Lawyers, Guns and Money
 

With apologies to the late, great Warren Zevon....

Well, I went home with the waitress
The way I always do
How was I to know
She was with the Russians, too (Hey Vlad!)



I was gambling in Havana
I took a little risk
Send lawyers, guns and money
Dad, get me out of this

Not that Havana, in this case Havana Regional in Illinois. The EAA Chapter and the RAF hosted an "Out of this World" Astronomy Fly-In Camping Night. BEST. FLY-IN. EVER.

We scooted out to KANE with the gear after work and headed south to Havana! Nice tailwind had us moving nicely.....


Crossed the Mississip at Moline


Landed, enjoyed a great dinner put on by the EAA chapter and made camp by the beans - 9I0 is a beautiful grass strip in the country!


17 planes - 3 RV's showed up! There was a twin, a classic 170, and a Europa, too......


Beautiful sunset.......Perfect weather for stargazing!


The University of Illinois Astronomy Society http://uias.astro.illinois.edu/ brought their knowledge and telescopes to Havana to teach us about the stars. We saw Jupiter and the Galilean moons, Saturn with its ring system and big moon Titan, The Whirlpool and Dumbbell Galaxies, as well as other deep space objects. We discussed the expanding of the universe and dark matter - it was wonderful! They were great tour guides! Many of them said these were the darkest skies they had experienced.


Almost Go- time! Andi and I walked the length of the runway (with a few illegal Spotted Cows) chasing fireflies to burn off the burgers until they turned off the beacon and runway lights at 9:30 (by NoTAM) and the Star Party began!



This morning, we had just taken the tent down when.....

Send lawyers, guns and Chinooks!
The **** has hit the fan

Nobody slept in and missed the pancakes!





We munched down some pancakes and sausage, toured the Chinook, then headed north and ended up home before lunch.......... This was a seriously great time. Kudos to EAA Chapter 1420 and the the RAF for a great idea and flawless execution!!

Hey, I saw pictures of this from my friend Mariano - I think he was the "Classic 170" driver!

Looked like a really cool idea for a fly-in.

Havana huh. And a waitress... Pete I am plain jealous. You completed 5 trips while I am still in the middle of one. My Chinook had a different color (don't even think of touring it) and I also didn't have pancakes. Did I mentioned the sun never set? :D

Havana!
 

Mariano camped right next to us with his beautiful daughter Olivia! A bunch of great people were there!

Vlad, you will have 5 times the stories, I am sure!