So...it's that time of year again for the annual trip to aviation Mecca - Oshkosh!  A quick oil change:

As much as I look forward to Oshkosh, I also dread it, because it is when I do my annual wash/wax (including the belly).  I really should move this event to the winter time - miserably hot in the hangar in July!  She looks good, though!

I usually go Sat - Sat and I wanted to get an early start as the later you arrive, the busier the arrival is.  This is the third year that I have flown to Oshkosh, and the procedure is quite easy, but the arrival can get a bit crazy when traffic is heavy, so I like to arrive early before the crowds.  Another Oshkosh tradition - gorp!  Keeps me away from the high-priced junk food:

 I woke very early looking at this on the radar:

This cell would have passed through, however, the afternoon was looking hot with thunderstorms:

When I looked at Sunday's weather, it was very difficult not to delay my departure to Sunday:

I really do not like leaving for a trip unless I'm 100% committed - never like having doubt in the back of my mind - so I was a bit uncomfortable during the drive to the airport with the ruminating thought of delaying my departure kicking around in my head.  To make matters worse, I drove through several areas of ground fog on the way.  Well, my decision to delay was made quite easy when I turned off onto the road (the only road) leading to the airport and saw this!

Back to the house and an early start to another day of working on the RV-10!  So a day later and an even earlier departure (busier Sunday than Saturday).  I planned on being at my first fuel stop - Huntingburg, Indiana - right at sunrise, which meant a 0315 departure.  First light and first attempt at pic:

Fuel stop in Indiana.  I stopped here last year as well due to the inexpensive fuel.  The only issue is that the fuel pit is not colocated with the FBO which means a quick trip to the bushes to use the facilities:

While planning before departure, weather was looking iffy between Indiana and the vicinity of Chicago, so I filed IFR for the second leg.  You cannot fly all the way to Oshkosh IFR, but you can file south of Oshkosh and continue the rest of the way VFR weather dependent.  Weather was looking beautiful around Oshkosh, so this plan would work.  On climb out from Indiana, I contacted center to get flight following.  I wasn't actually going to open my IFR plan, but on the initial contact, the controller informed me he had my clearance if I wanted it.  I decided to go ahead and open the IFR plan.  I'm glad I chose to open the IFR and not push my luck with the ceilings.  Fairly soon after departure, weather began to drop:

I'm glad I left as early as I did, as I just beat this system headed over my route:

Before long I was in between two solid layers:

Shortly after that, the tops began to rise:

Soon I was in and out of the tops:

About :45 from Oshkosh, the weather began to clear up.  I cancelled IFR and continued VFR to RIPON - the first point in the Oshkosh arrival:

Green lake just southwest of RIPON:

Following the east/west road (under the nose) from FISKE for the arrival to 36L.  Wittman Regional 1000, Lake Winnebago straight ahead:

Turning final to 36L.  "Land on the orange dot, welcome to Oshkosh!"

Landed at about 0830L.  About an hour later I was all set up.  My home for the week:

That evening was the RV-10 builders BBQ.  Bob Loeffler hosted this year and we had a great turn-out!  I didn't get any pics - actually, I was really bad with pics the entire week this year - not sure why I took so few.  I had signed up to help with clean up this year.  Someone snapped a pic of me conducting a little grill maintenance!

Sunrise the first morning.  Nothing better than waking to this:

Saw this close by - yes those are 4 cylinders on one side!  An IO-720 in this Lancair.  Owner says 450+ HP!

Can't imagine what this RV-10 owner paid to have his entire plane airbrushed:

One of the big things I wanted to check out was Rob Hickman's (owner of Advanced Flight Systems) RV-10 interior.  He did a panel upgrade 10 days before Oshkosh!  He also installed the new Aerosport throttle quadrant and I love it!  The always sold a quadrant, but the old one was on the panel, in the same location as the verniers would go.  This new quadrant looks awesome with the armrest.  This is definitely going in my -10 when the time comes:

Pretty awesome to see the Airbus 350 fly by:

Even more impressive on the ground:

I attended the usual amount of forums and workshops.  I'm about ready to begin tackling some fiberglass work, so I focused on composite workshops.  In this one, Sam James showed how to lay up RV intersection fairings.  He made it look super simple!

The mandatory brown arch sign:

Remember the Lancair with the IO-720?  This one was by the same builder, but with a PT-6!!!

This thing is absolutely crazy - I'll have to Google it and learn a bit about it:

My favorite place to watch the evening airshows:

Another tradition - a picture with the SOS (the Oshkosh 'after hours establishment') balloon after they pull it down.  Was there with Mike, Sarah, and their friend - all from Iowa.  I met Mike and Sarah last year; they are also building an RV-10:

As usual, I had to take lots of pics of the Cirrus SR-22.  They are such beautiful aircraft and look very similar to the -10.  I get many ideas that I would like to try to emulate on the -10 - if...I have the motivation.  This is one of those - the wing root fairing.  The RV-10 has a flat piece of fiberglass.  I would like to build it up to flow with the fuselage similar to the Cirrus':

My one junk-food weakness at Oshkosh - cheese curds!

Pretty modest purchases this year.  I'll be spending quite a bit in the near future on some systems for the build (lights, antennae, etc), so no need to spend more money than necessary while here:

This is the  first year I made it out to the seaplane base:

Absolutely gorgeous out here!

Before I knew it, it was time to head home.  I missed the Indiana wind mills on the was up due to the ceiling.  Good shot on the way back:

Pretty soon I was above growing cumulus:

The tops continued to grow with the heat of the day and soon I was zig zagging to maintain required clearance:

Nice shot of the Tennessee River through the clouds:

A quick stop in Lafayette TN for fuel - $3.99! - and 2:30 more to home dodging only a few thunderstorms along the route.  As always, another awesome week at Oshkosh!  I'm already looking forward to 2016 - my first Oshkosh as a military retiree!