Another year has come and the Airventure season is upon us.  Since my building has suffered all year, I thought what I needed for that extra "kick in the you know what" was to go to Airventure this year.  I figured that it would be a good stimulus to get back into building.

We were going to drive and stay at a motel like we have done in years past.  As I got to thinking about our previous Airventure experiences, I thought that it would be fun to stay on the grounds and camp at Scholler.  I was given direction by Tami that if we were going to camp this year "WE WEREN'T PACKING LIGHT".  After further explanation, I learned that to mean we would be packing big air mattresses, big tent, lounge chairs, grills, shade canopies, etc.  Well, all that junk (I mean camping gear) was not going to fit in either of our cars.  We decided to rent a minivan which turned out to be a GREAT IDEA.

When we went to pickup the minivan, we were pleasantly surprised to see that it had a flip down LCD screen and a 6 DVD player in it.  Tami took to do her crafts and watching movies on our 10 hr drive up to OSH.

While I didn't get to use the DVD player and watch movies, I did get to use my Garmin 396 and geek out on XM Weather and XM Radio.  I think that reclining in the rear seats and watching a movie was still a better deal.

After what felt like a LONG drive, we are getting close to OSH.  If I just flew the Cherokee, this would have only taken 4 hours instead of 10.  Or better yet, get my RV done and be there in 2 hours.

Getting Close.....

Finally, our arrival at Camp Scholler was met with a line to get into the camp.  This was our first time to Scholler.  They really had the in processing thing figured out.  It only took us 20 minutes or so to get processed into the camp.  They keep it simple by charging you for the whole week and then they refund the difference if you should leave early.

This guy in front of me had the right idea.  If you are going camping to Scholler, take bicycles or some other mode of transportation.  It is a long walk to the field.  EAA has set up a bicycle area right at the gates so you could ride from your campsite right up to the gates of the airshow.  This would have saved a ton of walking.  Not to mention going to get ice, water, and taking a shower.

Camp Scholler is HUGE.  You just drive around until find an open patch of grass and setup.  I thought that I wouldn't have enough room for our larger tent, canopy, and minivan.  As it turned out, our campsite was relatively no thrills compared to the size of other camp sites.

I caught Tami off guard with her hands full washing some dishes after din-din.... 

Tami made me buy some lounge chairs for the trip.  Those turned out to be a great camping investment.

Tami made quick use of a cell phone.  While I wanted to look at airplanes, she wanted to shop....  She was calling her friend Jan to see what size shirts the kids wore.

Somebody had a sense of humor.....

Mike Stewarts Super 8.  I like his paint scheme...

Dan always seemed to draw several people who wanted to stop and chat since he is more or less an icon in the RV-7 builder ranks.

Here is a rear shot of Mike Stewarts 'Super 8'.  Several RV's were getting ready to head out for some formation flying over OSH.

Of course, everyone knows this airplane....

I liked the paint detail on this RV-8.  I love the looks of painted props.

Their paint scheme is normally one that I would pick, but it was sure a nice paint job.  You can see the mirror on the ground under the wing showing the back sides of the cards painted on the wing bottom.

They had a ton of detail in their paint...  It was fun to look at.

Although not pictured, they had the back of the cards painted on the bottom of the wing....

Here is some shots of the RV formation flight.  They looked really good!!!!!

It is amazing of how big OshKosh is and how many people are there.

One of our laps around the field, we stopped over to Van's tent and caught Van out talking about their newest airplane, the RV-12.  It was hard to get in there as the RV-12 drew a pretty good crowd.

I didn't take to many pictures of RV's, but I liked this guys paint job.

I also like this "Holy Cowl" and am considering it for my -7.

This B-1B Lancer Bomber was impressive to look at.  It came in while we were out at the campground and it did a high performance climb after its low pass.  Man, that climb out was impressive for such a big aircraft.

The crowd for the Monday night Beach Boys concert started gathering early in the afternoon.

Getting close to show time, the clouds rolled in and it looked like we were going to get wet.

As the concert neared, the crowd just kept growing and growing.  You can see the front coming through.  Like I said, I thought we were going to be in a down pour....

The Ford Motor Company sponsored the Beach Boys Concert and prior to the concert, the Ford Girls came out and got the crowd started by shooting T-Shirts into the crowd with air cannons.  Those cannons were really neat....  I put a link below if you have a need for using an air cannon....

http://www.aircannonsinc.com/

Those cannons could shoot T-Shirts darn near to the back of the crowd.

They look like they are having fun.....

More T-Shirts....

Then the Beach Boys came out and started the concert.  It really is only 2 of the original Beach Boys and the rest of the band is new, unknowns (with the exception of John Stamos).  You may recall John Stamos used to be on Full House.

We were a ways from the stands, but there were people behind us for quite a ways too.

It was still really loud from this distance.

Even the little kids enjoyed the concert....

Tami kept wanting me to get close ups of John....  The Beach Boys sure made fun of him and his Full House residual checks. 

John had all kinds of help playing the drums.

Overall, the Beach Boys put on a pretty good show.  It rained on us a little, which allowed us to get pretty close and most of the fair weather concert goers left.  The Beach Boys played on so we stayed and took in the show.