I flew my 182 down to AZ. on the Jan. 1, and home on the 31st of Jan. I had to fuel at Elko and make it to Buckeye AZ. as my usual fuel stop in Ely, was closed on Jan. 1 and they don't have SS. only FS with a truck. My total time from S49 To KBXK was 5.5 hours. I went up to 11,500 and used a little O2 so I didn't get short of breath. It was a good weather day with blue skies the whole way. I had planned on returning on Sunday the 29th, but I had a dead battery. I got the battery on Monday and flew back on Tuesday. Another great weather day the whole way. I am only VFR so I had to have good weather. The trip back to S49 was 5.7 total. and 775.9 SM according to my 696. I got a great view of the Grand Canyon as I flew from The Peach Springs VOR to a little west of ST. George, UT.
While I was down in AZ. I made a trip to Sedona with my son and I went to Tucson to Ryan field to meet up with some forum members from the purple forum. It was a great trip. What really made it great was that my son gave me a card at christmas that simple said, I want you to come down and bring the plane and use this card to pay for your fuel. If there is a better son out there I would surely like to meet that young man.

Thanks for sharing Bob. Small planes are both expensive and priceless. I have similar memories with my two young sons.

Thanks for sharing Bob. Glad you had a great trip and spent some time with your son.