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I know its early, but gotta start making plans. I just reserved a dorm room at UWOshkosh for my son and I. We have previously just camped at Scholler but this year we are flying in and don't want to take camping gear.
For those who have done the dorms, is there bus service? How did you get to the Sonex party on Monday night?
We plan on arriving Sunday the 27th and leaving Wednesday the 30th.

I've never stayed in the dorms personally, but I believe there's a regular bus service to and from the dorms to the airshow itself. People who stay there are generally pretty happy with the experience.

Not sure what to tell you about the Monday night hangar party. Hopefully you can try to link up with someone who can give you a ride, but if you stay the whole evening, they may also need to get you back to the dorms. I'm not sure how late that bus service runs.

I know this doesn't help much...I'll try to find out some more information as time nears and let you know.

There is a bus service from the dorms to the bus stop at the airshow entrance. Buses run every 1/2 hour from about 6:00am until after dark and the charge is about $.50 or so one way. Getting to the party requires either a cab ride or hooking up with someone who has a car. The Sonex facility is on the east side of the airport and there isn't any easy way to get there from the airshow grounds.

If I were going alone, I'd just camp under a friends wing in homebuilt camping. But with my son (150lbs), I don't think I can carry enough gear for us to have a change of clothes, tent, sleeping bags, and incidentals. What to most Sonex flyers do?

There are normally a few people that park in homebuilt camping and end up setting up a small tent next to their airplane. As you said, the limiting factor here is the amount of cargo our planes can carry, although after talking to a few other people in the same boat last year, there's apparently a packaging/shipping location on the field (I think UPS but I'm not positive) that some take advantage of by shipping their camping gear straight to the field, and then picking it up once parked on site.

Most Sonex pilots enjoy parking their airplanes in the designated Sonex parking area right behind the copmany display. As you've said, this leaves the issue of where to camp. Some different choices would be in Camp Scholler, in the dorms, or in a hotel. Hopefully others can chime in as well on this.

There is a UPS shipment method for those that want to send themselves stuff -- as we get closer to the date I think EAA updates airventure.org with the specifics.

Arriving by YX with two folks would be tight but not impossible. The one time I did, the passenger did indeed make use of a shipping company for some belongings and we did pack very light.

In the past couple of years I have parked in the Sonex "show" parking area yet camped with fellow YX'er Mike Farley and his family, owner of the famous 0056. I suppose it's a bit of tradition now.:)

It's fun to have folks stop by and chat while parked at the Sonex area. A few words go a long way in inspiring builders to keep on going...

N111YX wrote:It's fun to have folks stop by and chat while parked at the Sonex area. A few words go a long way in inspiring builders to keep on going...

And you did for me Kip. I plan on tying down at Sonex parking. Hope to see you there. We are planning the first half of the week.

N111YX wrote:In the past couple of years I have parked in the Sonex "show" parking area yet camped with fellow YX'er Mike Farley and his family, owner of the famous 0056. I suppose it's a bit of tradition now.:)

It's fun to have folks stop by and chat while parked at the Sonex area. A few words go a long way in inspiring builders to keep on going...

It's always a blast Kip! This summer, you're going to have to be in charge of picking the correct adult BEvERage since I can never choose correctly!

If at all possible, it's always a good time to park the airplane in the Sonex show parking area behind the factory booth area. I didn't mention it in my first posting, but another good option for camping could also be the Warbird Camping area. Several friends of mine camp there and enjoy it. As an added bonus, you're close to the warbird area as well as the Sonex area. Just a thought...

I camped in the homebuilt camping area last summer and had a blast. A few other friends flew their RVs in and we camped near each other. There were a few other Sonex builders spread throughout the area. While it would be fun to park in the Sonex area, my building dream was to camp with my plane. It would be great if we could get a camping area together. Is it time for a camping group arrival? We could taxi from the hangar party to the camping area.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGAJVzXuKdo

Jim Hicke
Waiex 0162