UW Oshkosh officials moved quickly over the weekend to open its parking lots to EAA AirVenture visitors whose recreational vehicles were diverted away from the saturated, muddy campgrounds.
Recent heavy rains—around five inches in 24 hours July 19 and 20—saturated the fields at EAA campgrounds. Roads to the parking sites were a concern and officials did not want to have RVs stuck in the mud. UW Oshkosh officials were contacted over the weekend to allow some of the RVs to park in three of the parking lots near Kolf Sports Center. The University has been accommodating around 20 recreational vehicles.
The displaced campers are joining a large contingent of EAA AirVenture visitors on campus that each year, fill its residence halls. Many of the guests have journeyed to UWO for years, enjoying access to dorms, showers and dining facilities.
Kurt Liebold, chief of police at UW Oshkosh, said the RVs could be leaving as early as Tuesday or Wednesday if conditions at EAA allowed.
“The campus community really pulled together to accommodate displaced campers by opening up residence hall for showers and bathrooms as well as offering access to food service and the transit/shuttle system,” Liebold said, adding that campers he spoke with were very appreciative and impressed with the UWO campus.
“Conditions are slowly improving in Camp Scholler campground,” said Dick Knapinski, director of communications for EAA. “As those conditions improve, decisions can be made about returning units in outlying areas to the EAA grounds. We want to ensure that if they can come back to the grounds, it doesn’t present a hazard to their rigs or further damage to the campground.”
Sarina McDougal and her husband, Gerald and boys, Alec, 13, and Zach, 15, of Kalamazoo, Michigan, started their journey to AirVenture at 10 p.m. Sunday. They arrived Monday morning and learned that they would be diverted to a lot near Kolf Sports Center.
“We went there and got our passes for the whole week,” she said Monday afternoon. “They told us they are hoping (they would be allowed on the grounds) Tuesday.”
McDougal said she and her husband have been coming to EAA each summer since before the boys were born.
This was the first year they brought a motor home that measures around 30 feet. They had four bicycles attached to the rear.
Peter Richey of Wheaton, Illinois, came by himself in his 35-foot, 20,000-pound motorcoach that he parked in a sunny spot between Kolf and Sage Hall. An engineer, he recently installed solar panels on his coach to help recharge his power supply.
“They were afraid of people getting stuck,” he said. “This (parking off-site) changes the (EAA AirVenture) experience significantly.”
Richey was hoping to get on-site at AirVenture as soon as possible.
High temperatures for the week are forecast in the 80s, with no rain forecast the rest of the week.
Since as early as 1972, a large contingent of EAA AirVenture visitors have stayed at UWO. Click through the photo gallery below to see UWO and EAA through the years.
