Pacific Northwest to Oshkosh

flytime

flytime

Pre-takeoff checklist
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Fly Time
This will be my first year flying to Oshkosh, and I will be coming from the Seattle area in a 172M....slow and scenic! I am trying to think through some of the logistics and would appreciate advice and recommendations from those of you who have done this before.

First of all, the route. Going direct leads me across vast areas of sparsely populated terrain, particularly in Montana and North Dakota. It's doable, but there are not many options to divert to if things don't go as planned. A more northerly route following US highway 2 and I-94 looks like a better option. Or to the south along I-90 passing near the Badlands of South Dakota. Thoughts on this? I'm tempted to go one way inbound and the other way on the return.

Either way I choose, once I am past the Dakotas there are plenty of airports, so the route planning is not as critical, though I would still appreciate recommendations for places to stop for food, fuel or other points of interest anywhere along the way.

I will probably do the trip over 3 days with the first stop in either Spokane, WA or Kalispell, MT where I have family to visit and stay with. The second overnight stop is what I need to figure out. I would like to be no more than 700 nm from KOSH, and preferably more like 500-600. I'll need a place where we can either camp with the airplane or find cheap lodging near the airport.

Another thing to figure out is the logistics of camping in the North 40. My wife and daughter will fly commercial and rent a car to drive up from Chicago or Milwaukee. My son will fly with me, and we will haul whatever camping gear we can fit. I expect all 4 of us will camp with the airplane in the North 40. Is there an overnight car parking area for this sort of arrangement? I'm sure we are not the only ones doing it this way.

FYI, I have been to Oshkosh many times but have never flown in. I do know the lay of the land both on the Airventure grounds and around town, but I have not been recently. Last time was 2008. I don't expect too much has changed since then, but I'm sure some things have.
 
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You'll have a heck of a time, I'd way rather go low and slow across the country than in the FLs.
 
For your wife & daughter.....the "facilities" have been considerably improved. As for the car, ehen you register the airplane for camping, you can get a car pass.
 
murphey said:
For your wife & daughter.....the "facilities" have been considerably improved. As for the car, ehen you register the airplane for camping, you can get a car pass.
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Thanks! I did not know about car passes for North 40 campers. Is there a specific parking lot for that?
 
After playing around in SkyVector for a couple hours last night, I have come up with an eastbound navigation route. This is the southern route that will give me views of Devil's Tower,WY and Black Hills, SD. It will take me south of Minneapolis Class Bravo:

Day 1: KRNT (Renton, WA) to 70S (Mead, WA for overnight w/ in-laws, no fuel)
Day 2, leg 1: 70S to MLP (Mullan Pass, ID VOR) to KMSO (Missoula, MT for fuel)
Day 2, leg 2: KMSO to KBIL (Billings, MT for fuel, lunch)
Day 2, leg 3: KBIL to KSHR (Sheridan, WY) to 49B (Sturgis, SD for fuel and overnight)
Day 3, leg 1: 49B to KGDB (Granite Falls, MN for fuel, lunch)
Day 3, leg 2: KGDB to KBCK (Black River Falls, WI for leg stretch and fuel)
Day 3, leg 3: KBCK to RIPON to KOSH (final leg is about 110nm)
 
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Anyone been to the Fagen Fighters WWII museum at KGDB Granite Falls, MN? Looks like a perfect lunch and fuel stop inbound to Oshkosh :)
 
Awesome you're going to have a great trip!

I've done it twice in my RV-7A. My speed and range are a little different but here's what I did.

Leg 1 KPLU to S83 to 8U8. Townsend has cheap fuel, a place to camp, and a loaner van. Pretty much follow I-90.

Leg 2 8U8 to KMBG. You can camp at Mobridge and they have a loaner car.

Leg 3 KMBG to KOSH

I don't really go direct but follow highways and airports along the way. There are a few places where you wouldn't want to have to land but all in all it's a pretty good route. The further East you get the better it gets.

Have fun!
 
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flytime said:
Day 3, leg 3: KBCK to RIPON to KOSH (final leg is about 110nm)
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You would do well to make that last leg KBCK to Portage WI for fuel and a brat. Check the OSH atis for field closures due to some fool scattering airplane parts on the runway, and then launch.

You AIN'T gonna like the fuel prices at OSH.

Jim (36 years to OSH in Cessna, this will be first year in Subaru).


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weirdjim said:
You AIN'T gonna like the fuel prices at OSH.
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I've only been twice in my life but in 2012 and 2014 I thought the fuel prices were pretty fair. (Well maybe not fair, seems like if thousands of planes were fueling up it'd be a lot cheaper.)

In 2012 I paid slightly more per gallon than OSH twice while enroute.
In 2014 OSH was the most expensive but only by like 30 cents.

