I spent yesterday at the airport, washing and waxing the plane with David’s help. It was hot, hard work but we got it done. We then verified that reduced air friction from the smoother paint truly does improve performance; the glistening plane is at least 5 knots faster while parked in the hangar. I woke up this morning with my body tired and achy. After all that work yesterday, I figured that I would take it easy and skip my usual Monday run. Imagine my surprise when 7:00am rolled around and I found that I wanted to get outside and at least walk for half an hour or so. Heck, it was just 68° outside; I could not waste a cool morning. I was doubly surprised when I had walked to the point where I usually being to run and I felt like running, not walking, so I did. The half hour run/walk felt great. A year ago, I never would have imagined that I would actually be looking forward to my next chance to get outside and run.

I had my annual physical exam last week and got the best surprise of the day came late this afternoon when I called the doctor’s office to learn the results of the blood tests. Not only was everything “OK” but my cholesterol numbers have continued to drop. When I started walking in May 2009, I was taking both Zetia and Lipitor to keep my cholesterol under control. The walking and weight loss helped enough that I was able to drop the Zetia on February 8. This afternoon, my doctor agreed that I can drop the Lipitor as well. I will do another blood test in six weeks to confirm that my numbers stay within the desired limits but I have high hopes.

Sign me up! This looks like more fun than a barrel of monkeys.

[Updated 8/19/2010 to insert a missing title.]

Since I have a Piper Arrow for flights where I want to “get there,” I am just looking for a fun, economical ride-in-the-sky. My obvious next choice was a much more bare-bones trike, perhaps even a single seater. (Click any photo for a larger version.)

A single seat weight shift trike approaches a landing at AirVenture 2010

These look like every bit as much fun as the two seat trike that I had been up in but, ultimately, I gave up on these for a couple of reasons. First, and this is the biggest, I know that I want to share these flights with people who are not pilots (like my wife and the kids next door). Second, though it is possible to fold the wing of a trike, it is a time consuming process. Since I want to stow this craft in the T-hangar with my Arrow, it needs to fold up pretty small while still being quick to assemble for flight and disassemble for storage.

Before I gave up on the idea of single seat planes, I seriously considered several single seat ultralight airplanes with traditional wings. Some of these can be folded for storage (some more easily than others) and many of them are so diminutive they are downright cute. Check out this CGS Hawk; it looks like a giant kite that escaped its string. Though this one has a fully enclosed cabin, the doors can be unzipped and removed for that open air feeling.

CGS Hawk ultralight lines up for landing at AirVenture 2010

There are bunches of planes of this ilk, one or two seats, fabric covered, designed for some friendly buzzing about the sky. Many can be folded for storage in trailers or shared hangars. I was hooked and ready to take one home until I stumbled across Skyview Powered Parachutes’ display. Morris Yoder spent endless hours explaining all the joys of PPC flight to me, answering way more questions than any sane man should be expected to tolerate, and eventually flying me around for about 40 minutes on a picture perfect evening.

Commander powered parachute in flight at AirVenture 2010

Unfortunately, I did not take my camera on this flight but I did take several pictures while on the ground. Click any of the photos in this article to get to my AirVenture 2010 album.

This was exactly the kind of flying that I had been looking for. We puttered along at 30 mph about 300 feet in the air. Once in level flight (adjusted with the throttle) all steering was done with the feet so hands were free for photos or whatever. I waved at people below and enjoyed the sight of other PPC’s near us and the Goodyear blimp in the distance.

There is just one problem: keeping your speed up on final

"Keep your speed up on final"

For those of you who are not familiar with the runway configuration at Oshkosh; fear not! Those airplanes are not really about to mow down the PPC. The ultralight runway is near, and diagonal to, the approach end of runway 36. It was a tremendous kick, though, to fly a base leg in a PPC that was parallel to the final approach for “real” airplanes landing on runway 36 just a hundred yards or so away.

