On my second trip to Oshkosh I flew all the way to Minneapolis on the first day before I stopped for the night. We landed at Anoka County / Blaine Airport (KANE) This is by far the longest cross-country I have ever flown. I stopped there because the other aircraft in our two ship formation was going to overnight there. The guys in the tower seemed a little confused by our arrival. What are airplanes doing at an airport anyway? They also underestimated our speed as evident by the controller telling me he’d call my base turn, and then forgetting until I was almost a mile off centerline and reminded him. Then he got grumpy. It took about an hour for the hotel shuttle to show up. When we got to the hotel we were informed that they wouldn’t return us to the airport so we had to call a cab. The Jamaican cab driver didn’t even know there was an airport in town and drove us all over the county trying to find it. If you’re ever in the area, find another airport.
Riverton Regional Airpot – Riverton, WY (KRIW)
Riverton Wyoming (KRIW) was the mid-point on my first trip to Oshkosh. I stopped overnight there on the way to and on the way back. I really like this airport. This is a good-sized regional aiport with air carrier service but with a friendly country feel to it. The folks who run Jim’s Aircraft Service where exceptionally friendly and helpful in getting me to and from my hotel. On my first visit there they gave me the courtesy car over night so I could expore the town. I really liked that town and I can’t even put my finger on why.
Miller Field Airport- Valentine, NB (KVTN)
Valentine Nebraska was another one of those Oshkosh fuel stops I made. I stoped here on my return trip back in 2003. I can’t remember much about this airport because it wasn’t really my destination. This was just a quick stop for fuel before going on to Wyoming for my overnight stop.
Pierre, SD (KPIR)
I’ve stopped at Pierre, South Dakota (KPIR) several times on my trips to Oshkosh. This trip however, was the first time I ever stayed in the city of Pierre (pronounced “peer” by the locals.) The FBO (Capital City) called The Best Western Ramkota Inn to come and pick me up. Fifteen minutes later I was checking in. Everone I met was very friendly. The airport itself has great facilities. The town was very picturesque and interesting. I didn’t have time to explore it on this trip but I will definately take more time on the next trip.
Douglas, WY (KDGW)
Douglas Wyoming (KDGW) was my next stop after Jackpot, NV on my 2005 trip to Oshkosh. It has the distinction of being where my friend Rob tried to land his plane on a dragstrip (the old airport.) It also has the distinction of being the place where I hit a dustdevil in about the same place on TWO different trips! This is just a good old country airport. Enough said.
Jackpot, NV (06U)
The Dutchman has been to Jackpot Nevada (06U) exactly three times. The first time on my way to Oshkosh in 2003 and again on my way back. Then again in 2005 on second trip to Oshkosh. This is a pretty neat stop. The airport is run by Cactus Pete’s Resort and Casino. The gas is inexpensive and is dispensed by the guys that manage the campground which is right next to the airport. The casino is right across the street as are the eats and the hotel. The guys at the campground have always been friendly and helpful. The airport has an interesting approach in that there is a rather large bluff right on the approach which requires a dogleg to get around.
I have a video of the approach which I will be adding later.
Home Base for The Flying Dutchman
The Dutchman makes his flying home in Oakdale, California (O27). Oakdale calls itself the Cowboy Capital of the world. I doubt that it is but it does have one heck of a rodeo. Oakdale is where I learned to fly, bought my first airplane, built a hangar, and then built my first airplane. I call it my adopted hometown.
Where has the Dutchman been
Found a really cool feature of my GPS. It saves your track and altitude. What’s cool about that? You can download that from the GPS to your computer. What’s cool about that? You can upload it to a site called http://gpsvisualizer.com which will turn it into a .KMZ file. What is that? A file that is loadable in Google Earth that will display the ground track and altitude of my flight! See? Cool!
Arminian Pharoh
Our normal pastor was away at a conference this week so another elder stepped in and taught this morning’s lesson. He made an interesting point this morning. He addressed the issue of Pharoh seeming to not have any choice in whether or not to let the Israelites go. As I life-long Arminian I have always had trouble explaining this. If God gives us free will, where does He get off “doing” that to Pharoh?
Now that I’ve gone over to the “dark side” of Christianity known as Calvinistic thought, I think I finally understand. This morning’s message really put this whole issue in a different light. It wasn’t so much that God took away Pharoh’s ability to decide, what God did was to remove His own restraining influence on Pharoh. Just as when the floodgates on the dam are opened, the river does what it naturally wants (to flow downstream.) When God removed His restraining influence on Pharoh, Pharoh did what he natually wanted to do. Pharoh was finally given true free will and his choice was to consistently go against the will of God. Pharoh was finally and truly an Arminian!
Our God is the hands-on God. He exerts a constant influence in our world. Without that influence we revert to our natural lawless, hateful state. Thank God He manages our universe for our benefit.
Book worm
I don’t know how it happened but some time between Christmas and now I got roped into reading a bunch of books. It was like a landslide. I decided to start reading a book I was given some time back. Then a friend from church foisted another on me that I should read as a primer to the one he really wants me to read. I use the word “foist” in regard to his actions but he’s really a great guy. Then I started attending an early morning men’s group from the church. We meet at 6:30am on Thursday mornings to discuss, you guessed it, a book we are all reading.
So for those of you who read this blog (all 1 of you) and would like to follow along, here are the books I’m going to be reading for the next few weeks.
Amusing Ouselves to Death by Neil Postman
The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges
Family Man, Family Leader by Philip Lancaster
Air Prayer 
