The last time I flew into Airventure, I landed my -7A on Runway 27. Of course, they want you to turn into the grass as quickly as possible after landing. I was close enough to a regular taxiway, so I turned off 27 the to the north onto the taxiway. So far so good, but it was short-lived.
Not 50 feet off the runway, I was directed into the grass to taxi around the end of 27, past the North 40 camping area and finally, after taxiing over a mile on the rough, undulating grass, I got to a hard surface taxiway and, eventually, to Homebuilt camping. That long taxiing on the grass was agonizingly brutal for both me and the plane, with the stick full aft the entire time. I commiserated later with Ken Scott at the Vans tent, who had the same experience.
Fortunately, there was no damage to the plane. The ground was certainly firm enough. With full aft stick, the nosewheel was unloaded most of the time. Adding power at key times helped lighten the nosewheel.
The whole point of this is: 'Don't do what I did.' Figure out in advance where you're parking place will be and try to minimize taxi time on grass. It's also the luck of the draw. I had requested of the Fisk controllers to go to 36, but was told to proceed to 27.
Looking back, I think I could have made a left hand turn off of 27 into grass, which would have helped greatly (planning ahead).
Everybody finds there way to enjoy and deal with Airventure. I've been to Airventure in 30 of the past 35 years, either flying or driving. My goal was to build my RV-7A and fly it into OSH, which I've done twice and camped in Homebuilt camping each time.
I'll continue attending Airventure, but if I fly-in, I'll be parking my -7A at Appleton to remove extra risk that I don't need.
Mike