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July 27, 2003

Oshkosh Report: Day Two -- Friday

It seems that I always misjudge the length of the second day's drive. And this year was no difference.

The day started out well enough. 6:30 am start from the Angola Service Area just west of Buffalo.

Barrelling on through Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana. As the morning progressed it seemed that I would arrive later than I'd originally thought, but still no later than around 5pm.

But that was before Chicago's traffic had it's way with me.

Last year I resolved the I would never drive through Chicago again. Then, ten months later, when I was planning this trip, I decided I'd blown the whole thing out of proportion. "It's bad," I thought, "but it's not unbearably bad. Just don't over think it, and tough it out." Well, it is unbearably bad.

One 3 mile stretch was so clogged that it took us an hour and a quarter to go the distance. It then sped up to a speedy 10 mph.

All told it took me 3 hours to get through the 50 miles of Chicago metro area.

From north of Chicago I passed into Wisconsin, past Milwaukee, and north into Oshkosh. I arrived just before 8pm, just as it was starting to rain.

But even the light rain can't dampen the coolness of the annual arrival in OSH.

I took the long way in so I could drive past the approach end of runway 9 and the legenday North 40 camping area, where thousands of planed park and their owners pitch their tents under the wing. The row after row of airplanes with tents, is one of the classic images of OSHKOSH.

I pulled into the campgrounds, registered, and drove over to the area where I'd camped last year.

There are no assigned spaces here. The campground is basically a huge, former, farm field, and it's first-come-first-served for claiming a space. I found a spot near the south fence, under a shade tree.

With a light rain falling, and thunder storms passing by the the north and south, I pulled my gear out of the car and pitched my tent.

I rolled into my cot, planning to read a bit, but I gradually nodded off for the night.

Posted by jghiii at July 27, 2003 04:32 PM
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