They Had a Fly-In at Rochelle and a Few People Came...

        Article and Pictures by Brian Gilomen

       
FVFC Member Vance Lorenzana waits in the completely
empty Rochelle Food Hangar for the promised feast
 

The Rochelle fly-in scheduled for earlier in September was a bust.  Torrential rains had rendered much of the runway an aquarium.  Undeterred, the Rochelle fly-in planners simply picked another date, and several of us representing the FVFC decided to oblige them with a visit.

Vance and I, flying planes with similar flight envelopes, launched ourselves into the blue.  Our mission was to be first in line for chow.  Vance, you see, had an annoyingly early tee-time with several of his fellow FVFC-E golfers, and if I wanted a wingman, I had to kowtow to his wishes.  Bob Beckstrom was also flying to Rochelle (and also golfing), but his Eagle gave him much greater speed and therefore much greater schedule flexibility.  With his wingman -- also flying an Eagle -- he made it from Morris to Rochelle in about 15 minutes, or so it seemed.

Not much to report.  Vance and I got there so early that not a heck of a lot was going on.  And we then left so early (right after devouring a tasty pulled-pork sandwich) that we didn't see most of the show.  Oh well; a morning of fine flying is its own reward...