I couldn't justify another stop to save 30 cents. (It'd cost more to takeoff again.)

Jim since you've been more times than I ever will, it must be pretty bad historically?
 
weirdjim said:
You would do well to make that last leg KBCK to Portage WI for fuel and a brat. Check the OSH atis for field closures due to some fool scattering airplane parts on the runway, and then launch.

You AIN'T gonna like the fuel prices at OSH.

Jim (36 years to OSH in Cessna, this will be first year in Subaru).


.
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Portage currently has pretty cheap fuel ($4.25) so I will keep that in mind, but even more for the brats! I would probably go there instead of Black River Falls. Either way, the only way I buy more than about 12 gallons from Basler at OSH is if I head out on some day trips.

For the trip home I've got my eye on a more northerly route. First stop 18Y in Milaca, MN with super cheap fuel and a very inviting 2,900' grass strip. At 240 nm from OSH it will make a perfect first stop. St. Cloud would make a good alternate if the ground is too soft from rain.
 
On the inbound, I think I will skip Sturgis, SD and go a little further south to Custer State Park Airport SV0.

http://skyvector.com/airport/3V0/Custer-State-Park-Airport

Fuel at Sturgis is currently more expensive than any other stop going or coming, and it's a few miles from town with no courtesy car that I can tell. Custer has no fuel or amenities either, but it sure does look like a nice place to camp with the plane! I'll fuel up the next morning after flying over Badlands National Park :)
 
flytime said:
For the trip home I've got my eye on a more northerly route. First stop 18Y in Milaca, MN with super cheap fuel and a very inviting 2,900' grass strip. At 240 nm from OSH it will make a perfect first stop. St. Cloud would make a good alternate if the ground is too soft from rain.
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Hey,

Just wanted to chime in, having lived in the area for a time:

As far as 18Y goes, I've been there on foot a couple of times and I've heard it's one of the smoothest grass strips in central Minnesota. I know of no formal FBO on-site (It's really a one-building facility with some tiedowns and I believe the airport's owned by the city of Milaca) so it's SS fuel and really no chance of finding a rental car to hit anything in town that I saw the last time I was there.

The entire property is tucked in a grove of trees, but there's not a great deal around it in any close proximity. There's a dirt road that leads out to state highway 23 to the south, and there's a Dairy Queen next to a gas station on the south side of the road for a quick bite to eat. That having been said, it's a good place for a stretch break at the minimum and the area surrounding is quite beautiful. :)

If you find yourself more in need of a facilities break on this trip and a proper FBO I'd be more inclined to recommend St. Cloud (KSTC), Princeton (KPNM) or Mora (KJMR) as they're in larger towns. Princeton is right in town in close proximity to several fast food spots and Mora is right off the major highway going through that town.

I hope this helps some!
 
CEB_lights said:
Hey,

Just wanted to chime in, having lived in the area for a time:

As far as 18Y goes, I've been there on foot a couple of times and I've heard it's one of the smoothest grass strips in central Minnesota. I know of no formal FBO on-site (It's really a one-building facility with some tiedowns and I believe the airport's owned by the city of Milaca) so it's SS fuel and really no chance of finding a rental car to hit anything in town that I saw the last time I was there.

The entire property is tucked in a grove of trees, but there's not a great deal around it in any close proximity. There's a dirt road that leads out to state highway 23 to the south, and there's a Dairy Queen next to a gas station on the south side of the road for a quick bite to eat. That having been said, it's a good place for a stretch break at the minimum and the area surrounding is quite beautiful. :)

If you find yourself more in need of a facilities break on this trip and a proper FBO I'd be more inclined to recommend St. Cloud (KSTC), Princeton (KPNM) or Mora (KJMR) as they're in larger towns. Princeton is right in town in close proximity to several fast food spots and Mora is right off the major highway going through that town.

I hope this helps some!
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Good information, and much appreciated! I think my 3,000 mile journey should include at least one landing on grass, so Milaca it is! :D

I don't mind self-fueling or a 1-mile walk into town for a bite to eat. But I will keep St. Cloud as an alternate, in case the winds or ground conditions are unfavorable at 18Y.
 
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flytime said:
Just clicked on one of those Weather Channel videos, and it featured Milaca, MN of all places. Apparently it is raining cats and dogs there today. Sure hope it dries out before my wheels touch down there. I will definitely call ahead for a report on runway conditions.

http://www.weather.com/news/weather/video/long-night-ahead-first-severe-thunderstorm-watch-issued
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Yeah, we don't like it very much when it rains cats and dogs around here. The sound is distracting and it makes a big mess every time. :D

All in all, not terribly surprised. Today was very warm (high 80's, low 90's), very humid but that didn't stop AirExpo 2015 from happening this weekend.
 
