This was going to be our second trip to Rough River. Last year we had to
drive because of the tail-end bad weather from a hurricane and I was
determined to fly this time. A nice Garmin 396 in the cockpit with XM
weather now makes it easier to avoid poor weather. However, it was not
to be. A stalled front was hanging around Georgia, Tennessee and much of
the south east US. Heavy rain in North Carolina on Friday morning meant
that it was that long drive again, 9 hours.
The weather at Rough River turned out to be quite good on Friday and
Saturday and the Louisville EAA Chapter 110 held their 35^th annual
fly-in at the airport that weekend. There were about 40 planes there and
a good turnout. However - not one Europa aircraft. Who was there?
* Creighton Smith and Jim Woolnought (A036 Classic kit in progress -
has needed a lot of rework) from Brattleboro, Vermont - a really
long drive. They did bring some excellent New England Harpoon ale.
* Peter and Susan Jeffers from High Wycombe, UK (Europa G-BVIS)
stopping on the way to their place in Florida.
* Jim and Lynne Puglise (building) from Punta Gorda , Florida
* Chuck Rhoads (Europa N246CR) drove down from Louisville, Kentucky
* John and Paddy Wigney (Europa N262WF) from Mooresville, North
Carolina.
Paddy and I tried some golf on Saturday afternoon and the best I could
do on the par 3, 9 hole course was a 5! Paddy did better with a 4.
Despite the thin turnout of Europaphiles, we really enjoyed the
fellowship and meeting with the EAA 110 group and were welcomed to their
banquet at the lodge on Saturday night. Thanks to chapter President Don
Jeffries for their hospitality. Open bar, good food and we had an
interesting presentation from Mike Loehle talking about his company's
aircraft and coatings. http://www.loehle.com/index.htm . Also a lot of
nice door prizes. The drive home on Sunday had a lot more heavy rain.
Next year, EAA 110's fly-in weekend will be on 9.11.10 and 9.12.10 and
they welcome the Europas to join them. I heard that there will be a big
wedding at the lodge on the following weekend. So the suggestion is that
we have our gathering on the same weekend as EAA 110. Any comments? If
we settle on those days, it would be a good idea to make our
reservations accordingly. See http://parks.ky.gov/findparks/resortparks/rr/
Cheers, John
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