Friday 7/16

We both worked up to the last minute before leaving on this vacation and both needed it. On the day we left, Monika spent her morning at work trying to wrap up loose ends such as her boss's bad neck, and Bob finished reviewing student research projects and re-writing a discussion section for one of my research projects. In the early afternoon, Monika threw everything in the car while Bob went to campus to hand in the projects. We drove off but could not quite believe that we were really on vacation yet--it seemed unreal. We made it all the way to a Comfort Inn on the north side of Pittsburgh by about 7 p.m., taking the "scenic" route through the middle of Pittsburgh to get there rather than I76 around the city. We were all nerves and wanted to walk after setting up our motel room, so we walked around the hotel area. Fortunately, we found a little grocery store which had fresh fruit, bread, and baked goods, from which we made our dinner. The bed was comfortable, but it was odd not to be sleeping at home since we still did not quite feel that we were on vacation.

Saturday 7/17

We drove the familiar path of Pennsylvania Turnpike to Ohio Turnpike to Indiana Turnpike until we arrived at the Hampton Inn at Matteson, Illinois around 4 p.m. The interstates were flat, safe, and boring, but we wanted to get to Chicago early to assess the situation. After calling Phyllis and Bill and finding out they were busy with last minute cleaning and preparation, we decided to sample the amenities of the Hampton Inn. Monika enjoyed swimming in the pool while Bob liked the Jacuzzi best--we both found the Jaccuzzi very relaxing after a hard day's drive.

We had a large dinner at the Cracker Barrel (generous portions) and walked over to Lincoln Mall to arrange for a family portrait session at Penney's on Monday, which was a pet project of Bob's. After our walk, we finally felt ready to visit some relatives and drove over to Lee and June for a very nice visit. They were babysitting their granddaughter Tiffany (8 months) who was a very good-natured baby--just at the crawling stage and interested in everything. Fortunately, she was also young enough and secure enough to accept strangers with interest. Tiffany's parents, David and April, picked her up while we were there, so we also had a short visit with them before returning to our hotel room for the evening.

Sunday 7/18

We started our day off with a continental breakfast at the motel followed by a brisk neighborhood walk, ignoring ominous clouds to the West and the distant rumble of thunder. Of course, we were caught by thunderstorms in the middle of the walk and had to seek shelter under the overhang of a bank's drive-up window. We watched a lightening and thunder display for about a half an hour before it let up enough for us to sprint across the street to a Mobil station for a Sunday newspaper and then over to a Bob Evan's where we stopped for a second breakfast until the storms passed. Returning to the motel, we hit the swimming pool and Jacuzzi before dressing for the afternoon's party.

On our way to party we stopped by to see Mom Ruth at Peace Memorial Village, and she said Lee was going to drive her to the party. We continued on to Phyllis's for Grandma's 90th Birthday Party, which was also a Holt family reunion. Carl and Bertha Holt brought their daughter Valerie from the Atlanta area; Ken and Vivian Holt drove all the way from Texas; and Myna (Holt) and Bob Kraft came with their two daughters from Chicago's northern suburbs.

Lois and Merlin drove Grandma down from Burlington, Wisconsin, and Terry flew in from Albuquerque, New Mexico, so all Mom's children (Phyllis, Lois, Terry and Bob), many of her grandchildren (Wendy, David, Bill Jr., Linda, Laura, Tony, and Beth), and all her great-grandchildren (Melissa, Emily, Michael, Margaret, Carrie, and Sean) were there. We had lots of fun talking to everybody and took many pictures of all the families.

Monday 7/19

Our sitting for the family portrait was scheduled for 11 a.m. That left us enough time for a half-hour morning walk, a swim, and Jacuzzi time. We packed up leisurely and checked out before driving over to Penney's. Phyllis and everybody else arrived exactly at 11 a.m., and we had the photographer take pictures of every combination of us with Grandma, who smiled like the Cheshire cat all the while. We drove back to Phyllis's and thence to lunch at a nearby Bob Evan's. Terry's plane departed that evening, so we volunteered to drive him up to O'Hare airport and thank heavens the traffic was light so that we arrived early. This gave us time for a nice talk before his plane left.

