Storage at OSH Questions

[Jay Honeck]

Several groups who attend OSH annually store their camping/party gear in/at OSH. The "Women Fly" group does this. Others do, too.

After three decades of attendance, I am finally pursuing this option, since our party needs never seem to be fully met, no matter how much crap we can fit inside Atlas... :wink2: The idea of being able to just hop in the plane and GO, packing nothing but our clothes, is very appealing.

Rather than renting a "boat barn", a group of us are working together to purchase a covered trailer, similar to U-Haul's smallest. One of our group (actually, all of us are former Rec.Aviation regulars) is a farmer in Wisconsin, and has offered to let us store the trailer in one of his barns for the 51 weeks per year that it won't be needed.

My questions revolve around how to handle that 52nd week. We will store all of our camping and party paraphernalia inside said trailer, which will be water- and critter-proof, of course. Our gear will be clearly labeled, so everyone knows who's-is what's-is.

We're all good with this, thus far.

Here's where things get fuzzy. Our friend tows the trailer to Airventure on the Sunday before the show, and we somehow meet up with him after landing and schlep our camping gear onto the North 40 from...wherever he's able to park. The Hardee's parking lot across from the opening in the N40 fence is our working plan, for now.

(Actually, this year we were able to drive our party gear out onto the field without difficulty, but this year was weird in many ways. Security was at its lowest level, yet, in an attempt to make life easier for all the campers who were "squatting" on any piece of dry/high ground they found -- so we can't count on being able to drive-on every year.)

This all works great, IF we all arrive at the same time. However, our group is made up of pilots from CA, OH, MN, and TX. This guarantees a staggered arrival time at OSH.

Obviously we can't keep the trailer in the Hardee's lot all week. Our thoughts range from "tucking it in a corner of the Red Lot" -- and forgetting about it for a week -- to trying to park it in the CAP area (two of us are CAP officers) -- to parking it in the old Wal-Mart parking lot (that EAA used for motorhome parking this year). Of course, this means that any late-comers will have to hike over to the Red Lot (or wherever) to get their camping gear -- not an optimal solution.

We're trying to minimize the "ground support" effort involved, since we don't want our friend having to move the stupid thing all over Wittman Field throughout the week to accommodate staggered arrivals.

Is anyone on P of A already doing this? Anyone out there storing their OSH stuff IN Oshkosh year-round? If so, how do you get your stuff from storage onto the field?

Thanks!

 

[Missa]

The only people I know who seem to store their stuff at Osh year round seems to be the South African group and it looks like EAA let them build two storage sheds in camp scholler which their compound is built around.

 

[Jay Honeck]

The only people I know who seem to store their stuff at Osh year round seems to be the South African group and it looks like EAA let them build two storage sheds in camp scholler which their compound is built around.

Wow. That would be great, but probably out of the question for us. :wink2:

 

[jtheune]

As part of the Women Fly group I can tell you that the way we do it is to bring all the stuff over at the beginning of the show and take it all back at the end. If someone can't get there at the beginning of the show their stuff is just put aside in the common area or someone's tent. This is all based on the fact that we all camp next to each other. If that is not the case then you will have more a logistics problem and I'm not sure how you will solve it. Better to just camp together even if your planes are not together.

 

[Jay Honeck]

As part of the Women Fly group I can tell you that the way we do it is to bring all the stuff over at the beginning of the show and take it all back at the end. If someone can't get there at the beginning of the show their stuff is just put aside in the common area or someone's tent. This is all based on the fact that we all camp next to each other. If that is not the case then you will have more a logistics problem and I'm not sure how you will solve it. Better to just camp together even if your planes are not together.

Well, we do all camp together, so I suppose that's the ultimate solution. When Mary and I get there, we just accept EVERYONE'S stuff, and go from there.

This could get dicey, depending on what everyone brings -- but the only other alternative is to make a brazillion trips back and forth.

