July 25 | Sunday is the day people leave this magical week to return home to responsibilities and loved ones. It is a bittersweet parting, but with the intention of seeing each other again in a year.

July 24 | Saturday morning dawned bright and beautiful. The Pietenpol pilots were gathered around the fire pit with coffee in hand. The great Pietenpol Not-A-Race-But-A-Performance-Evaluation would start shortly. Tension was in the air…not.

July 23 | Today was a memorable day for me in Brodhead. I had my first Pietenpol ride here in over 15 years. And my second. And my third.

I finally decided to not be shy anymore and to walk boldly up to one of those imposing Pietenpol pilots and ask for a ride. They didn’t wear a leather jacket, $200 aviator sunglasses, or have those long silk scarves around their necks. They usually had on a Pietenpol t-shirt from a previous fly-in and usually had on shorts and sneakers.

July 22 | Jim Markel made me cry today. Jim’s not a mean guy, and he wouldn’t do that on purpose for the world, but when he started to have trouble talking, and when his eyes started getting red, and when he started grimacing to keep from crying himself, I just couldn’t help myself.

July 20 | Tuesday in Rawlins dawned much cooler than Monday afternoon finished. After leaving Salt Lake with a density altitude of 9,900’, Rawlins had a density altitude of over 10,000’ by the time I arrived.

When we got to the airport from the hotel Tuesday morning, the density altitude was back down to nearly the airport elevation of a little over 6,800’. Landing yesterday was on the crosswind runway of 4,300’ but taking off today was right into the wind down the 7,000’ runway. There was no drama other than a little leaning of the mixture to get full power.

July 19 | I had loaded and fueled the airplane, I ate a hearty breakfast of toast and scrambled eggs, Catherine drove me to the airport with our sweet pup Tilly and I opened the hangar and pulled out the airplane. Just like every past Oshkosh trip has started.