J.W. French departs

After a nice evening and a leisurely morning, J.W. French departed Fleming Field in South St. Paul, heading for his brother's place south of Madison, Wisconsin. We'll meet again next week at Oshkosh.

Who put this plane in my hangar?

J.W. French, as we speak, is sitting on the couch across from me, catching up on the news on the TV. When you're away from home for more than a month, I'll bet it's easy to lose touch with what folks are up to.

If you're an occasional reader here, you know what J.W. has been up to. He's been recreating the Sam Burgess flight on the 1970s, in which he flew solo to all 48 lower states, without the benefit of fancy navigation systems we've got today. (Listen to my MPR colleague Elizabeth Stawicki's story)

J.W. is flying an Acro Sport aerobatic airplane, even though he doesn't do aerobatics, with a Garmin 396 GPS the only concession to the new age, compared to when Sam -- a war hero, an aviation pioneer and his good friend -- did this journey.

J.W. reached the 48th state Friday when he reached South Dakota and tomorrow he'll head out to see his brother south of Madison. Next week, he'll occupy an honored location at AirVenture in Oshkosh, in commemoration for his feat.

He landed at Fleming Field in South St. Paul around lunchtime today and after sitting around the house here and grabbing some dinner, we headed back out to the hangar. It was great to open up the hangar door and see the Acro Sport sitting there.



We rolled it out to tarmac and Pete Howell and his son, Ryan, arrived in their RV-9A. Pete, as I've pointed out many times, is one of my aviation heroes. Paul Hove from EAA Chapter 54 (and an RV-7A pilot and builder) joined us as did Rep. Michael Beard, who represents Savage in the Legislature but has his hangar at South St. Paul, his son and, I presume, grandchildren (sitting in the plane in the photo above). Mitch Anderson also drove over from the Flying Cloud area.


I'm still somewhat aggravated, I admit, that we couldn't generate a bit more interest among the various EAA groups, but I'm pleased we were able to turn out enough people this evening to show our admiration for Mr. French's endeavor.

He'll be sending out his "position report" later this evening and I'll post it here.

Here's Mr. French's "position report" for today. This is the last one of his trip.

I left Sky Harbor Airpark this morning for an arduous cross country of 0.4 hours to Fleming Field in South St. Paul, Mn. Fleming Field was the base of operations for many years of Chuck Doyle, Sr. I smoothed on a good wheel landing and my host, Bob Collins, was standing by to flag me in to his hangar when I landed. Bob is a news writer for Minnesota Public Radio and also writes a blog entitled 'Letters from Flyover Country' for the RV builders that can be found at http://rvnewsletter.blogspot.com. He has done a great job of posting the SBMJ 2008 Position Reports in his blog.

Elizabeth Stawicki, a reporter from Minnesota Public Radio and a colleague of Bob's was waiting to interview me and learn about the life and times of Sam Burgess. After the interview Bob and I opened the knife-and-fork lodge in due and ancient form. I got to relax this afternoon. Paul Hove, a member of Chapter #54 Lake Elmo, MN, and a builder of a completed RV-7A joined us for supper at Bob's house. After supper we went to Bob's hangar where a number of members from Chapter #54 gathered to have a look at the Acro Sport.



Two young boys were in the group so I made sure they both got to sit in the cockpit and have their pictures taken by dad and grandpa.

We had a nice relaxing evening back at the house. Tomorrow I leave for Monroe, WI, which is an airport close to my brother's home in New Glaris, WI. I'll have a chance for a couple of days of R and R and then we'll be off to Brodhead, WI on Friday for the Pietenpol and Hatz Fly In. Bud Gores, the builder of N3791H, will be driving over from Burlington, WI to take a look at the Acro Sport. He did a great job. I haven't had a squawk on the plane the whole trip.

Next Monday I will head to Air Venture 2008 and will be there 'til the end. I'll make a report after Oshkosh, and another one about the National Antique Fly In in Blakesburg, IA after I get back home to Ft. Myers in September.

J.W. French

Barnstormer makes it to Minnesota

J.W. French, whose barnstorming messages I've been posting in a willy nilly fashion over the last few weeks, completed his mission to fly to all 48 lower states when he arrived in South Dakota Friday night. Today he was to launch for Sky Harbor airport in Minnesota and he's expressed interest in taking me up on my invitation to spend a night in the Twin Cities on Monday.

One of these days, I will write a missive on why I'm not in a local EAA chapter in the Twin Cities. Suffice it to say, my attempts to stir up some interest in Mr. French and join us to greet him has been met with a general shrug of the collective EAA chapters shoulders in these parts. Is it all of aviation or is it just Minnesota that isn't excited by a chance to hear about his exploits?

"There was a time when people in an entire town would turn out to greet a barnstomer," I said to my wife this morning. "Now, even pilots don't give a rip." It's pretty sad, and -- frankly -- a little embarrassing to me and the Twin Cities. Think of it: This guy started out this summer down in Florida, went around the Gulf, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, up through California, Oregon, Washington, Montana and all along the way he met members of EAA chapters who were thrilled to have him.

Up here? Not much of anything. Shameful. We talk about how we can stir up an interest in general aviation among the non-pilots, and we can't even light a spark among the pilots.

In any case, I've let him know it's up to him whether he wants to spend the evening with the likes of the Collins family. Just in case, I cleaned the hangar and moved the project off to the side. So at least something good will come of this...



Oh, by the way, here's Mr. French's latest e-mail:

Folks;

Friday morning Bob Little from Chapter 344 was at the airport to see me off for Billings, Mt. I was really looking forward to this leg of the trip, because this would be the last of dealing with the "Big Rocks." I elected to go south out of Helena to Bozeman, MT and follow the interstsate to Billings. There really big rocks to deal with in the pass east of Bozeman, and was glad to get that behind me.

The ceiling and visibility were great and the air was calm most of the way, with the exception of going through the pass were light chop prevailed. Billings tower cleared be for a long final to runway 11 left, so I again had to use my negotiating skills to get a 45 degree entry to to right downwind for 11, but the tower was cooperative. I was directed to Dave Standish's hangar on the west end of the field and stopped at the Chapter 57 and introduced myself to a member there. Dave's brother, Mark was there to meet me shortly and the knife-and-fork lodge was opened in due and ancient form.

That evening we visited the Chapter 57 hangar and I met Pat Kinney, the local middle school science teacher who mentored the young ladies who recovered a famous Pietenpol, and received recognition for there efforts that included an educational camp at EAA headquarters. Their project received a lot of good press. One of the young ladies is now building a Pietenpol Sky Camper. Other project in the chapter hangar include at Dorme Bathturb, a Stitts Playboy, a Starduster II, and restoration of a Culver Cadet. This chapter is really active in involving young people in aviation.

Mark Standish and his brother Dave have completed and are flying a Lancair IV. During my daily call to my wife, Vicky, we wished each other happy 10th anniversary.
Saturday July 19th, Mark saw me off on the way to mission completion. My plan for the day was to land at Bowman, ND for fuel to claim the 47th state for the Sam Burgess Memorial Junket and then spend the night at Mobridge, SD for mission accomplished.

I had not lost one day of flying since I left Ft. Myers, FL on June 15th, and success was just in sight. As soon as the XM weather came up on my Garmin 396 there were the Big Nasties to the north of Billings. I scrolled out along my intended line of flight and by deviating to the south and going on a straight line to Bowman I could stay out of the thunderstorms and rain. I had a front row seat for the fireworks to the north of me but I had a clear shot to Bowman.