From the airport we drove directly to Merlin and Lois's dome house in Burlington where Merlin, Lois, Mom, Beth, Audie and little Carrie Patience were waiting for us with hot dogs left over from the party. We took Lois with on our evening walk and at her suggestion walked to Bohner's Lake and back, about 2.4 miles total. The mosquitoes were ferocious, but the carpet of fireflies above the corn fields as we returned at dusk was very pretty.

Tuesday 7/20

This was Mom's actual birthday, and Lois had made reservations for a luncheon cruise on Lake Geneva. Phyllis showed up at the last minute after somehow getting lost in Lake Geneva's three stoplights. The 2.5 hour cruise was a resounding success. The sun was shining, the lake was smooth, and the Captain recited histories of the lake shore mansions while we ate a lunch of sirloin tips with noodles. It was curious how some of the fortunes of the original land owners were made, everything from paper caps for milk bottles to land speculation after the Chicago fire to creosote coatings for railroad ties. The Captain announced Mom's 90th birthday just as she arrived on the upper deck, and everyone broke out in spontaneous applause in her honor.

That evening, Beth and Audie drove us up to Tony and Connie's for a dinner party, leaving Carrie Patience with Lois and Merlin. We saw Tony's classic motorcycle, a 650cc Triumph Bonneville, and admired Connie's artistic stained glass pieces. Connie had prepared a dish she had concocted which we liked very much, dubbing it "Chicken Milwaukee". Beth and Tony reminisced about their wild times as teenagers in Kenosha, Wisconsin, which brought back many fond old memories of times we had visited there. We stayed rather later than we had planned, getting back to the dome about 12:30 that night (which is very late for us as we retire between 9 and 10 most evenings).

Wednesday 7/21

Facing a week of camping without laundry facilities, we did our laundry with Lois's facilities. Lois's facilities include a washer, but for religious reasons do not include a drier, so you must wait for the wind and sun to dry your laundry. This brings you back into contact with Mother Nature since you must now worry about the weather while you dry your laundry. Monika hung our stuff on the second floor balcony to dry and we prayed for sun, low humidity, and no rain (successfully, as it turned out).

Beth, Audie, and Carrie left in the morning for their trip back to Texas, which was to combine sightseeing with traveling. We were all a little down after they left, so we proposed a walk to Bohner's lake. Lois, Phyllis, and Merlin (with his stick) accompanied us to the lake, where we rested a while before making the return journey. At the lake, Monika and Merlin had a spirited discussion about the relative rights of cars and pedestrians on country roads, but did not reach any resolution.

Since Wendy was good enough to take care of horse problems, Phyllis had the time to stay for lunch before rushing home to fix dinner for Bill. With both Phyllis and Mom present, it was a foregone conclusion that we would go out to lunch. We went to lunch at a Perkins at the Route 50 and I94 interchange, which was on Phyllis's way home. Monika, Phyllis, and Bob had very nice salads in bread shaped bowls. Merlin assessed the bread as a sourdough type of bread, and it tasted fresh-baked.

We took a round-about route back to the dome, which became even more round-about when we encountered a Burlington traffic jam (10 cars) and Merlin drove back around Burlington (10 miles) to find an uncongested route through the city. We were "tuckered" (as Mom would say) when we returned to the dome and all took a nap.

For dinner we had twice-cooked hamburgers left over from Sunday's birthday party diced into baked beans. It was quite tasty, and we dubbed it "Hockey Puck Delight". We talked to Mom a bit before retiring, after which Lois and Merlin practiced the recorder duets they were to play in church the next Sunday. Since it was "Happy Baroque", we fell asleep quite easily, a feat that would have been impossible with modern music.