I reluctantly wandered north from the ultralight field after my flight and after everyone was done flying and after it was obvious that Morris and his friends were more than ready to stow their planes and head for dinner. We have more than enough sultry, still evenings in St. Louis to provide plenty of good opportunities to fly a PPC, if only I can figure out a way to get one into my hangar. Even more tantalizing, a PPC could easily tuck into the corner of my hangar and be out and ready to fly in about 15 minutes.

Sunset over the ultralight field at AirVenture 2010

The new hybrid cars like the Ford Fusion shut their engines down completely at stop signs. I wonder if I can do that, too.

Route from St. Charles County, Missouri, to Oshkosh, Wisconsin

I packed Saturday afternoon, got a good night’s rest, and was ready to go on Sunday morning. There was just one teeny tiny problem: after receiving ten inches of rain in July, the grass at Oshkosh was too wet to accommodate campers with airplanes, or cars, for that matter. Frustrating though it was, I delayed our departure for 24 hours; there was no sense flying north when there was nowhere to land. Better to sleep at home in my own bed for another night.

Monday brought more sour news, still no general aviation camping but the blog said, “The North 40 is still being evaluated, with the goal of opening it sometime today.” Since Chris was at his house, not mine, I realized that we would need at least two hours from the time the airfield opened to be airborne. Chris would need to marshal his mother for the ride to my house, drive over here, we would then need to drive to Smartt field, load the plane, and take off. Add in the flight time and it would be almost five hours after the field opened until we were at our campsite. I figured that we could trim that time almost in half by heading for SET, loading the plane, and waiting at St. Charles Flying Service for the word that OSH was open.

Again, my plans were foiled by mud. Lunch time came and the North 40 at OSH was still to0 wet to allow arrivals. Chris and I borrowed the crew car from SCFS and got a bite from lunch. Surely, the field would open if given another hour of sunshine. But no, it did not.

Desperation was beginning to set in. If you think being all dressed up with nowhere to go on a Saturday night is bad, imagine being all packed for a vacation with nowhere to go. It turned out that Dodge County Airport in Juneau, WI, about 40 miles south of Oshkosh, was welcoming planes en route to AirVenture and would allow us to camp there overnight, if need be. Chris and I decided to fly as far as UNU and see if OSH opened up. If Oshkosh did open, we would only be about 20 minutes away. As we approached UNU, the airshow at Oshkosh was in process so OSH was closed. We landed for gas at UNU and to wait out the airshow.

While at Juneau, I spent quite a bit of time talking to folks from Evolution Trikes who where flying three of their Revo weight-shift trikes from Florida to Oshkosh. They were good enough to give me a ride in one at OSH, a couple of days later, and I immediately fell in love with it. Imagine riding a motorcycle at 60 MPH about 300 feet in the air on a beautiful summer afternoon. What’s not to love?

A Revo weight shift trike takes off at AirVenture 2010

Speaking of Juneau, I cannot praise the good folks at Wisconsin Aviation highly enough. So many of us had diverted to UNU that it looked like AirVenture had moved south. Despite this amazing influx of airplanes and people, everything ran like clockwork at Wisconsin Aviation with the staff uniformly calm, collected, cheerful and efficient. When I initially self-announced on the CTAF frequency, a friendly voice responded with confirmation of the weather and a suggestion for the current in-use runway. By the time we taxied to the ramp, a lineman was outside, directing us to the fuel pump. The plane was promptly fueled and moved to a secure location (on pavement, yet!). A frequently running shuttle van took Chris to town while I availed myself of a comfortable couch and some handy cold cuts for snacking. Wisconsin Aviation won AvWeb’s FBO of the Week on August 2. Congratulations!

With the airshow scheduled to end at 6:30pm, a whole slew of planes departed for RIPON, the entry point for arrivals to AirVenture, a few minutes after 6:00pm. The plan was to be in position, just outside RIPON, when (if) the field opened and then to dash in to a landing before someone changed their mind and closed the field again.

Route from Juneau airport (UNU) to Oshkosh airport (OSH)

Not surprisingly, we were not the only geniuses with this idea. Flying just south of RIPON at 6:20pm on Monday, July 26, was more exciting than I like my flying to be. There were to many planes in the air that Chris and I actually stopped calling the traffic out to each other; it was impossible to verbally spot each one. The AirVenture powers-that-be did open the field and we were able to fly our approach and land on runway 18R.

