the barleywine that never made it to Rough River.

That’s the SOP for a normal HOPS but I don’t think anyone is gonna hold anybody to the normal “rules”. Having said that, we were thinking along the same lines as you and are planning on bringing some local Tampa brew to share.

 

[tsts4]

Made it to Osh and are settled into our room at the Hilton. Kinda weird flying directly into the airport. Now it’s Spotted Cow time!

 

[masloki]

Made it to Osh and are settled into our room at the Hilton. Kinda weird flying directly into the airport. Now it’s Spotted Cow time!
View attachment 88025 View attachment 88026 View attachment 88027

Come on down to the lobby overlooking 9/27. Handful of us here.

 

[tsts4]

Come on down to the lobby overlooking 9/27. Handful of us here.

sorry man, didn’t see your post until today. Otherwise we’d have come down. We just spent this evening over at Sleepy Hollow enjoying our last night in Osh before heading to our next destination tomorrow morning.

 

[Jay Honeck]

NotKosh 2020 is in the books! 2700 miles of flying over 9 days, and tons of parties, beer, and food.

Our same old gang that always meets in Oshkosh attended, with the Hilton as our base. We were from everywhere -- Texas, California, Minnesota, Ohio, Maryland -- and all points in between. It was a blast!

Really, the only thing missing was EAA. Sucks to be them!

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[mcdewey]

Great pictures!! That's crazy looking without Friar Tucks packed wall-to-wall with people. Same goes for Ardy & Ed's parking lot. All y'all stay well and we'll party extra hard in 2021!!

 

[Jay Honeck]

We will be back in Oshkosh in 2021 -- with, or without, EAA.