Thursday 7/22

We set off for Door County, which is the peninsula between Green Bay and Lake Michigan on the eastern edge of Wisconsin. We were trying to see the country rather than make time, so we took the country roads along the Lake Michigan shore whenever possible. Although we arrived about noon, our first choice of campground (Wisconsin's Peninsula State Park) was already full. We settled on a wooded private campground about 10 miles away that we had seen on the way up. We obtained one of their last 3 sites and set up the camp, using our mosquito repellant liberally to ward off these pesky critters.

Since it was mid-afternoon, we had time to revisit the Door County Winery which is located in an old two-room school. We last visited this winery 17 years ago (in 1975) on an earlier camping trip with our son Judson when he was just 1 year old. Our earlier visit was shortly after it had opened, when it was a struggling "Mom & Pop" type of business--everything done by hand. The winery had grown much larger in the intervening years, becoming more mechanized and more of a tourist trap than it seemed to be then. The tour now included a professional videotape and cost a dollar, whereas earlier it was free. The winery specializes in fruit wines, and we bought several bottles since these are not available outside of the area.

To take a different path back to camp, we drove around the East cost of Door County, which is the non-touristy side of the peninsula and quite quiet. We stopped at a roadside stand just as they were closing at 5 p.m. to purchase fresh bread, sweet cherries, nectarines, sweet rolls, bananas, and Swiss cheese for dinner and snacks. That may not sound like a balanced diet, but our excuse is that we don't have refrigeration while camping.

Friday 7/23

We decided to explore the upper islands off the end of the Door County peninsula. On our earlier trip as poor students, the steep ferry charge had deterred us from seeing these islands, but now we could finally afford it. (Actually, if you can afford to pay out-of-state college tuition, you can afford almost anything!) We took the car ferry from the peninsula to Washington Island, and a small passenger ferry to Rock Island, which is entirely a Wisconsin State Park. The car ferry runs at least once every day even through the winter, using a Coast Guard icebreaker as necessary, but the passenger ferry only runs regularly from March to November, leaving access to Rock Island in the winter a difficult proposition.

Rock Island was originally bought by Thorvardson, an immigrant Wisconsin farm boy who made a fortune in electric motors at the turn of the century (a true Horatio Alger story). In honor of his Icelandic heritage, Thorvardson built a large boathouse on Rock Island in the style of a Viking hall. Curiously, Thorvardson lived in large log or wood frame homes while on the island, so the boathouse constructed out of rock has outlasted his wooden residences. Aside from the boat landing area, the island is undeveloped and essentially wild, with footpaths criss-crossing it but no roads or vehicles.

We felt ready to go and choose the longest hiking loop around the island, 6.5 miles. We walked a pleasant wooded lane to the lighthouse on the northern point, where we made a lunch of fresh-baked bread, cheese, and nectarines. Although simple, this tastes wonderful if you're hungry enough. Our canteens were not large, but the lighthouse had a well with a hand pump which produced good-tasting water. The return section of the trail was a narrow path through the woods, but the trail ran along the bluffs with regular views out over the lake. We ended up on the sandy beach on the southern shore of the island and waded along it to help cool off before returning through the campground to the boat landing.

After taking the passenger ferry back to Washington Island, we were fairly tired from our walk and therefore drove around the island to see things. We stopped at an open air museum which had several old farm buildings and many farm implements and tools. The ingenuity of some of the old tools was amazing. A potato planter, for example, simultaneously dug a hole for the next potato and dropped a potato bud into the previous hole with one smooth motion of the handles--that would save a lot of time planting a large potato patch. All the tools were labeled, which was necessary for city folks to distinguish a hay fork (5 tines) from a manure fork (4 tines) from a potato digging fork (3 tines)--I especially would object to someone confusing the last two.

Our last stop before catching the car ferry back to the peninsula was an arts, crafts, and natural science center housed in the old schoolhouse. The arts part of the center consisted of paintings and very nicely done stained glass displayed in the upper part of the windows. The science part of the center included a snake cage with educational questions about snakes. Since Terry used to have snakes as pets, I answered most of the questions correctly.

