Late Monday, Scott shows us the unfavorable weather forecast, so we postpone our Tuesday trip to Oshkosh due to thunderstorm warnings. Lucikly, the lookout for Wedneday calls for bright sun and 90 degree heat so we all wake up in the middle of the night and meet at the office at 4:15AM – ready for 350 mile drive from Grand Rapids to Oshkosh. Armed with a tall cup of coffee from Dunkin Donuts, five of us load up the van for the long drive. Twenty minutes into the trip we see threatening lighting and the hear thundering roars followed by blowing, horizontal rain. I slow the vehicle to a 40 mph crawl since I can no longer see the road clearly in the downpour. I’m a little concerned that the forecast isn’t holding up to its promise. Ten minutes later, the rain subsides and the road ahead is completely dry. This must be an isolated thunderstorm. We’re back to normal speed.
Five hours later we pull into the parking lot at Oshkosh. We climb out of the van, stretch our cramped legs, gather our canvas chairs, sunscreen and photo equipment and walk the 300 yards or so to the entrance. It’s sunny and we can tell that the heat will soon arrive to warm the air.
Just a few notes. For the visit to Oshkosh Scott Slaughter, Adam Howe and daughter Veronica and Paul Lee made the day long journey. As usual, the warbirds were gorgeous and in large numbers. At the Microsoft booth we ran into Mike Lambert, Hal Bryant and Mike Singer. I missed an old pal Steve Wilson who was away from the booth when we visited. By chance, I spotted actor Harrison Ford checking out the cockpit of a Quest Kodiak aircraft.
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We decide that our feet are fully worn out so we depart Oshkosh at 5PM, stop in Chicago for a quick dinner with daughter Andrea and her husband Mike and arrive back in Grand Rapids by 1AM the next morning. A long but enjoyable day.