After refueling at Bowman, ND I scrolled ahead on the XM weather on the GPS and found that Mobridge,SD was still on the edge of thunderstorm and shower activity and was still IFR. Maybe today wouldn't be the day I got to claim the 48th state. By the time I was 40 miles out from Mobridge the conditions went VFR and ceiling and visibility were not an issue when I got there, but there was a 20-knot wind right down the runway. The 48th state for the Sam Burgess Memorial Junket was now an accomplished fact.

Virgil, the airport manager, had me refueled in short order. He made arrangement at a local motel, handed me the keys to the courtesy car and told me where the best food in town was served. I'm not really a fan of fish, but the fresh-caught walleye pike there was outstanding. About 7:00 p.m. Virgil called me at the motel to tell me that he hoped I didn't mind, but he had gone back to the airport and put the Acro Sport in his hangar because it looked like the thunderstorm activity was coming back during the night and there might be hail in it.

Hello, Castle and Cooke, you could certainly take lessons from Virgil. What a great guy. In the morning it was off to Alexandria, MN. Now the pressure was off, because the mission was complete. Well, not exactly, Alexandria was in and out of IFR, and just on the edge of thundershowers when I left Mobridge, SD, and by the time I got to Britton, SD I elected to land and get fuel and wait the weather out. Finally I launched for Alexandria and watched it drift in and out of IFR conditions on the XM weather of my GPS. When I got about 10 miles out it was touch and go, but it opened up enough to get in. The stiff cross wind that the ASOS was reporting was really pretty much down the runway, and everything worked out alright.

Dan Barber was there to meet me and directed me to his hangar. That evening about 15 members of Chapter 702 were there at Dan's hangar for a cookout. Dan has a Stearman, an Aviat Husky and a Cirrus in his hangar, and the other members of the chapter had some interesting airplanes. Dan told me later that only two of the members there didn't own tailwheel airplanes, so it was really my kind of crowd.

After we ate they asked me to share my recollections of the life and times of Sam Burgess and the trip I had made in his memory. Sunday morning 7/20 found the ceiling just above the top of my socks, and it is now 2 PM and we are still waiting in Dan's hangar so I can make the the one hour trip to Sky Harbor (1MN8) south of Minneapolis, MN and RON with Chuck Doyle.

There are now big holes in the overcast so I should be able to leave soon.

You can also follow along on Mr. French's odyssey on the EAA site.

A REAL letter from flyover country

When it comes to aviation, I guess I'm mostly a 'gee whiz' style of writer, which is not at all the style of writing I tend to do for my day job.

Many folks seem to like both, but I can't say I've encountered a letter like the one I'm posting below. Especially when it comes to publishing the weekly RV Builder's Hotline, I'm aware that people all over the world open it up each Saturday and I think that's pretty cool. This is even better.

A few months ago, I wrote an article for Kitplanes magazine on the history of my RV airplane-building project. This week, editor Marc Cook forwarded a letter he received about the article. I admit that the way it started, well, I was pretty scared.

I am writing to demand that you never let Bob Collins ever write
anything for your magazine again. In my opinion he poses the single
greatest threat to aviation...ever.

We all know the single most important element in aviation is, of course, looking cool! Forget safety, without looking cool, who would want to be a pilot. Now, imagine me, a major airline pilot sitting in my cockpit at 35,000 ft. reading Kitplanes magazine (which, of course, I would never do because it's against the rules).

I come across the June article "Letter to a Friend" by Bob Collins and begin reading about the core elements of beauty and dedication that make us build and share this amazing experience that is homebuilding. I read about the experiences that change our lives and those of our families for the better and bring us together as a ommunity of common travelers.

And, let's say for the sake of argument I have a little moisture welling up in my eyes. Now I have to set the magazine down on the glare shield (which, of course, I would never do because it's against the rules) and turn toward the window pretending that I have dust in my eye so nobody will know that I am getting a little weepy in the cockpit! This man is a menace and must be stopped!


Yours, ever so cooley,

Chris Hawley

Talk about cool. Wherever you are, Chris Hawley, safe travels.

Why I'm not going to Oshkosh

I'm not going to Oshkosh.

