One of my basketball players wore this t-shirt to practice last week.  I laughed to myself and wondered whether he knew what his t-shirt really said.

When your son harvests his first buck, it’s a good day.

You know it’s a good day when you are holding short of runway 9 and landing traffic is “Fortress One Seven November.”  Most folks residing at Oshkosh don’t take a second glance when they see this magnificent machine, but today I got to wait while she lumbered down final and landed 150 feet in front of me — a glorious anachronism that few will take the time to appreciate.

Our readers know that we consider every day to be a good day.  This is because the Lord made all of them.  Still, there are some days that remain exceptionally memorable, and so we ask the question, “How do you know it is a good day?”  Here are a few ways you can know.

Today GB and I zipped up to 68C for lunch and excitement.  On days like this I note that the excitement of flying is really only about 50% made up of what you see from the air.  The other 50% is the wild world of pilots inside the airport boundaries:

• At 68C, we spotted JS, a pilot known by deed, if not name, to most Americans.  We attempted to say “hi” but did not want to be rude, so we missed him.
• We enjoyed all-you-can eat rolls, salad, beef stroganoff, apple sauce, cake, and ice cream for the bargain price of $8 each.
• Back at KOSH, we followed in two Twin Commanders from New Zealand.  We could tell by the accents and ZK numbers.  We saw them at the gas pump and didn’t miss the chance to say “You’re not from around here, are you?!” and “Welcome to Oshkosh.”  As it happens, they were ferrying these aircraft from New Zealand to Germany and stopped at Oshkosh for gas and a hotel room.

So you never know what you will see or whom you will meet when you go to lunch at the airport.