Well Friday finally rolled around all too quickly and it was time for us
to pack up and head for home. We figured we had walked at least 7 to
8 miles per day, every day, while here and to be totally honest, we were
dead tired by the time we broke camp and got it all packed up. Here is one
very tired girl waiting for the cart to come give us a lift out to the
airplane:
After loading up and saying our goodbyes, we taxied out to Runway 36 for
our departure. The controllers were lining up the departing aircraft side-by-side
for takeoff:
They sent us off first and then after we lifted off, they sent the Beachcraft
behind us.
Michelle snapped a couple of pictures of the Oshkosh grounds as we took off.
Here we are just lifting off:
Climbing out on the runway heading:
That's vintage and show-plane camping in the foreground.
After turning southeast bound, she took this picture of the Oshkosh
grounds:
The shoreline along Lake Michigan:
Here was a very nice golf course community in southern Wisconsin:
The flight down to our first fuel stop was clear and smooth so we stayed
at about 2500 feet the whole way to enjoy the scenery. Again, I really
liked the windmills in northern Illinois:
We decided to return to Litchfield, IL once again, due to the cheap fuel. So about 2.5 hours after departing from OSH we were in the pattern for Litchfield. The wind was nearly calm and I lined up with the runway and touched down nice and smooth. We took the airport van into town for a couple of burgers at the local Ruby Tuesdays.
Getting back to the airport, we fuelsed, checked the oil, and off we we went for our final leg of the trip this day. We decided to stop again in Tunica, MS (just south of Memphis) and stay in the Hotel that the company I work for owns.
As we approached Tunica, MS, the sun was getting low in the sky and Michelle
got this terrific picture of the sunset over the Mississippi river near Memphis,
TN.:
Our approach to the Tunica airport brought us right over the Gold Strike
Hotel and Casino where we stayed.
As we settled in for the night we were both exhausted. We took showers and ordered room service then fell into bed, both of us asleep before or heads hit the pillow.
We were up the next morning at about 6 am and out the door by 7 am. The weather forecast for the Mississippi gulf coast called for partly cloudy in the morning but numerous T-storms by early afternoon. So we were off the ground and headed home by 8 am for the final leg of our little Oshkosh adventure.
We arrived home just before the T-storms came in as predicted about 2 hours
later. What a trip! Airventure 2009 - Oshkosh, WI. Been there,
done that, got the T-shirt to prove it:
