Spent the weekend doing a little routine Champ maintenance, and flew over to the ranch to scout for wild pigs. Found 12 of them at this little reservoir.

Hard to see, but the bottom of this reservoir was full of pigs.

Took off mid-morning on Thanksgiving into clear skies, cool temperature, and perfect flying conditions. Pokey Joe kept an eye on the many ducks and geese sharing the sky with us as I climbed up a little higher than usual to enjoy the view of freshly snow covered peaks lining the horizon. As we neared our destination I heard a familiar voice on the radio, and soon I spotted my uncle maneuvering the 185 off my right wing. I followed our escort in for a quick landing, and soon the dog and I were strapped into the skywagon headed into the hills to check on things up at the ranch and put the recently installed IO520 through its paces. It felt like we had afterburners after cruising around in the Champ all morning. I always enjoy flying with my uncle.

After a light lunch, I decided Pokey Joe was due for some exercise after sitting in a plane all morning. So we flew up river until I found a spot where he could get out and chase some rabbits and go for a swim. Topped the day off with a nice Thanksgiving dinner with the family, and an early morning flight home.

California Drought Update:





I'm gonna need floats if this drought gets any worse.

A couple pictures while out checking out the high water the other day.



Dropped in to check out my buddies Cub. We are getting ready to help him re-cover it.

Nice pictures. Must be rice fields in that one pic????

180Marty wrote:Nice pictures. Must be rice fields in that one pic????

Yep, rice country.
Here's a few from up higher over the Sacramento River I took from a friends Bonanza the other day:


That's a lot of water...

That's a lot of water...

And I bet it's not doing any rice any good right now. Is pretty impressive!!!

Awesome thread, keep it up. This is me hitting the like button.

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Annual time over at Adventure Flight...
Flew home and spent some time enjoying all the new snow...

Pokey Joe had a blast...

Finally installed a shoulder harness in the Champ. Just need to figure out how to sew the headliner back up now!

Sunset over Sutter Island..(Sutter Buttes)

Low pass on the carrier deck..

Great hangar jam session for Laurie's birthday. The guy on the right used to play with the Doobie Brothers!

Staying light long enough to get more after work flying in...

Stuck my nose-dragger buddy up front and let him fly the Champ around..

Lots of water flowing over the dams right now....

Wow!!!! and thanks for posting all the variety.

Latest in my series "Blurry Pictures of the Prop with Varying Background Scenery"

The dog and I were enjoying some green grass and sunshine over the weekend-

CFOT wrote:The dog and I were enjoying some green grass and sunshine over the weekend-

You have green grass *and* sunshine? Man, am I jealous.

Flew up river Saturday morning to help a friend with his cub project.

Saw lots of changes in the river since the high water...this used to be a hairpin bend, now its a new island and a new gravel bar just downstream. Looks kind of inviting..

Pulled the wings off the cub and spent a few hours stripping off the old fabric..



Its pretty cool to open the wings up and find these notations from the last century to remind us how much history these planes have.

No turning back now...

Met up with another buddy in the air on the way home..


We went and picked up this beautifully restored engine for his Cub on Sunday.

Stopped in at MYV last night to grab some fuel and was pleasantly surprised to see Aluminum Overcast sitting on the ramp.

Got jumped by Puddles during my BFR

New mechanic on the field that's great at fixing the little stuff...and he's not afraid to get dirty.

New motor hung on my buddies Cub...Its getting close.

A little scouting the other night-


Aluminum Overcast is still around...couldn't resist getting a few poser shots..

Flying into Shasta yesterday...

An evening flight back from "Area F"

Crossing over the Rubicon last night-