Oshkosh runway 18R arrival via Fisk Avenue

Once on the ground, I expected to be directed to the North 40 for parking and camping. Since very few planes had gotten in thus far, I figured that we would be on the south side of runway 9-27, between the red shower house and the entry gate, all together a prime location. Bizarrely, we were directed to the far northeast corner of the field and parked in an area clearly signed, “No Camping.” Once out of the plane we learned three things: 1) We could not camp where we parked because there were no toilets, no water, no showers, and no regular bus service. 2) We should load out stuff onto school buses and we would be driven to the North 40 where we could camp (but not taxi or park our planes). 3) The field was closed again; they had so many planes on the ground that they figured it would take until dark to get us all settled in. Chris and I were lucky, we had squeaked into the field during the slim hour that new arrivals were allowed!

Chris hopped onto the first bus and headed off to find the friend he planned to camp with. I got onto a somewhat later bus which took me to a great spot, just two rows from the shower house. After setting up my tent, I headed off to a much needed steak dinner and a few beers with my new camping neighbor, Doug Kropelnicki.

Mom: You have a spelling test today, Susan. I don’t know where your words are.

Susan: I know them, Mom.

Mom: You sure?

I was stunned; this mother had had the chance to build her daughter up by responding, “That’s great, Susan! I’m so proud of you.” Instead, she told Susan that, not only was her word not to be trusted but that her ability to actually learn her spelling words was in doubt. With those double blows to her ego, it was no wonder that Susan had no answer to her mom’s question.

You can spoil a child with too many material things but you cannot spoil a child with too much love. Legitimate praise for a job well done, legitimate recognition for honest effort, is always in order. Imagine how good it feels to have someone tell you that they believe in you, that they believe you did something well. Give the gift of that feeling to your children as often as you can. Be your kids’ biggest cheerleader. I know you can and I know that you will be great at it.

Hamstring stretch

I got there! When I first started running and stretching, I started doing the canonical hamstring stretch after each run. Close your eyes and picture, if you will, graceful and youthful me lithely stretching toward my oh so distant toes and failing miserably to achieve that oh so distant goal. My fingertips lingered in mid-air somewhere past my knee; you could even have imagined them at mid-calf if you had been generously inclined.

But today, ah joyous morning, I was able to reach my toes with both hands for the first time. Photo attached. Whoo hoo!

I have been running for two minutes and then walking for eight (repeating for a total of 30 minutes). Next week, I advance to run three, walk seven.

US President Barack Obama has confirmed the end of all combat operations in Iraq by 31 August. Some 50,000 of 65,000 US troops currently in Iraq are set to remain until the end of 2011 to advise Iraqi forces and protect US interests.
<snip>
The remaining 50,000 troops will stay in the country in order to train Iraqi security forces, conduct counterterrorism operations and provide civilians with ongoing security, said Mr Obama.
[via BBC News - Obama confirms plan for US troop withdrawal from Iraq]

I am not naive enough to believe that none of our men and women will be injured or killed after the “end of all combat operations.” I am not concerned (for the moment) with whether or nor we “won” or “lost” this war or whether we should or should not have invaded in the first place.

As these vets come home, we should welcome them with gratitude and appreciation for doing their jobs bravely and well. Each one served our interests as expressed by our freely elected federal government.

I am optimistic enough, and I invite you to join me in this, to look forward to the end of 2011 when the last of our troops come home from Iraq. Beyond that, I look forward to the day (not too far off, I hope) when we are not involved in any wars anywhere.

Having done this for a week, I know that I can continue with the program, that I will not need to drop back to solely walking. So, here is my first goal: to be able to run comfortably for 30 minutes. I am nowhere near that yet; running 1 minute then walking 1 minute is still tough but give me a few weeks. I’ll get there.

Lesson for the day: If I am sweating, I am working hard. If I am sweating like a pig and water is pouring down my arms and off my hands faster than it flows out of my garden hose then I am running in St. Louis on a summer morning. Gotta love this weather!