The ferry back to the peninsula was fun and reminded us of some of the ferries we took in Norway and Sweden on a previous camping trip. We drove back to the campsite through Egg Harbor, which was a classy type of tourist village, and Fish Creek, which had go-karts, a water slide, and Fast Freddy's shop--clearly a tourist trap. But Fish Creek did not compare to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, for blatant tawdry tourist attractions, and I hope it doesn't become that way.

Saturday 7/24

We left early (before the mosquitoes were awake) for the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The road from Escanaba, Michigan, northeast along the shore of Lake Michigan was a two-lane road that was almost as fast as an interstate due to the lack of towns, stoplights, etc. In general, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan was pretty deserted. We decided we could make the straits of Mackinac for the night and arrived at the state park there at 4:30. This gave us plenty of time to set up the tent, eat dinner, and still catch the 6:00 ferry to Mackinac Island.

On Mackinac Island, we decided to hike the trails on the back side of the island, which we had not been able to do when we visited previously with our two young boys. We quickly left behind the tourist area and Fort Mackinac and hiked up a hill past the old cemetery to the high point of the island, old Fort Henry. On the way back we decided to try different trails which was exciting because we hadn't been able to get a map and didn't quite know where we were. Using the setting sun to orient ourselves, we hiked the Morning Snack Trail, the Lost Bear Trail, and others I can't remember to return. We arrived back in the upper part of town where all the workers and horses live. Cars aren't allowed in Mackinac City, so horse buggies are the main form of transportation, requiring quite a few horses.

We passed by the Grand Hotel on our way back to the boat dock, but the rent-a-cop stationed in the street leading to the front entrance would only let us go as far as the bronze plaque (to take a picture), and that only grudgingly. He stipulated that the post 6 p.m. dress code prohibited people dressed like us (shorts, sweatband, no tie) from even being permitted to pay the $4.00 entrance fee required of non-guests to enter the hallowed precincts of the hotel. We were grateful to him for saving us money, and proceeded down through the city to the dock for our trip back to St. Ignace on the catamaran. Our late-night entertainment was to walk down to the beach to see Mackinac Bridge lighted at night, which was pretty.

Sunday 7/25

We started early and again took the side roads across the Upper Peninsula to Sault St. Marie. I must have looked suspicious or else Virginia is widely known as a gun-running state, because the Canadian Customs officers pulled us over to search for handguns. They confiscated my anti-dog pepper spray, which I had no idea was illegal in Canada, making me feel like a gun-runner in the process. However, they did put back all the things they removed from the car, which I had been worried about. Leaving the pepper spray in custody of Customs, we visited the tourist center across the street to change money (hard to do in Canada on a Sunday) and get some maps.

Once out of Sault St. Marie, the road North along Lake Superior becomes very deserted. The coast is much more rugged and rocky than the flat, sandy plain of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. We arrived at Lake Superior Provincial Park and first picked an inland site and erected the tent. But walking back to register we found this great site right on the beach, so Monika sat there while I went back to retrieve the car and park it at the new site. Then we went back and carried the assembled tent to our new site. Two persons carrying a 10' x 10' dome tent down the road must have looked comical, but fortunately there was no wind to blow the tent out of control. To complete the transfer, we moved our rather heavy Army cots on the final trip.

For our afternoon hike, we drove over to the Indian pictograph site nearby and walked down to the rocky seashore cliff on which the pictographs are painted. On our previous visit I was carrying Judson in a backpack and did not feel I could risk walking out on the ledge to the pictographs and possibly falling into Lake Superior. This time we both walked all the way out and saw all of them, and they are remarkably clear although fading over the years with weathering.

Since it rained when we tried to cook dinner back in camp, we moved the cooking inside on the parson's table and sat on our cots to eat dinner. Cooking in the tent worked surprisingly well, and after dinner we walked along the stony beach collecting stones of different colors for a potential mobile. Our perfect campsite turned out to have one drawback--we were so close the beach that the waves sounded like they were breaking at the tent's front door. The wave sound and the sound of wind in the trees was just enough to awaken Monika periodically through the night, so she didn't get a very good night's sleep.

