Ann-Marie and Paul Emond have set up their screen house next to red white and blue Grumman Tiger. Now they're relaxing, trying to escape the heat and humidity.
Paul and Ann-Marie are part of that fast growing group of AirVenture couples where she is the pilot not him.
"About 13 years ago," Paul says, "I came home from work one day and she said 'You know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna learn how to fly.'"
"The bankbook went downhill from there," he jokes.
Is that what happenned? Ann-Marie smiles tolerantly and says, "Some of it. I used to go flying with his brother, and I discovered I really liked it. I started lessons and gradually worked my way up to an IFR rating."
Ann-Marie now has 1600 hours, and she and Paul do a lot of recreational flying from their home in Nashua, New Hampshire. They fly to Nantucket or Block Island, they visit their daughter in Pittsburgh, or they just meet a bunch of airplane friends at the field on Saturday morning and decide where to fly to for breakfast.
They've been coming to Oshkosh for 11 years, during that time missing only last year. They arrived this year on Friday after leaving New Hampshire at 5:30 am.
Sitting with them in the shade is Jerry Taylor, friend and Ann-Marie's IFR instructor. He's made the trip from Nashua in his green and white Archer.
Also part of this group, but seated outside under the shade of the Archer's wing, is 71 year old Don Mathieson. When the others tease him about sitting all alone, he points out that sitting in the shade of your airplane's wing is what the Fly-In is all about. He should know, he's been attending since the days when the Fly-In was in Rockford.
Don's been flying since 1954. Some of the favorite planes he's owned were a Piper Vagabond and a Swift. But for years now he's been flying his 1950 Beech Bonanza.
He's traveled to Oshkosh this year in Jerry Taylor's Archer because there's more room for luggage. He's especially happy to have brought a pair of bicycles for getting around the area. "When you arrive early, and there's no food yet on the field, it's good to be able to get around on the bikes."
Don's seen a lot of EAA Fly-Ins over the years. "For many years," he says, "there was a great sameness about them. But in the last few years a lot of interesting things have appeared. Now there are airplanes that weren't there before. And things like GPS."
Don's been coming to Oshkosh for a long time now and he plans to keep it up. When he retired from his work at Lockheed, as an Electrical Engineer, he decided that he would "attend Sun 'n Fun and Oshkosh every year until it's not fun." He's still having fun.
Young Eagles Barnstorming on the way to Oshkosh. Chuck Whitt and Lenn Richter flew into AirVenture 2001 from their home field of Bremerton Airport near Tacoma, Washington. But the adventure of that long trip wasn't enough for them. They also stopped twice along the way to participate in Young Eagles rallies. Stopping in Spokane and Helena, Washington they gave rides to a total of 12 kids.
Both Lenn and Chuck are passionate about the Young Eagles program. They both rave about the positive reactions they get from the kids who they introduce to aviation. The kids never fail to leave the aircraft beaming with delight.
Lenn tells of a little girl who was disabled by Muscular Dystrophy. Her dad timidly asked Lenn if it would be possible to give her a ride, to which Lenn said, absolutely yes.
She rode in the right seat with dad in back to keep her jerky uncontrolled movements from interfering with the controls.
Halfway through the flight the girl suddenly leaned forward and grasped the yoke. Her dad lurched forward to restrain her but Lenn said no, everything was under control. She "flew" the plane for a few minutes and spent the rest of the flight in silence.
After the flight, when Lenn was about to present her with her Young Eagle Certificate, she unexpectedly leaned forward and gave Lenn a big hug, with a happy tear in her eye.
Lenn has flown a total of 82 Young Eagles, Chuck 43. Before they get back to Tacoma those number will probably be higher still.