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Barnstorming around the country

LettersFromFlyoverCountry

Well Known Member
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First the required RV content. When I was talking with J.W. French yesterday, he revealed to me that he wanted to do the Sam Burgess Memorial Junkett in an RV. But because his hero did it in a biplane of some reknown, he bought an Acro Sport. But it was fitting, I think, that he started the trip with a stop at Bruce Bohannon's, where I've now picked up the phrase "going to choir practice" as a euphemism for going to the hangar to work on the RV.

J.W. completed his mission the other night when he landed in South Dakota, and is now pressing on toward Oshkosh where he'll be at show center near Homebuilder's Corner.

We had a nice get-together last night with a few RVers in the house, and J.W. stayed at my house last night.

I've written about it here. And my colleague has written a story about it that answers the question, who is Sam Burgess. I've been following the whole journey, originally reported in Sport Aviation magazine earlier this year, but I had no idea what part the demise of Mr. Burgess played in this trip.

Funny thing. I had pretty much decided to skip Oshkosh this year, and then this biplane driver drops out of the sky to tell me his story about how he was all bottled up with physical infirmaties and then decided he just need to go and do -- as they say on the Powdermilk Biscuits ad -- what needed to be done. He went flying.

Last night as we were chatting, he struggled up off the couch and said over his shoulder, "you're talking about all the reasons not to go to Oshkosh, I think if you have a chance to do something, you just ought to get up and go do it..."

Yeah. Kind of like building an RV.
 
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Great Story!

Great story Bob - thanks for writing about this and bringing it to everyone's attention!

One possible correction however:
.... I've now picked up the phrase "going to choir practice" as a euphemism for going to the hangar to work on the RV.....

Very little RV work gets done at "choir practice" the singing comes from a lubrication other than drilling fluid, but the resulting harmony and enjoyment by the participants is quite high - as you would expect from a gathering of aviators on a summer's evening. Either way, it could be considered a religious experience....;)

("Choir Practice" is the term used to keep some spousal units/equivalents happy....fortunately, mine attends!):rolleyes:

Paul
 
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