Chuck Carroll flew with me to Oshkosh a few years ago and was a real help when I was arriving along with 5,000 other planes for the first time. He was going to fly with me to Texas and back so we picked him up at 2:00 pm on Monday to go to Las Vegas. Passing through Laughlin, Nevada, we discovered that the road to US 95 was closed due to a fuel tanker truck tipping over. There was a thunderstorm with lightning going on so no cars were allowed to use the road. They suggested that we go through Kingman so we headed that way.
Arriving at the edge of Kingman we turned to Las Vegas on Highway 63 and saw a sign saying 97 miles. That was about what we had when we started, and we had already gone about 45 miles. Getting nearer to Hoover Dam we saw signs indicating delays. Tuning in to AM 1620 we discovered that all traffic was being inspected prior to crossing the dam. This was instigated after 9/11.
They also started building a bridge, but as all things government, it is still unfinished. It will be quite impressive if it ever gets completed.
Finally after five hours we made it to the CanCun Resort and checked into our room.
We were going to have dinner with Ronnie Fabre (a high school classmate of mine) and her husband, but he was suffering from Bronchitis so we decided to reschedule. Hsien-Ling and Johnny were staying overnight and going home in the morning. Chuck and I were to rest and catch a cab to the airport at 11:45 pm.
We all went to the Tropicana for dinner. Johnny told me to go gamble and he got half of what I won. I put a dollar in a machine and lost, only to discover it was a dollar machine. I found a quarter poker machine and put in another dollar, this time winning a few times. I quit when I had six dollars, and gave Johnny two dollars as his half of the winnings. He was elated.
Back at the resort, Chuck and I rested then went to the airport. Passing through security Chuck lost a bottle of water and a multipurpose corkscrew that his wife had put in his luggage for him. We were going to terminal D so we had a long wait for the tram and then a long walk to our gate. I listened in to a young couple from China for awhile and then surprised them by asking, in Mandarin, where they were from. We talked a little while then they went somewhere else to talk.
The flight to Houston was uneventful other than the beginning. The people in the row behind us got into and out of their seats no less than eight times before we took off. Every other time they did, they would knock the guy in the aisle seat in the head. Luckily he was pretty easy going. He was a pretty large man so Chuck didn’t sleep well. I slept the whole way, waking only to drink a soda.
In Houston we had a long walk to our connecting flight and stopped to have a snack of coffee and a roll/bagel. Along the way we saw rocking chairs along the side of the concourse.
Occasionally there were groups of travelers sitting together talking. Once in awhile there would be a single person sitting there carrying on an animated conversation with no one in particular, or maybe on their cell phone with an ear bud.
The flight to San Antonio was uneventful as far as I remember as I slept the whole time on that one as well. I woke up as we were descending into the clouds and as we broke out, only to fall back asleep and be rudely awakened as we clunked onto the runway.
David Welch from Sierra Engineering picked us up at the airport and told us it was his job to pick us up, take us to breakfast, and to drag his feet. Obviously the plane wasn’t finished. We got a tour of San Antonio including glimpses of the River Walk, and the Alamo. I got a few pictures of the Alamo, but that was it.
After breakfast at Denny’s we headed to Uvalde, about 75 miles away. I slept a lot of the time. When we got to Uvalde, David got us a room at the Holiday Inn Express so we could shower and take a nap while they finished the plane. We did. At 2:00 pm, Art Jackson picked us up and took us to see Justine.
She was finished, just needed one more test run-up.
Larry Montgomery gave me the two (old) $450 fuel strainers and the one $700 strainer as well.
I expected them to be gold and I wanted to melt down the old ones. We were to take off, test the autopilot, and if there was a problem, return for fine tuning. After getting all the paperwork and paying, we were off. There was no problem so we didn’t have to return.
