Yes, it was fun! (long)
I am just tallying the numbers now and will put them up shortly. Quickly through the info, we had 89 aircraft show up from outside the airpark, as many as 59 aircraft parked on the ramp on Saturday. Overall the weather was clear, but hot...dominated by a stalled high that gave us VERY uncharacteristic weather for Friday and Saturday...hot and muggy!!
Van's Aircraft brought four airplanes over, Van and Tom Green braved the sun and heat as the RV-12 was mobbed pretty much most of the day on Saturday. They demonstrated the ease with which the wings remove, as well as all the innovation present in that plane. Dave Martin took people over to his hangar and showed off his RV12 project...wings complete and awaiting delivery of the next kit.
Back up to the Friday nite festivities...Attendees were cooled from the 100 degree heat by a keg of Drop Top Amber and coolers of water and soda. The keg must have done it's job because it died a lonely death sometime around 9PM. We served 124 meals at the BBQ on Friday nite. Amanda Richards and her 4 piece group wowed the audience with a 3 hour acoustic performance that made everyone happy. Those so inclined then moved to the Hangar Dance...
The hangar dance Friday nite was attended by about 50 people, Las Vegas entertainer (and airpark resident) Dave Upton provided entertainment for the rest of the evening at Krummel's (RV6A builder) hangar. All I heard were good comments about that. Thanks to Dennis and Eileen Krummel for offering their hangar and to Dave Upton for the entertainment!
Saturday morning dawned with aircraft trying to beat the heat and arrive early. We started serving breakfast at the EAA292 Chapter hangar at 0700 and served until 1100. We served 193 breakfasts in four hours.
The Saturday afternoon heat was relentless with few breezes. Some people took the opportunity to fly to the coast, where the temps were 40 degrees cooler (65 degrees). Others flew up to the Northwest Antique Aircraft Association fly in at McMinnville MMV(15 minute flight from Independence)...others flew to MMV to visit the Evergreen Aviation Museum. Airpark residents organized a local winery tour...so several minivans with designated drivers hit a bunch of afternoon wineries and returned in time for the Saturday evening BBQ at the hangar. There was a suggested $5.00 donation to cover expenses. We served spicy HOT brats, "regular" brats, hamburgers and brisket for dinner...and finished off the other keg. Lots of ice was melted...but the beer stayed cold to the end.
Kathy Hubele organized our housing and registration process and will get me the information to complete this informational post...I'll let you know who came the furthest, how many planes registered, etc...
I visited some with Mike Starkey who drove up from Cameron...Mike, I'm sorry we didn't hook up again as planned, I hope I'm forgiven but I was running the tread off my tennies on Saturday! Thanks so much for the personal favor, Karen enjoyed visiting with you!
I was SO stoked to get to see Tom and Bonnie Lewis who flew their beautiful RV7A from Pecan Plantation Airpark in Texas. Tom and Bonnie camped next to Karen and I at OSH last year and...well, there's just something about RV folks...seems like they can just sit down and start talking like long lost friends....we always seem to have so much in common...anyway, Tom and Bonnie came by last year and liked what they saw so planned their NW trip to include the Van's Homecoming stop at Independence on their schedule. They took advantage of the housing program and stayed down the taxiway from me. It was great to see them again and I hope they post to this thread when they get a chance...
We took scads of pics this year, and we're gonna try to post them on a picasaweb deal...but I'm not technosaavy enough yet to figure that one out, but hang tight and we'll post the link to it on this thread in the next few days...I need to get all the photos together from our "photo committee"...
We're hoping for better (cooler) weather next year, lower fuel prices and a circus tent to put up in front of the EAA Hangar. If you didn't make it this year, you DID miss the fun! Oh, and it's 75 degrees here today...
Bob Brown