There are a number of things that conspired to make this decision, as I explained earlier.

But when I got the call from a public relations person from Ford yesterday at work, that sealed the deal. She was pitching various events that Ford was promoting at AirVenture, none of which I was interested in. As a member of the media, I get a lot of these calls and e-mails, usually.

This year, though, is different. Not a single call or e-mail came from an aviation company or any individual having anything to do with the homebuilding of airplanes.

Even worse, perhaps, in my mind, is the lack of any interest I've received from EAA in helping me tell the story of the judging of homebuilt aircraft. Dick Knapinski, does an excellent, excellent job of promoting AirVenture to the media, but when he referred my request for a homebuilt judge to help me do a story on what he/she looks for when looking at an RV (I was going to do this for the RV Builder's Hotline and then also try to whack something together on the subject for my day job), I didn't get so much as a callback.

Even worse, perhaps, I didn't a single taker on my request for an RVer to use his/her airplane as the guinea pig.

If I can't get done what I wanted to get done, then what's the point?

I can follow what's going on there via the AirVenture Web site and also Doug Reeves' excellent Oshkosh page on Van's Air Force. Why go?

I'm a long, long way from joining in the usual cacophony of curmudgeonly calls for EAA to get "back to its roots." I love the EAA and I love going to Oshkosh. But to be fair, something is missing this year. I've been to Oshkosh before so Harriers, and the usual airshows don't impress me a bit.

And when I see more and more threads from RV builders about putting two AFS 3500s in their airplane, well, I'm beginning to realize just how little I have in common with a growing segment of the RV building community. Reading that stuff reminds me too much of some of the magazines I see that blare, "affordable kitchen remodeling for under $1 million."

Many people I've come to know and whom I look forward to seeing and sitting with for a few days aren't going this year. My wife says she can't take a whole week off from work and at $4 a gallon, driving a second car over at mid-week makes no sense.

The summer is slipping away and I feel like it's never gotten started. And my day job requires me to go to Denver for the Democratic convention in August and follow it up with the Republican convention in St. Paul and nothing can suck one's enthusiasm for summer faster than having the Democrats and Republicans on the agenda as the summer finale. So I need to find some free time. A week in July is it. Rather than go to Oshkosh, I'll putter around the house, try to get some projects done, and maybe take a bike ride or two.

But what concerns me most is I didn't get excited by the prospect of Oshkosh this year. It was looking like just another week on the calendar that had been scheduled.

That's not good.

RV Builder's Hotline climbs up Google

I'm like the guy who put stuff in storage and now can't get it back. A few years ago, Rob Riggen of Expercraft volunteered to host the RV Builder's Hotline on his site. Fortunately, I made copies of most everything up until about a year ago.

I no longer have any access to that data so if you enter RV Builder's Hotline in Google, it's still directing people first to the Expercraft site. For all I know, people are still signing up on that site. And, of course, some articles are still on that site.

The problem with that, of course, is the Hotline is on a different server now and I've been unable to convince Rob to put a simple "redirect" up to the new site to avoid any confusion.

Eventually, Google will learn what's going on and eventually people searching for the site will get the right spot, rather than be fooled into thinking the old site is the new site.

Today, for example, it's crept up to #4 on the list.

Three more to go!

Fun with Wordle

I've been playing with Wordle for a few days now, thanks in part to a big conversation Saturday at my day job. Succinctly, it looks at your site and then displays what's important (in bigger font) based on what it finds. This is the results for this blog. I'm kind of surprised RV is so small.

Oshkosh? Maybe. Maybe not.

It was another day, and another notification from an acquaintance that he's not going to Oshkosh this year. Bummer.

But every time I think about not going afterall, some message arrives. A few weeks ago it was a warbird flying overhead. Today it was the parking pass for the media parking lot. Little thing, I know, but important nonetheless. Oh, by the way, the official color of the camping passes and stuff this year is gold-yellow.

