My biggest concern about the Fly-in was conforming to the extensive arrival notam published for the event but it turned out to not be a concern at all. The Arrival controllers do most of the work and all of the radio calls. All you have to do is listen and follow instructions. For example, the arrival procedure stipulates that you fly over the power plant and Lake Parker on a westbound heading. They have mobile aircraft controller trailers at the power plant and they start talking to you as you approach the plant. In my case it was, "Low wing aircraft over the power plant rock your wings". So I did. "Low wing proceed straight ahead to Interstate 4 follow that to the two water towers then turn south between them to the airport". So I did. Approching the downwind on a southerly heading, tower called and said, "Low wing turn downwind". So I did. Then, "Low wing turn base, cleared to land do not acknowledge". So I did. After clearing the runway, first marshaller had a paddle that said "Sign?" because you are supposed to have a sign indicating where you want to park. Mine was Vintage Aircraft or VAC and he waved me through to the next guy. After a couple of turns, you pick up a motorcycle escort the rest of the way to parking. Neat. Turns out, I was the only one in the pattern at the time, following by a long way a couple of Piper Cubs, because a cold front was to the north of the field stopping most of the traffic headed south. No wonder it was easy. Then the rains came. Sunday and all day Monday. A lot of people were camping in the middle of a temporary lake and found out real quick if their camping spot was low ground. You can see the results of the rain on YouTube and ironically, it seemed only the seaplanes were parked on high ground. One Piper Twin Commanche from Canada got stuck trying to taxi outside the orange cones laid out by the ground handlers. I told him he should have brought some Mexicans with him to push him out. He laughed. A Mooney had a prop strike while trying to taxi through some mud and the nose gear tire dug in. I heard that the marshaller kept motioning him ahead so he kept adding power until the prop hit the mud. Bent the prop, got a sudden stop on his engine and there was mud everywhere on that airplane. The rest of the week was dry and severe clear and by Thursday the place was really mobbed. Van had two RV-12's (the new Ercoupe if you will) down there and the kits went on sale on Tuesday at 8:00 am. So I bought one. Then I took a ride in a P-51 and worked every day part time as a volunteer in the camping registration booth so I got to meet a lot of people. The EOC had a dinner at Sam Seltzer's Steakhouse on Thursday and it was well attended. The steak and the beer were fantastic after eating nothing but "circus food" the days prior. Had an auction and raised money for the Fred E. Weick education fund so that was good. So much for now. Departure narrative is next in a couple of days. Bart
