Day 1 May 11th Troutdale, Oregon to Madras, Oregon. Got a jump on the bad wx.
Day 2 Madras, Oregon to Elko, Nevada. I had to dodge some IFR wx and rain but it was a quick and easy fix.
Met blackrock and his wife. We went for a flight in his Bear Hawk. Great plane. Had dinner and stayed over night at their house.
Day 3 dawned CAVU. We headed out under ideal conditions to the Ibex dry lake.
blackrocks Bear Hawk
Next stop was Filmore, Utah for gas. Then on to Caveman.
Views along the way.
At Caveman Paula and her helpers made us dinner. Ribs, salad, burgers, cake. We had some sky divers drop in on us. Those guys are nuts.
Day 4 Saturday. Poker Run. Mack Mesa Bar B Q Fly in. The Poker Run consisted of 6 different airports and a 7th card a Caveman at the end of the day. Happy Canyon, Angel Point, Horseshoe Canyon, Dolores Point, Hubbard/Gateway and Mack Mesa.
Angel Point. The wx looks scary over there.
At Horseshoe Canyon we ended up with quite a traffic jam. Planes landing and taking off both ways, Blu taking off and landing in the sage brush. We told grasstripilot it was pretty rough the first half. He made a low pass and decided to go for it. me and blackrock were parked at the far end. GSP used every bit of it. He even had me running for cover.
See the skid marks headed towards my plane. Adam is analyzing the landing. I think he told dad to get bigger tires.
Mrs grasstripilot. I think she was going to take the baby walk back. Not really, she is one cool mom.
By this time the wx is taking a turn for the worse so we all beat feet back to Caveman to wait it out. The plan was to get lunch at Gateway but that didn't work so blackrock Mike and Rose got their emergency rations and feed like 10 of us. They made Jambalaya and it was great. We all tried our best to help and we had a good time.
Now we are feed and watered and just like we planned it, the wx is good enough to go get the rest of our cards.
Dolores Point 7100MSL
From DP you take off and as soon as you can turn right cut the power and drop off a 2000' cliff and glide all the way to Hubbard/Gateway. John Hendricks the owner of the Discovery Channel also owns the Gateway Resort. It is one nice place!!
Highcountry at Hubbard/Gateway
I took the group on a nature hike to the resort. No one wanted to hug a cactus. Word to the wise, DON'T follow OregonMaule on any short cuts!
John Hendricks has a fabulous car museum.
At the time he bought the F88 at Barrett Jackson it was the most expensive car they had auctioned.
Here's your sign
Old road maps from gas stations.
The Poker Runs next stop was Mack Mesa. They gave us a great price on gas. Thanks Ladd and Steve. They had a Bar B Q going and we were invited. Great food too.
Nate and his girl friend Megan. Megan is also a pilot. Wendy is at the far end. She flys all over in her Super Cub. Mike and Rose AKA blackrock.
Matt and Katie. The good I let my husband live after he bought 31s wife.
Tom{flyingbeekeeper} Gary{shortfielder} Steve{Ownes Mack Mesa} Rod{Caveman} Hunter{Caveman Jr.} Russ{glidergeek}.
Corey, Dee, Adam, Sadie. The grass strip family. They get my vote for the BCP first family. Corey always comes with the whole family. Dude how you do that is beyond me!
Day 5 The windy day. The TAFs and FA were calling for 25G40 head winds for my 4 hour flight to socal and The Bermuda Dunes Airport. It was rough but CAVU. Hey nothing bounced off the cabin ceiling, thats a good thing!
Day 6 finds me kicking it back here at the in laws bitchen home in Palm Desert. Boy oh boy did I ever marry right!!
After I finish this post I think I'll hot tub and go fly somewhere. Catalina Island maybe???
To everybody who came it was my pleasure to camp, fly, eat and party with you. To those who didn't make it we missed you and you should come next time!
Rod, Paula, Hunter, Johnny. Thank you and see y'all next time.
Cheers...Rob
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Many thanks to Gary for being the instigator to plan & put it all together and especially to Rod, Paula and Hunter for their wonderful hospitality! Looking forward to the next one!
