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Bob's Picnic 2009
We're on the way home from Bob's fall picnic, and since Tabitha is driving, I can make web pages. The weather was chilly with somewhat low clouds, so the visitors were all drive-ins. We elected to drive too for the same reasons.The drive was very enjoyable and the leaves were changing for most of the way. Bob's driveway is the first picture below. His property is perhaps the ideal home airport. The second picture is his main construction work table turned buffet table. The third picture is his engine delivery schedule, complete with our names in the Feb 2010 block. Who needs a computerized schedule when an 8.5x11 piece of card stock will work? The last picture is of a parallel valve fuel injected 360 that Bob is building for a local RV and the crank will soon become another engine. Ours will be sitting there after the start of next year.
Bob's shop was very functional, and you can tell that he has developed a minimal infrastructure to get the job done efficiently. He doesn't have lots of big expensive toolboxes. The airport includes a handful of smaller hangars, which house Bob's 180HP Patrol, a J-5, a Challenger, a Pietenpol, and a Taylorcraft.
The shop area is attached to the main hangar. The shop itself is sort of a Bob Museum, with lots of memorbelia that Bob has gathered over the years. The main hangar houses the Patrol LSA project, a set of wings, a 4-place Bearhawk, shelves of cylinders, a few crated engines, a scrap pile, and lots of odds and ends.
There is an old faded map with nails that probably represent destinations for Bearhawk Plans. There is also a form block on the wall that probably belongs to one of Bob's designs.
I saw the plaque that noted Bob's service as EAA Chapter President just before the discussion started about Pat Fagan's broken axle.
Meanwhile, Bob taxied over to the fuel farm (first picture below) and readied the airplane for a ride or two.
After a blessing and a few words from the EAA chapter the food service started.
Here are some pictures of Bob's 4-place Bearhawk and the Taylorcraft as they flew.
Bob's property is bordered with a very scenic creek as you can see in the first picture below. As advertised, Bob got out his pictures from Idaho and gave us a recap from his summer trip. It is amazing to see him talk about that trip because he really gets excited. You can tell that it was a great experience by seeing how he seems to light up when he tells the stories.
Bob's friend and hot-rod expert Gary was on hand with his unique delivery sedan. Bob holds his skill and knowledge in high regard, and his car seemed to be good evidence of why.
By 3:00 or so things had mostly wrapped up. We picked up a couple of hats and Bearhawk decals to save on shipping and were on our way back home. It was only about a 3.5 hour drive, which means an hour in the Bearhawk! Not next year, but maybe the year after that! We had a great time and were glad for the chance to spend time with fellow experimental airplane fans.
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