Monday 7/26

We hiked the Awausee Trail, a 10 km trail described as "demanding" and requiring 3-4 hours. We found the Canadian trail time estimates to be accurate, whereas U.S. trail time estimates tend to be over-estimates. The first hour was straight up a ridge with an overlook on Lake Superior as a break in the middle. Then we hiked along the ridgeline, where we encountered rain squalls. The trail became slippery, but we persevered because we wanted to see the other overlooks on the Agawa river valley (and because we are stubborn). Ascents and descents where the log ladders had rotted away were particularly treacherous, but the overlooks did offer nice views. When we returned after almost 4 hours, Monika was tired but had the sense to change into dry clothes while I just stayed soggy.

It began to rain fairly steadily, so we drove North beyond the park's boundary to the town of Wawa, whose largest claim to fame is a huge statue of a Canadian goose. We may have visited before but could not remember the goose or anything else specifically about the town. We visited several shops, getting rained on as we ran between them, and had lunch at a restaurant where the patrons spoke French. Gosh what huge mounds of french fries we were served wherever we ate in Canada! We were soaked after our visit to Wawa, but used the car heater to dry off on the way back to camp. Although it rained all the way back to camp, the rain ceased long enough in the evening to allow cooking outdoors and an evening campfire, which we always enjoy. The rain began again that night and I found that the fly leaked on my side. Fortunately I could shift my cot to the middle to avoid leaks and Monika did not have any on her side. The wind was up at night and the surf so loud that I had to wake up to convince myself that the tent wasn't really going to be washed away. Monika also had trouble sleeping, so we were both a little groggy the next day.

Tuesday 7/27

Although the rain stopped for packing, the tent was really soaked so instead of trying to carefully roll it up to fit its little bag, we simply folded it and threw it in the trunk. It is always harder to fit waterlogged tents into their bags, and the old canvas tents we had before became terribly heavy when soaked, 15-20 lbs. at least. We drove back to Sault St. Marie through rain and fog, stopping at the Canadian Carver to buy more gifts. They had real artworks of beautifully carved wood, which someday we might afford.

At the Soo, we visited a bush pilot museum which was small, but interesting. Over 50% of these airplanes ended their service due to a crash or accident of some sort. At the border, I retrieved my pepper spray from Canadian Customs and fled back to the U.S.

The weather cleared while we were recrossing the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The farmland there was all hay and dairy farms, unlike the varied crops further South in Wisconsin. We reached Escanaba about 4 p.m. and decided to call it a day, but we had a little trouble find a motel and had to settle for the Hiawatha Motel (no swimming pool or jacuzzi). Monika immediately took a hot shower and changed into dry clothes. Our evening walk was along Escanaba's lakefront where we visited a lighthouse museum and a county museum, both of which were nice, small-scale museums. Our motel room was quiet and dry, so we both got a good night's sleep.

Wednesday 7/28

We left Escanaba about 8:00 a.m. and had only 150 miles to go to the EAA fly-in at Oshkosh airport, but the front brakes began to squeal more and more frequently during the drive. By the time we arrived in Oshkosh about 11 a.m. the brakes were squealing constantly. At the gate, there was a only a small line for the campground (later we would see it stretch for miles). The wind was blowing 20-30 mph while we set up the tent, which made everything quite difficult but really dried it out quickly.

I was worried about the car, so after setting up the tent we drove off to find a brake shop and found a CarX el-cheapo brake shop in a shopping about 1/2 mile from the airport. They told us 3 hours, so we walked back to the airport and watched a tremendous variety of airplanes arriving. We both enjoyed it and took lots of pictures. The car was done on schedule, and after we picked it up we drove it around to several stores to shop and to test out the brakes before returning to camp.