So far, however, I can report my heart isn't quite in it, yet. I don't feel particularly excited by Oshkosh.

I had gotten excited about the possibility of writing a piece about judging of an RV airplane, but my request to EAA communications got forwarded off to another EAA official and they never got back to me. And no RVers volunteered to be the guinea pig.

I asked my son to go with me this year. He's been struggling a lot this summer with the absence of friends. He keeps saying, "we'll see." But I may just end up making the decision for him and staying home.

We'll see.

Arlington Fly-in with J.W.

J.W. French is on his around-the-country tour. There've been several "position reports" posted here downstream. The picture above is J.W. with John Proctor with the Acro Sport at Arlington EAA Fly In.

J.W. sends this update tonight, including his Hall of Shame for bad service and high prices.

My hosts, Lee Elliott and Joan Burns has really gone out of their way to make the stay for the Arlington EAA Fly In a memorable one. Great quarterS, great food and fun people are a hard combination to beat. The Arlington EAA Fly In is really done well. The volunteers working the fly in couldn't be more friendly and cooperative. The grounds are layout well with access to the airplanes, the show line and the camping areas not being restricted while the air show is on. The were lots of great antiques and classic airplanes, the home built airplanes were well represented and a number of light sport planes were on display. I guess you can't attract the general public without the War Birds, but at least they didn't overpower the antiques, classics, and homebuilts at this fly in.

Remember our friends, Castle and Cooke, who are in first place in the HALL OF SHAME for HIGH FUEL PRICES and NON-EXISTENT CUSTOMER SERVICE. They were at the Arlington EAA Fly In to cinch as a dead certainty their FIRST PLACE position in the HALL OF SHAME. They had a lock on the fuel service at the Fly In with a from the truck price of $6.74/ gallon for up to 50 gallons, for 50 gallons or more they knocked off a whole $0.10. Don't you just love the operators who are doing their best to grab every dime from general aviation "just because they can."

I left before the air show started this morning to take advantage of the cooler temperature, calmer wind, and smoother air for my trip through the "big rocks" from Arlington, WA to Martin Field (S95) out side of Walla Walla, WA in the Columbia River Valley.

I made the trip at 7500 msl over some really rugged mountains with no place to land if the engine decides to take a dump. This not something I will ever get used to, but it is a necessity if you are going to get from point A to point B in this part of the country. I was really glad to get out of the mountain environment when I passed Ellensburgh, WA. I lost all satellite reception about 45 minutes out from my destination and had to resort to dead reckoning with the chart, the whiskey compass and the clock. All the satellite signals showed in the green on the Garmin 396, but a red message appeared that satellite reception was lost and the moving map and all navigation pages went blank. This was in the vicinity of a restricted area around a nuke plant, and I suspect that our government is messing with the satellite signals there like they did in the old days when they purposely degraded the signal at will.

I love my country, it's the government that really scares me. I finally got the signal back about 15 minutes out after shutting the GPS off and re-starting it. I was able to smooth another good landing on with no audience. Wilma Cheney, (no I won't go quail hunting with any of them) met me at the fuel pump and in short order the Acro Sport was safely put away in the hangar, my gear was put in the guest house, and Wilma made me a sandwich for lunch. The Cheney's own Martin Field and it appears to be one of those remaining bastions of general aviation that continues as a labor of love by people dedicated to grass roots aviation. Castle and Cooke could take a lesson from these folk.

The Chapter #604 annual picnic is tomorrow evening and I will leave the following day for Sky Meadows Air Park (WN92) outside of COE for an RON with Rob Neils.

What's new at the Arlington Fly-in

You tell me. I know a lot of RVers have headed up there and I understand Van's has announced the fuselage kit will be the next RV-12 subkit made available. I'm looking for details of what's gone on this weekend and any pictures you may have.

Contact me at bob@rvbuildershotline.com.

