Grandpa's Farm, 2004
Article by
Brian Gilomen, cribbed from various emails
Pictures by Kevin Bertorelli, Mick
Pahnke and "Phil"
Mick got the ball rolling with a couple of detailed emails. (Does that guy ever put in any work at the office?) I egged him on the whole while:
----- Original Message -----From: "Mick Pahnke"Sent: Wednesday, August 11, 2004 2:41 PMSubject: Upcoming FlyingChoose your poison. We've got Galt starting at 11:00 Saturday and Sunday where I believe it says pilots eat free. Now I am unsure what pilots get to eat for free but that is my understanding. Went last year and tangled with very low ceilings and a guy practicing right hand landings, which was putting the guy in the FBO into apoplexy and was confusing the hell out of me. They had some neat old cars there but I hadn't gotten the message that it didn't start until 11:00 so was there much too early. And of course the year before is when my landing gear collapsed as we were about to embark out to Galt.
Sunday is Grandpa's Farm, 0C7, with the Corn Festival in blighted but beautiful downtown Mendota. A while ago Jude and I talked one of the guys into dropping us off and then later picking us up again in downtown to see the fest. It reminded me of going to a Gold Coast festival without the gold or the fest.
I am probably not up for catching both and Jude has expressed an interest in Grandpa's but let's see how the weather is shaping up for both days as we get closer. Or did anybody have other thoughts?
Mick
----- Original Message -----From: "Brian Gilomen"Sent: Thursday, August 12, 2004 8:52 AMSubject: Upcoming FlyingI might possibly do both, depending on time and weather.
Mick, I think I was with you last year when we got to Galt waaaaaaay too early. It was an OK affair, but on the small side. If it's a hot (relatively speaking, what with the weather these days), sunny day, the 11:00 start time puts us smack in the middle of thermal-land coming and going. But, it might be fun. Dunno either what they would feed us. Hot dogs, probably. I remember them last year using lots of toaster ovens to cook frozen pizzas, which ovens kept blowing fuses. Those of us who were there bought a whole pizza to share, and it took about 45 minutes to get it on our table.
I think I would definitely do Grandpas, and (1) might be willing to get up quite early to make it and (2) might be dragging Regina along! Woo! Her once-a-year (thus far) fly-in!
Brian
----- Original Message -----From: "Mick Pahnke"Sent: Thursday, August 12, 2004 10:43 AMSubject: Grandpa's FarmI would like to leave early for Grandpa's Farm on Sunday - weather permitting. I think it is about 70 miles from Clow so that is at least an hour. The problem that we have had in the past is that by the time we have gotten there, a lot of the planes are starting to leave and by the time we have eaten the place is getting to be deserted. I really enjoy looking at all of the planes. How about wheels up at 7:30? Anybody interested in going to the Corn Festival in Mendota? Jude and I went a few years back and bought some incredibly cheap crafts as gifts. Crafts in my house would be about as out of place as Alan Keyes at a Gay Pride march, but for those with country style homes, there were some buys. And of course fresh corn and al the rest of the things one might expect at a small town festival.
Ultimately, it came to pass that those of us at Clow did manage to make it wheels-up at 7:30, and we met up with the Cushing wing of the FVFC at about 8 for the group picture you see at the beginning of this article. From there it was on to The Farm on a gloriously sunny, smooth morning!
As always, they greeted us at Grandpa's with open arms and a full plate. $5 bought us a mess of scrambled eggs; 2 big pancakes; a big slab of canned ham; orange juice and coffee:
That, and the large crowd, put a big load on (in?) the two "restrooms" (one porta-potty, and one honest-to-God brick sh*thouse, complete with the crescent moon on the door!)
After consuming our fill, we wandered about . . .
checking out the cool airplanes . . .
and eventually just camped out under the wing of Paul Sy's Quick to shoot the breeze:
The gang was still on the ground when I took off. Regina rarely flies with me, and gets even more airsick than Jude Pahnke, so I wanted to get up in the air sooner, rather than later, to see if the bumps were building too quickly. It was still OK from her perspective, so we headed up to check out the windmills on 39. We eventually heard on the radio that the gang had made it out of Grandpa's and was headed to Rochelle, so we joined them there:
After the traditionally long wait in the gas line -- something that always seems to happen when the FVFC descends on a sleepy airport (with the invariable line-guy-in-training) -- Regina and I bid farewell to the crowd for the hour-long trip back to Clow:
A great time was had by all!
Where To Now?
... So, we go to Rochelle Instead
Paul Sy Invests in Another Seat
Vance Invests in Modern Technology
The Illinois Aviation Museum at Bolingbrook
(386 Kilobyte ".pdf" file: be forewarned)