The wind was blowing so strongly when we returned that it threatened to collapse the tent's sides. We parked the car upwind and tied the tent's main poles and fly down to an improvised stake and the car's door handles, bumpers, etc. to relieve the strain. We visited the flight line again and called and left a message for Merlin and Lois, not knowing that they had already left to come up to Oshkosh. Darkness fell on our walk back to camp, which induced us to buy some bratwurst at the campground store for dinner rather than cooking.

Thursday 7/29

For our first full day at Oshkosh, we returned to the flight line and sat near the runway as the morning rush hour of airplanes arrived. The air traffic controllers land more than one aircraft at once. At one point I counted 5 or 6 aircraft landing on runway 27 (East-West runway) at about 500' apart. The sky was filled with airplanes and even Monika was impressed. We took more pictures and looked over the Warbird section some more before hiking over to the "Fly Market", which is a flea market with everything relating to flying.

Inevitably there were several T-shirt vendors, but all the shirts had flying mottoes on them. Several bookstores sold aviation books, and I found two that I needed for flying to Alaska: Mountain Flying and Bush Country Flying. Monika picked up a basic book and flying in general and I selected one more specifically about the Cessna 172, the model I fly. Thus, we were pretty loaded down with books when we went to the first forum session by Ron Marchado on pilot decisions.

Each forum lasts 1 hour 15 minutes, and ten different ones are presented in each time slot. We had to squeeze in at the back of the tent (Monika sat on the grass) because Marchado is a popular aviation humorist. I had expected a serious discussion of pilot decisions, but Marchado gave the entire session as a stand-up comic routine, and he was extremely funny. Although some of the jokes would require pilot experience to be appreciated, many were general enough to be humorous to all. We both had a good time.

Our next forum was quite different. An old Cessna mechanic gave tips about Cessna maintenance and answered questions about mechanical problems several owners were having. This guy was so low-key he almost didn't have a pulse, but he was full of information, some of it quite useful. At the end of the session we walked back to the control tower for a pre-arranged 1:00 p.m. meeting with Lois and Merlin and Mom. Fortunately they had retrieved my message from their answering machine and made the meeting on time. Merlin graciously offered to take our bags of books back to his car while the rest of us visited a tent cafe so that Monika and I could have lunch.

After lunch, Merlin used Monika's flight-line pass to visit the Homebuilt and Warbird sections of airplanes while Monika, Mom and Lois rested on benches next to the control tower. Merlin and I wandered among various airplanes for an hour or so until they chased us out in order to taxi out the Warbirds for a fly-by.

Each afternoon the EAA convention has an air show and sometimes extra flight demonstrations. In 1986 I saw a Harrier jump jet take off and land vertically. This year we had a fly-by of the P47 Thunderbolts and some WWII training aircraft. The air show proper began at 4:00 p.m. and was still going strong when we left to have supper at 5:30. The acrobatic acts were quite varied, ranging from a P40 "Flying Tiger" Warhawk to the BD-10 mini-jet, a homebuilt single-seat jet with only a 15' wingspan. Two Sukhoi airplanes gave a particularly beautiful aerial duet, something like a pass de deux in horse dressage. The pair maneuvered in tight formation and did maneuvers like the Blue Angels, but on a smaller scale. The slower, lower, and quieter maneuvers made the routine more enjoyable, although admittedly less spectacular, than a Blue Angels airshow.

After a quiet dinner at a Perkins restaurant, Lois, Merlin and Mom dropped us off as close to the airport as traffic (horrendous) would allow, and we walked back to our campsite.

Friday 7/30

Our stove was out of fuel, so my first morning task was to fill it. Unfortunately, I could not get the cap of the gallon of Coleman fuel, so I had to punch holes in the corners to fill the stove. But this left me with an unsealable container which I didn't want rattling around in the trunk. After thinking about it, we filled 3 empty wine bottles with the remaining fuel and sealed them with corks. I'm really not sure if that was safer or just a crude imitation of a firebomb, but I felt it would prevent the accumulation of gas fumes in the trunk.

