I bought a 85 hp J3C and operate out of BDU a little north of you at 5300ft. 210HP is nice and usable, but don't think it is required to build time. I fly in the mountains too, only had it 2 months but already put 30 hours on it and had it over 11,000ft. Burning 4 gph low and slow is a good cheap time builder and a lot more fun to fly than the skyhawk xp. The overhaul cost of the injected continental is significant, too. I'm not a commercial pilot and don't desire to be - but it seems self evident that if you want to be one, then t/w time is where you want to be investing.

I'm not sure I saw which airport you operate out of - consider augmenting your time with glider tow ops. Do you fly out of Kelly air park? Fremont county?

Thanks again Gump. The FBO does have a little 150 with the little wheel in the back. So I'll work on that when I get back. But, it's a 150, and a 150 doesn't do so well in CO in the summer time. I'll have to pick my days and go early in the morning.

soyAnarchisto; Thanks for the info. I fly out of the Springs. I'm a little leery about taking the 172SP (180hp) the FBO has into the mountains, that's why I had been flying the XP. I did fly it, the SP, to AEJ but I went the long way round. Pueblo, Canyon City, Bighorn Sheep Canyon, Salida then turn north up the valley. Can you tell me what your J3C will cost you yearly?

You started out talking about a $29k share in a 182RG and then later $75k for a 206. What's your budget? If you have $75k to spend I would go buy a 180. If $30k then I would find a good 2 seat taildragger with a bigger engine so you can deal with the altitude in your area.

Well, Skyjeep, I thought I knew what I was doing when I started this thread. Then I learned ........

What I did learn was that I had a mission of what I wanted to do ahead of what I really wanted to do. (ok, that didn't make a damn bit of sense)

The mission I always had in mind was to have a plane that my wife and I and another couple could go some place in. Then I thought, I need to get hours so I can turn this into a job. So I thought more hours in something larger was better, hence the 182rg. The 206 thing was just something that I saw that I could own and not share and maybe do both missions. (that sounded rotten but you know what I mean)

Now the mission is to pull my head out, and focus. Get the hours, fly as cheap as I can and rent the big stuff when I want to make the long cross country trips.

What's my budget? I was thinking up to the 140k range. But that was way back when I had C210 on the brain and before the 182rg opportunity came up.