Airventure 2025 | Day 7

July 22 | We are only disappointed by our expectations. That’s what I was thinking when I got my steak sandwich at a local food vendor at Oshkosh. I should have known better.

I started the day with my usual routine of dragging out of my sleeping bag with the sound of aircraft departing when the field opened at 6 am. God, that’s early. Add the roar of the T-28s and Mustangs as they lifted off for their dawn patrols, and you might as well just get up and get dressed.

I made my way down to the Tall Pines Café for breakfast, then down to Flight Line Ops to check in and go out on the flight line to help marshal airplanes in and out. I volunteer at Point Konrad, the farthest operations shack south, well into the city limits of Fond Du Lac. I worked there for a few hours, then went over to the Charles W. Harris Youth Aviation Center, where I worked for another two hours with kids doing hands-on activities to learn about some of the skills involved in building an airplane.

EAA has had Kids Airventure over by the museum at Pioneer Field, where they also conduct helicopter flights in a Bell 47 like the ones on MASH. That is also an excellent program for youth, with all manner of hands-on and interactive activities, all with the purpose of introducing youth to aviation and hopefully lighting a spark that will inspire them to pursue flying, either as a vocation or avocation.

I worked with a young woman named Fey, from Georgia. She had been working on an electrical engineering degree, so she was doing an activity that involved completing a circuit that would then energize a landing light. Once the kids figured out that there was a gap in the circuit, they were able to make a wire jumper, complete the circuit and make the light turn on. Their beaming smiles when they succeeded were worth more than any amount of money.

Back to that sandwich. I was getting hungry by 5, so I walked over to one of the restaurants on the field and read their menu. They had tacos and quesadillas, but what caught my eye was the steak sandwich. I hadn’t had a good steak sandwich in a long time, so I ordered that. I asked for medium rare, to which the person at the register gave me a quizzical look. I realized later that she thought I was pulling her leg.

When I got to my table and opened that sucker up, it had more unrendered fat than actual meat. I could have melted it down and burned an oil lamp in my tent for two days. The fries were a bit leathery, also. I made the best of it, pulling bits of meat off and dipping it in horseradish (mayo). My stomach hasn’t forgiven me yet.