Oshkosh Airventure 2011

This is the album of my big airplane trip for 2011 to the Airventure airshow and fly-in at Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Someone described Airventure as a week long airplane orgy, which I found was fairly accurate ;-) There are not many photos of me because I was by myself, and I was very wary of handing any random tourist my DSLR cameral with a brand new $700 Tamron lens. But there are a few, if you hunt for them.

I began the trip on Thursday, July 23rd. This was my first stop at Reno; it was a gorgeous day.
Next stop, Elko, Nevada
Final stop and overnight for day one, Ogden, Utah.
There is no spot in Ogden that does not have a spectacular mountain view.
Day two, after departing Ogden, looking west back at the Ogden airport and Great Salt Lake.
Passing over Rock Springs, Wyoming airport.
First stop of day two: Casper, Wyoming
Second stop of day two, Gillette, Wyoming.
Northeast of Gillette, in the far northeast corner of Wyoming stands Devil's Tower. I had programmed its location into the GPS because I was not sure how easy it would be to find, as it is not near any towns or major highways. But it stands out pretty well. This photo is from about 25 miles away.
I circled it twice, at a distance of about 3 miles. It stands just over 1,200 feet high.
The shape looks quite different from different angles.
The obligatory off-the-wingtip shot
After about another hour, I reached Mount Rushmore, on the western edge of South Dakota. It was late afternoon, not the best time of day because the monument faces southeast, it was mostly in shadow.
From the ground you can't see how much of the mountain is behind the monument.
The two large parking structures and amphitheater seem to dwarf the monument itself.
Arriving at overnight stop on day two, Rapid City, South Dakota. As usual, the tug's towbar would not fit, so we had to push the Grob by hand to it's overnight parking spot.
A large thunderstorm to the east.
The next day, my next destination Minneapolis was besieged by more thunderstorms, so I stayed over and played tourist in Rapid City. Here is a portion of the downtown district.
A new plaza was under construction.
More of the downtown.
I also visited Mount Rushmore from the ground.
Other people had no qualms about buzzing the monument. This SIAI Marchetti zoomed directly over the vistor center at about 500 feet.
Yes, it was really me on this trip.
Preparing to depart Rapid City the next day,I noticed another airplane also Oshkosh bound.
Next stop after Rapid City was Huron, South Dakota.
Huron has plenty of parking space.
I flew over quite a few large windmill installations in Wyoming and South Dakota. This was one of the largest.
Approaching my next overnight stop, Flying Cloud airport in Eden Prairie, MN. Downtown Minneapolis can be faintly seen in the distance.
At Flying Cloud, the FBO let me use their crew car, a 1998 Lincoln Grand Marquis.
Preparing to depart Flying Cloud, next stop Oshkosh!
Crossing over the Mississippi River at La Crosse, Wisconsin.
Arriving in my Oshkosh parking spot in the far northeast corner of the airport.
Welcome to Oshkosh!
I stayed at the Oshkosh YMCA. A shuttle bus took us to the airport in the morning and back each evening.
My campground on the indoor soccer field of the YMCA.
Lots of weird airplanes on display
"Can someone direct me to warbird parking?"
So that's where fighter pilots carry their suitcase
This "solar-assist" aircraft was supposed to fly on Wednesday, but that was rain day. I didn't hear if it got another chance.
A KR-2 kitplane converted to electric power.