His first visit was in an F-18. Bob Pegram, Paul McKean and Tom Merrill arrived at Wittman Field this year on Sunday just before one of that day's thunderstorms. They made the four-and-a-half-hour trip from Martin State Airport near Baltimore in their Blue and White Cessna 210.

On the last leg of their trip, "the Stormscope was lighting up with all these storms." But the arrival was otherwise uneventful and they reached their North 40 parking spot minutes before the storm hit.

Bob is a 15 year pilot and 8th year attendee of the fly-in. Paul has been flying since 1964, but has only been to AirVenture three times.

Tom is Paul's son. He is attending his second AirVenture. The first time he was here was in 1995 in his Navy F-18 that he flew here to be on display on the West Ramp. These days Tom flies 737s for American Airlines.

They're planning on staying "most of the week," says Paul. "If we get bored we'll volunteer for something."

It's not pretty, but it's fun. Mike and Rinda Williaford arrived at AirVenture on Sunday as part of the Bonanzas to Oshkosh flight. They're from Pecan Plantation Airport, a fly-in community in Granbury, Texas.

They made the 4.5 hour flight from Pecan to Rockford, Illinois where the Bonanzas were staging before the flight to OSH. Mike has made the Bonanzas flight into AirVenture many times, and although he admits that it is not the most elegant of formation flights, it is a safe and fun event.

Mike has been coming to Oshkosh since 1981. "I love it," he says. "I love how it's changed. It's gotten bigger and better over the years."

Rinda, Mike's new bride (they were married this past year), is here at AirVenture for the first time. She did some flying many years ago and expects this week to re-ignite her interest in flying. She and Mike live in the right place for it. Mike estimates that just from Pecan Plantation there are 20 Bonanzas here at AirVenture, not to mention many other type aircraft as well. Pecan Plantation is also home to the Brazos Valley EAA Chapter 893.

On their flight from Granbury to Rockford, Mike and Rinda stopped at the Lake of the Ozarks. "For 20 years I've flown over these interesting looking finger lakes. But I never stopped to visit them."

This year, he says, he decided to make this area one of his fuel stops, and rent a car. "It was beautiful," he says. "We looked at all the boats on the lake and had dinner at a restaurant with a beautiful view over the lake."

The Powered-Parachute Pilot from Central Missouri: "I really like the parachutes... Wind is the thing though. More than 10 miles per hour and I don't go... dawn and dusk, those are good times to fly. And in the spring and fall there are more times you can go... Low and slow, and they almost land themselves. I like that."

They have a picnic table! Campers at AirVenture bring along all sorts of folding picnic tables. But not many campsites have a real wooden, full-size picnic table in the middle of their site. Susan and Dwayne Trovillion say they got theirs by "getting here early".

They are camped in the grove of trees among the Vintage Aircraft parking south of the Theatre in the Woods. There are a few picnic tables in this area, and if you're lucky/early you get to pitch your tent near one of them.

Dwayne and Susan are from Fenton, Michigan where they are part of EAA Chapter 77. Dwayne came to his first EAA fly-in in 1970, the first year it was held here in Oshkosh. He says he enjoys coming to the fly-in because of the "common interests" of the attendees. He describes his fellow EAA members as his "chosen family".

Like so many others, he first joined EAA because he wanted to build an airplane. He built a Pitts Special. But that's just one of the many planes Dwayne has owned over the years. He's had 27 in all.

Among his many aircraft were a 185, a Pacer (which was an award winner here at Oshkosh many years ago), a Tri-Pacer, the Pitts, an L5, Stinson, Taylorcraft, 182, 172, 180, 140, a Pietenpol and a UC78 Bamboo Bomber.

When asked which was his favorite he says, "All of 'em. I didn't have a bad airplane."

These days Dwayne and Susan, who is also a pilot, fly to Oshkosh in their Bonanza A36. They fly out of Bishop International Airport in Flint, Michigan. They don't fly in with the Bonanza group because they are volunteers in the Vintage Red Barn and need to arrive earlier.