It's good to plan and have ideas. Once you get through the higher terrain I'd just set a GPS direct course to RIPON, then just stop as you see fit. If the weather and winds are good, make use of the conditions. Of course you have to adjust as needed for any 'special use' airspace along the way.

I'm not one to go to far out of the way to save 40 cents per for 20 gallons of fuel. By all means, take whatever interesting stops are along the track.

You may well have to adjust some for weather too, which can be a great reason to explore with the extended stop.
 
when I was a kid, we used to always fly the 'bo out to Iowa in the summer to visit family. We did Eugene, OR - Pullman, WA - Missola, MT - someplace near Bozeman (can't remember the name) - Miles City, MT - Pierre, SD - I believe one other stop, and then Cedar Rapids, IA. That doesn't help with exact routing, but that was the general flow we used. Kept us out of the highest elevations in the Rockies, and if you got wheels up early enough in the day, the weather was for the most part not a problem, this being summertime. About the only part where weather got sketchy was once we were truly in the midwest, ie near IA normally mid afternoon just prior to arrival. I'd imagine a similar route might work pretty well for Oshkosh. It was a lot of fun, and I have a ton of memories of those times.....very scenic, especially over the rockies and through the badlands.
 
WI Flyer, man you pretty much hit the nail on the head!

That said, as much as I want to overnight in Helena, I may go north to Cutbank, MT as it's the shortest route through the Rockies and pitch the tent around there somewhere, then fly direct to KUNU as best as possible
 
Departure day is finally here! Wow!! I've changed up the plan slightly from what I posted above, but generally following the same southern route on the way. Weather forecast looks pretty good with tailwinds most of the way I won't leave until this afternoon, and it will probably be a little bumpy over the Cascades, but I really want a short leg to start as half of the work will be getting out of the house and plane loaded. First stop will be St. Maries, ID, where they have a courtesy car, allow on field camping and have an F-100 Super Sabre for a wind tee :D
 
My journey from the Seattle area to Oshkosh and back is complete, and it was an amazing adventure! I met great people all along the way, and many more at AirVenture. In Northern Idaho, the crew car lead me to a small town diner for quite possibly the best friend chicken dinner I have ever had! In Montana, GPS signal was lost on all of my redundant devices for the better part of a 3.5 hour leg, and I put dead reckoning skills to the test with fine results. In Wyoming I saw Devils Tower from the air, and then to South Dakota for Mt. Rushmore. In SD, I landed at a strip surrounded by a 200 head heard of bison (happy for a change to see an airport perimeter fence), and spent the night under a billion stars! I flew over the Badlands of SD at 2,000' AGL, and in Minnesota I was treated to a 20 knot tailwind in air as smooth as glass.

Arriving in Oshkosh Friday evening before the show, I survived a massive thunderstorm that hit at dawn the next day (my tent did not survive, but was easily replaced). The rest of my time there was just fantastic! So much to do and see, I wish I could have stayed for the entire week. But on Thursday morning, we departed, contributing to a new record for arrivals and departures in one day.

On the return, I landed on the grass at the beautiful Milaca, MN municipal airport, and was greeted by a local who hooked me up with the airport's newly acquired courtesy car (a police cruiser recently retired). In North Dakota I diverted around a massive thunderstorm, and got just close enough to know that I got a little too close! The highlight of my overnight in the North Dakota oil boom town of Sidney was the courtesy car: a formerly pink (sun baked to tan) late 70's Ford Crown Victoria. The ugliest crew car ever, but a sweet ride for a cruise down Main Street with the windows down! In Montana, I flew low over wheat fields to duck underneath a headwind, and I dropped down to tree top level over the Missouri River for a bit, just for the pure joy of it (love that Class G flying!). The final 50 miles over the Cascades was a scud run, but I found a mountain pass with light on the other side and made it through at 2,000' AGL. No sweat!

Total time on the tach was 34.4 hours, including a day trip out of OSH for breakfast with my family. What a great trip!
 
I know upthread someone talked about a car pass for camping in the N40. Never used that procedure, but interested in it for next year.

Any tips would be appreciated.

I always figured you could leave a car in the Target parking lot easy enough.

Brian
N9093K
 
bdlarkin said:
I know upthread someone talked about a car pass for camping in the N40. Never used that procedure, but interested in it for next year.

Any tips would be appreciated.

I always figured you could leave a car in the Target parking lot easy enough.

Brian
N9093K
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When I registered for camping in the N40, they asked if I needed car parking. As my wife was driving up from Chicago I said yes. For $10/day or $60 for the week they gave me a pass for the warbirds lot, which was directly adjacent to where I was parked (row 510, just east of the shower building). It worked great for where I was, but if you came in later then it probably wouldn't have been very close.
 
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