RV Builder's Hotline - July 12, 2008

I'm really excited this evening because I've finally found the perfect spot and delivery vehicle for the RV Builder's Hotline.

Beginning now, the new address is http://rvbuildershotline.com, which -- I hope -- will make it easier for you to find it if you can remember the name.

The new domain hosting service also has plenty of nifty applications which should make it easier to add some additional functionality to the weekly newsletter, which -- if you didn't know -- tries to aggregate some of the building information for RV builders.

These days, it could serve as the Reader's Digest version of Van's Air Force, there's so much information on Doug's site. But the bigger it gets, the harder it gets to find individual building items. Between that fact, and just "aw shucks" interesting stuff I tend to find, I think the Hotline serves a purpose to help enhance your Web browsing experiences. Lord knows, we're too busy to find it ourselves, quite often.

Oh, I've also set up a completely automated method of subscribing -- and unsubscribing -- to the Hotline. Just go here.

I also have a better mailing system now so they can all be mailed out to you quickly and much more efficiently.

So, what else would you like to see in the Hotline? Just let me know. Add a comment here. I'll see it.

You'll note in this latest issue, I'm looking for anyone who is taking a computer to Oshkosh and can take some notes on any forums you're going to. Let's compare notes.

When passion dies

I see this view far too often. I saw it again tonight.

A line of storms moved through the Twin Cities, clearing out the heat and humidity and leaving a (mostly) clear sky with some cumulonimbus clouds well off in the distance for effect, and a breeze so fresh it makes you regret that the design of homo sapiens requires us to exhale at all.

The orange windsock at the end of this row, hung limp. Off by the baseball diamond just beyond the departure end of the runway, the sound of the softball game and -- next door -- the kids' baseball games were underway. A few folks tended their gardens in the "victory garden" just under the flight path. A train blew its whistle as it began its long trip from St. Paul to Kansas City or Chicago.

And silence reigned at the airport and, in particular, Charlie Lane.

Don't get me wrong. South St. Paul's Fleming Field is a fairly busy place, mostly because Wipaire, the largest amphibian float maker in the world, is on the field, and a steady supply of planes -- mostly destined for Dubai and the rich kingdoms from what I hear -- is on the field. So is Ballistic Recovery Systems, the people who make the parachutes for Cirrus. And the Confederate Commemorative Air Force keeps its B-25 here. The next row of hangars over has a couple of warbirds that make regular runs.

But more often than not, I'm the biggest noisemaker on Charlie Lane, and all I'm doing right now is sanding fiberglass tips for the RV-7 horizontal stabilizer.

Every now and again, I'll see someone taxi by with an airplane. And more often than not, it's Bryan Flood and his RV-8. Bryan moved up to the Twin Cities from Iowa and picked Fleming Field for no particular reason. He has to drive all the way over from Minneapolis.

Next door to me is Mike Cleary. He owns a pretty new Piper Warrior. And down the lane is a guy who just recently learned to fly, and has a gleaming new Cessna. Other than that, it might as well be a cemetery.

I hear the person in the hangar next door is building a Bearcat, but I've never seen him. The hangars across the lane are always closed -- always. I saw one open up once, and a stock car of some sort was inside. No airplane.

So the only two hangar doors whose motors get a regular workout house RV experimental airplanes. Why? My new theory is that homebuilders simply love their planes more. There's a connection with them that production aircraft owners can never have. If you're a father and you're honest with yourself, you know that mothers are more important and the smartest thing we do when we're young parents, is recognize that fact without taking it personally. I suppose this is the part where I point out that homebuilders are real mothers, but I guess I won't.

Out on the field, there are a small handful of planes that are tied down. They never seem to move either. One of them has been stipped and last weekend a gust of wind ripped the rudder off. The others? Well, I don't care how much money you save, it's a damned poor way to treat a good airplane. All of the ones out there are production airplanes.

David Maib and his wife, Mary, are building an RV-10 across the field and they told me a few months ago that they, too, thought there'd be a more social feeling here at Fleming than there is. You can't have a social feel if you don't come to the airport, though.