We headed first to Wood County Airport where we were to be met by Bill Attwood and Cathy Cameron, great friends of mine from Bullhead City. Unfortunately, we couldn’t reach them from Uvalde or when we reached Wood County Airport. It turns out that Bill, who has the heart of a young girl (literally as he has a heart transplant) was sick in bed all day and their cell phone coverage is as bad as mine. There was a cold front moving to the area that should pass that night, and then become stationary. That would have kept us from leaving the next morning so we headed home. We had a little rain as we left Wood County and had to fly at 4,500 feet in the beginning to stay under the clouds. Later we stayed at that altitude for the smooth air and better tail winds. The front also kept us from stopping to see Steve Morris, a high school classmate who lives near Dallas. Time to spare, go by air.
We got as far as Graham before the sun set. Everything was closed at the airport and none of the hotels would come pick us up. I found some people sitting around talking in front of their hangar, and Babe Horton, a Cessna 210 driver, offered to take us to a hotel. We got an excellent deal and a great room at the Holiday Inn Express. It was brand new, and just like the one in Uvalde but about half the price. We walked about a mile uphill to the Dairy Queen for dinner but downhill on the way back.
In the morning we woke up at about 6:45, 15 minutes before our wake up call. Not bad since it was 4:45 Arizona time. I wish I could acclimatize this fast coming from Taiwan. The hotel had a full breakfast for us: bacon, eggs, s**t on a shingle, muffins, bread, bagels, juice and coffee. Who could ask for anything more? We took a couple apples for the flight. Chuck found us a “shortcut” back to the airport which was about the same distance away as the Dairy Queen. Fuel was reasonable so we topped off. I didn’t want to think about fuel as we slalomed around the thunderstorms.
We went along at 4,500 feet for quite awhile. Normally I fly much higher but the winds were better, a 5 knot tail wind rather than a 15 knot quartering headwind at higher altitudes. We stayed there until the ground rose up to try and meet us. We climbed, and the clouds dropped until we had to stop in Santa Rosa, Texas. We landed and I tied down the plane and took a nap, Chuck went exploring. They had a nice little pilot lounge with an air conditioner and a bathroom. They had a coffee maker but no cups. Someone had left a big note saying: “Cups would be nice!” Hey, I thought, if it’s that important, bring your own. It was more than I expected for free in the middle of nowhere. It was a very comfortable place to hang out, call weather service and take a nap.
After an hour or so we headed out again and stayed below the clouds and above the ground. By the time we hit Albuquerque we were at 8,500 feet and at the base of the clouds (within VFR limits of course). This was not high enough to fly over the airport unannounced so we called approach and got a number to squawk. We were almost on top of the runway as we rounded the mountain and were picked up on their radar. When they realized we didn’t want to land we were vectored to the south to avoid departing traffic, and then turned loose after we passed the airport area.
As we headed west we had to first divert around some 8,500 foot mountain tops, and later around thunderstorms. The zigzagging put us right over the top of the meteor crater between Winslow and Flagstaff.
After that it was just left right left right all the way home around one thunderstorm cell after another. I have a handheld Garmin GPSMAP 396 coupled to my S-Tec 30 autopilot (with altitude hold). I also have XM Weather so I can see a satellite image of the weather as I fly. It is an amazing time saver as I can turn early to avoid the cells and know whether to go around to the right or the left. It also lets me know when to stop and when to go after waiting. The cells topped out at about 45,000 feet so going over them was out of the question. That was according to Flight watch on 122.0, as my Garmin won’t give that information.
We finally touched down at A20 (Sun Valley Airport) about 3:30. 3.6 hours in the air on Tuesday and 6.6 hours on Wednesday.
When my plane was topped off for me in Uvalde I wasn’t there so I didn’t see how full it actually was. They put in 122 gallons. According to the book and the sales brochure it should take 138. Since it had actually been drained it might have taken even a gallon more. Now I have to run one tank dry and refill it to see what the actual capacity is for usable fuel. Just another excuse to fly…. Missing 16 gallons would put me short going to Japan from the Aleutians, but that is another story.
No comments:
Post a Comment