2005 Oshkosh Trip - Day 6

Date: July 29, 2005

So after the COZY forum, I wandered around a bit - getting my email, making some phone calls, and getting my ice cream cone from Brad at Emag. I checked the weather for Saturday, and then I searched a bit for a vendor that Ken Reiter had asked me to look into, but for the life of me I couldn't find them anywhere - sorry, Ken.....

Around 6 PM, I headed over to Nat's COZY tent to get a ride to the dinner from Rhemi Khu, who had offered. There were three or four cars leaving from there (well, not from there, but from the parking lots and/or campgrounds) and it only took Ron Springer (from whom I actually got a ride) about 45 minutes to make it the 3 miles up Rt. 41 to Robbins, due to the Oshkosh car traffic :-).

There were a zillion (well, maybe around 90-100) COZY folks there, waiting for the banquet room to open and having some cocktails. It was great to talk to people, introduce myself to people that I had traded email with but never met, and put faces to names. We finally got to sit down around 8:15 PM (the restaurant was VERY busy), and our table got our food around 9 PM. But we all had a great time yakking about everything and anything. After we ate, we did the standard "stand up and say something about yourself and your project/airplane" thing. It's always interesting to hear what folks are doing and how much progress (or not :-) ) they've made in the past year, and to see the new folks that have just started.

I had the dubious distinction of being the only person there that had managed to destroy two aircraft with articles of clothing (shoelace) and camping equipment (tent).

Nat Puffer went last, and gave a VERY nice speech about his time in the COZY community, the fact that he's retiring from it, that this was his last Oshkosh, the selling of his plane, and how much he's enjoyed being a part of everything (and the center of it) for so very long. He told a story of how Burt Rutan tried to dissuade him from selling plans, but that he resisted Burt's protestations - we're all very glad that he did. It was emotional for him, and it's clear that he will miss it all a great deal (and that we will all miss HIM). He received a long (and well deserved) standing ovation.

There were some door prizes, and a big cake, and folks hung around until about 10:30 PM, when the restaurant kicked us out because they were closing, or somesuch nonsense :-). Sheesh - roll up the sidewalks early, whydoncha :-).

I want to say a public thanks to Daryl and Kim Lueck, who organized the dinner and as always, did a GREAT job. It's a lot of work, and it went off without a hitch.

Ron Springer then drove us back to the campgrounds, and I hit the hay, since it was getting very late and I knew I was going to be woken up around 6:01 AM :-).

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