You guys have a LOT of stuff. Is it all stored in a trailer, or does someone have to go to a storage unit and load up everything? (When we grow up, we want to have a blender like you guys do! )

 

[jtheune]

We have a large storage unit and borrow the trailer every year. It's a very large amount of stuff. I blame all the bicycles on you. It was your post about getting them from goodwill that seemed to spark it in the north 40 and we have collected them from next to the dumpsters where people abandon them at the end of the week rather then taking them back to goodwill. By the way the reason I missed the HOPS party this year was Dan Gryder ( Herpa DC-3 ) brought his blue grass band over and held a concert at our place. It was great. So much fun so little time.

 

[mitchellfstafford]

You might also try putting the trailer over behind that Super 8 over by Friar Tucks. There is a gate in the fence right there at that Super 8, and if you can park your plane close to that North side access road that goes around the North 40 by that gate you'd only be 50 yards or so away from your trailer. We had our campsite just inside the fenced area and there were a bunch of motor homes and tents set up in that open field on the outside of the fence just east of that Super 8.

 

[Jay Honeck]

You might also try putting the trailer over behind that Super 8 over by Friar Tucks. There is a gate in the fence right there at that Super 8, and if you can park your plane close to that North side access road that goes around the North 40 by that gate you'd only be 50 yards or so away from your trailer. We had our campsite just inside the fenced area and there were a bunch of motor homes and tents set up in that open field on the outside of the fence just east of that Super 8.

Yeah, we saw that, too. Dunno if they were "squatters", or if they were paying Super 8 a fee for the space. It's worth checking out.

One off the sicker guys in our group (me!) had a great idea for EAA to make money -- sell underground storage "burial plots" in the North 40. They would have to be water-tight (like a casket and vault) and perfectly flush with the surface (for taxiing), but you could store your OSH stuff in it every year. Just taxi in to your spot, open the lid, pull out your camping gear, and away you go.

This would also allow EAA the sale of reserved camping spots, bringing in mucho new dinero. Sell the space for a thousand bucks per year, and make it like the Hilton -- 7-day minimum stay, no refunds. Ka-CHING! (Of course, the "vault" would be extra. Prolly charge, what, $5K for one?)

Think of the possibilities. They could sell commemorative "bricks" around "your" space. They could offer electric sites for more. EAA is really missing a trick here! :wink2:

 

[mitchellfstafford]

Yeah, we saw that, too. Dunno if they were "squatters", or if they were paying Super 8 a fee for the space. It's worth checking out.

One off the sicker guys in our group (me!) had a great idea for EAA to make money -- sell underground storage "burial plots" in the North 40. They would have to be water-tight (like a casket and vault) and perfectly flush with the surface (for taxiing), but you could store your OSH stuff in it every year. Just taxi in to your spot, open the lid, pull out your camping gear, and away you go.

This would also allow EAA the sale of reserved camping spots, bringing in mucho new dinero. Sell the space for a thousand bucks per year, and make it like the Hilton -- 7-day minimum stay, no refunds. Ka-CHING! (Of course, the "vault" would be extra. Prolly charge, what, $5K for one?)

Think of the possibilities. They could sell commemorative "bricks" around "your" space. They could offer electric sites for more. EAA is really missing a trick here! :wink2:

Unfortunately I think all of those people were squatters. You would probably be better off asking for permission. If you could park your plane close and they didn't charge too much it would definitely be worth it.

How great would that be to have pre-determined parking?! Would take a lot more planning, but you could almost have your own little communities. That would be cool. Although it is pretty cool meeting the new people you're around every year. We met a very interesting guy from Venezuela that is going to be making an around the world flight next year to raise money for children's cancer.

 

[Jay Honeck]

Unfortunately I think all of those people were squatters. You would probably be better off asking for permission. If you could park your plane close and they didn't charge too much it would definitely be worth it.

How great would that be to have pre-determined parking?! Would take a lot more planning, but you could almost have your own little communities. That would be cool. Although it is pretty cool meeting the new people you're around every year. We met a very interesting guy from Venezuela that is going to be making an around the world flight next year to raise money for children's cancer.

Actually, for at least the previous 7 years we have been parked with the same bunch, since we all do our best to arrive on Sunday, noon-ish. This year was all screwed up, of course...