For breakfast we cooked the pancakes in the tent, but the parsons table was quite wobbly since we were camped on a thick carpet of grass. Pumping the stove without sloshing boiling water all over the place was tricky, and frying pancakes was also pretty difficult. Monika's feet were blistered from all the walking the previous day on hot pavement, so she bandaged them before we walked back to the flight line.

This time we turned South to visit the antique and classic civilian aircraft and then the ultralight section. The ultralights had their own field and were already very busy flying patterns although it was 7:00 a.m. Part of the flying frenzy was due to the previous day's high winds preventing most ultralight flying, whereas today was perfect--a near calm and a beautiful clear blue sky. After watching for about an hour, we hopped a tram back to the control tower to save Monika's feet.

The main shops are near the tower, so we visited them before going to the first forum of the day. At the EAA store I bought an EAA windbreaker, Monika bought a sweatshirt, and we picked out T-shirts for the boys & Laura. In the other shops I bought hearing protectors (2 for $15) and tiedowns for grass fields for the airplane ($15). I resisted buying many other things although strongly tempted.

Our first forum was on the Global Positioning System (GPS), which I though might be boring. However, the speaker got into the nitty-gritty of how the satellite signals are processed and how location is determined from these signals, which we both found interesting. The GPS system can be remarkably accurate and I really wanted one, but I held off due to the $500 to $1500 price tags on these units (maybe after the boys are through college).

The second forum was on the history of aviation gasoline and the use of automobile gas in aircraft. I thought the topic was moderately interesting, but the speaker was boring. Monika was bored by both the speaker and the topic, and could not avoid dozing off during the lecture--as did some others. After this refreshing nap, we toured the Fly Market again as all the shops were open and eager for business. I counted four separate places selling a special low-temperature aluminum welding rod, each one with a live demonstration of welding Coke cans together. Very useful for those difficult recycling days, I guess.

I also found used aircraft parts vendors who offered intriguing bits of airplanes for sale (e.g. a gyrohorizon from a WWII Spitfire). Prices were very reasonable and typically the "Show Offers" are actually a good deal. I saw a simple Heads-Up-Display for general aviation aircraft for $500, and good prices on used aircraft engines.

We tried to get into the flight line an hour early to get good seats for the afternoon airshow, but the front row seats were already taken. The afternoon fly-by of Warbirds was quite impressive, but people kept pushing in front of us to get pictures and blocking Monika's view in particular since she is short. Monika was disgusted at this impolite behavior and said they acted just like Germans, who typically crowd forward in an inconsiderate manner. We were both hot and tired, so we left at the beginning of the airshow to pack up the tent and return to Burlington to spend one more night with Mom, Merlin, and Lois.

Leaving Oshkosh early led to our arriving in Burlington in time to catch the last three numbers of the local band, in which Lois and Merlin play. Mom was watching from the lawn in front of the band's large gazebo, so we just joined her. Afterwards, we had a lovely evening chat with her, and it was nice to sleep in a real bed with airconditioning. Our endurance for primitive camping conditions seems to have decreased from the old days.

Saturday, 8/1

Despite our protests, our long-suffering hosts arose at 5:30 a.m. to see us off at 6:07 a.m. We hit the Edens Expressway at 7:00 a.m. and endured a 15-20 minute backup on the Kennedy Expressway right before the center of Chicago. Taking the Skyway, we crossed into Indiana at 9:00 a.m. and stopped briefly for breakfast. Losing an hour due to the time zone change in Indiana, we crossed into Ohio around noon and into Pennsylvania about 4:00 p.m. We decided we could make it by 9 or 10 that evening, so we pushed on to Breezewood where we had a nice dinner at a Bob Evans "Country Store", which seemed to be a direct copy of Cracker Barrel restaurants. From Breezewood, it took us a little over two hours to get back home--we arrived about 10:15 p.m. and collapsed into our old, familiar bed. The nice thing about returning in one day is that we made Martin's voice recital the next day with no problems at all.