A few months ago I attended a meeting of the airport association. After the usual talk about big government and after the Republican legislator-pilot, spent way too much time talking about the big-government Democrats, the talk turned to convincing the City Council to lower the rents.

I don't talk politics at the airport. That's a bigger waste than tying down a perfectly good airplane outside, and about as productive.

These people with their closed hangars and their meetings to talk politics, at one time they simply must have had a dream. Flying whenever they could must have been a goal. They too, at one time, must've felt the sadness of a closed hangar.

Fuel is $5.08 a gallon on the field and it'd be easier to blame that. It'd be easier to blame insurance, the Democrats, the Republicans, and the City Council. I blame the pilots for not loving their planes enough. When avgas was $1.50 cheaper, those hangar doors on Charlie Lane were still closed.

That won't ever happen at 217 Charlie Lane.

The city is about to start building some more hangars, I'm told. I don't know why. This airport doesn't need more hangars, it needs more homebuilders.

J.W. French in Oregon

I haven't kept up very well with J.W. French's position reports but he sent this today:

I landed at Independence, OR yesterday. My visit to Myrtle Creek and Roseburg, OR will rank up there with flying the P51, Crazy Horse. I hope I'll have time this evening to write it up. What an adventure. Bob Schwarzler, my host at Independence,OR is driving us in to see the wonders at McMinnville, OR today. I'll stay up late and give a full report on both stops tonight.

The attached photo is the fellows with the biplane escort I left with from Myrtle Creek form Roseburg, OR.

I invited Mr. French to stay at my house if he takes a side trip to the Twin Cities on the way to Oshkosh. I've been unable to find any Twin Cities area EAA chapters willing to host a little get-together for him, however. Since that's the reason for his trip (to meet EAA members), this could get a tad embarrassing.

On therapy

One of the things I noticed since I started putting the RV Builder's Hotline together is how many people read it by way of this blog. That's pretty cool, especially since the blog was just my own way to get a little writing in. The fact an audience came along with it is bonus.

I was out at the hangar yesterday for some "therapy." I needed to get away for a little "me" time. My youngest son is experiencing a bout of depression and he's really struggling. As a parent, this is one one of those times when there isn't a lot you can do and, besides, what little there is to do, my wife is uniquely gifted to be the one. In the past, I've ended up ignoring the RV project and pretty much looking out the window and, to be honest, there's been a fair amount of that going on.

I'd love to be able to wave a magic wand that would make my son -- and all of the other young adults finding their way -- that things will get better and that whatever projection of your life you think will come to pass, likely won't. Life is too interesting to go according to plan.

Fiberglass is good therapy, I'm finding. I'm working on the empennage tips, figuring it'll be a good way to get acquainted with the stuff before tackling the canopy windscreen fairing. Filling, sanding, filling, sanding. Good stuff.

Oshkosh is about three weeks away and slowly I'm getting messages that this person or that person isn't going to be able to make it this year. Pity. That takes some of the fun out of Oshkosh, to be sure. With things getting touchy around home plate, I'm not sure, now, whether I should be there either.

Aside from all of our RV projects, life is going on in its myriad -- sometimes painful -- ways.

RV Builder's Hotline - July 6, 2008

One day late, I've just uploaded the latest RV Builder's Hotline. The top story is Ron Schreck's tour of every South Carolina airport in one day. This is the second time he's done it. Last year he toured North Carolina's airports.

There's obviously more in the "issue." One thing: If you have a Web site, would you consider linking to the RV Builder's Hotline. Google searches are still turning up the Expercraft pages and while they're still valid, there's no way to get to the current material on that site. Linking alerts Google that something different is going on. So far, I've been unable to get redirect on the Expercraft site to the new material and my ExperCraft account is no longer valid so I can't do it myself.

Also, how about spreading the word?

Here's this week's "issue."