Our first time to Oshkosh was a very memorable “vacation”. Everyone asks how our vacation went, and I tell them, it wasn’t a vacation, it was an experience! We had rain, wind, tornado warnings, sun poisoning. It was quite an adventure. We stayed 8 nights in 2 tents in Camp Scholler.
We left our home in Ohio about 6:30AM on Saturday, July 22nd. After a quick breakfast stop, we were on our way. It’s close to a 9 hour drive for us, plus stops, tolls, and and going from Eastern to Central time, so really, it was a lot closer to 11 hours.
The really weird thing about the way there, is that we were constantly bombarded by all things aviation. We weren’t even out of the county and had a hot air balloon pass right over the highway. In Indiana, there was a crop duster flying back and forth really low by the highway. We hit Milwaukee just in time for Fat Albert to fly overhead, and in the distance we could hear and see the Blue Angels between raindrops and clouds, since they were there for the Milwaukee Airshow that weekend.
Our biggest time suck was Chicago. The traffic is always crappy there and we sat in it for awhile. Eventually, we did make it though.
It was after 5PM, we were exhausted, the weather looked iffy, and we needed to make camp! That process of getting in was fairly easy. I hopped out of the car and went over to registration. Since we had purchased online, we were quickly found and handed the placards for the car and tent. I also got my brother-in-law’s family registered. They would be a few days after us, but wanted a camping spot next to us, so they paid the $34 per night fee so we could hold a double spot.
Even though it didn’t start until Monday, plenty of people camp out the whole month of July, so the campground was really packed. See the map below? The blue dot is where we ended up. 23rd & Acer. In the following days, they would open up fields further back and to the side because so many people came to camp!
We got our tents set up just in time before the rain decided to come. It was a long night. Even though we were tired, tent camping in a new place surrounded by noises of people and the highway, the storms, and the excitement of the week ahead means we got a lot less rest than we would have liked!
I’ll have a lot more posts. There is a week’s worth of photos, memories, and experiences to go through!