Didn't really go anywhere, just about 20 minutes south through a very bumpy pass to Summit strip to practice some crosswind landings. About 7 to 10 knots direct crosswind and not too squirrely. But great light for some photos during a stretch break.

Around the kittitas valley in Central Washington. The first cutting of Timothy hay is under way. It makes interesting patterns in shades of green. Here's a Kitfox's eye view.

We flew up the Tustumena Lake Glacier above Kenai AK (PAEN). Over the top
'you could see Prince William Sound. Was just at 6K.

More to come when I can figer out how
to post these!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4dNLTkULnQ

Okay, not exactly a backcountry machine but it sure was a lot of fun. Flying the Blanik Let-13 over Colorado.

OK ....now if I am flying TO the VOR I set the OBS to.......hey wait a minute I don't have anything as sophisticated as an
OBS in my plane

Peach springs VOR AZ, did not figure the friendly FAA would mind if I landed on their dirt road to take a photo.
Dale

Great flying day. Flew my Skywagon down to Pueblo to meet some friends for breakfast. After I got back to Meadowlake another friend asked me to ferry his Experimental Cub up to Kelly Airpark for a pre-buy inspection from a potential buyer. Fun plane to fly . Hitched a ride with another friend in her Super Cub in which she let me fly it back to Meadowlake. Overall not a bad day when you get to fly 3 different tail draggers.

Popped up to Chehalis area to meet up with a friend, Kelly, to hit some of the local strips. CAVU departing the local strip, only to encounter clouds at 800' near Kalama area. Popped back to Goheen to take a quick peak at a Stinson for sale there. Nobody around, at the time so I didn't want to poke my nose too much around the hangar area. Just as well, I'm just tire kicking at the moment.

Called Kelly. He reported clear at his place (FA99). Clouds stopped a few miles just to the south of the field. Climbed up to 6500 which gave me enough glide distance I could safely reach the open areas in the clouds. Took a while to descend back down but kept the seat from getting all pinched up as I flew on top.

Kelly proceeded to show me several strips in the area, most of which I can't recall the name of. All the ones I went into were 1800' or above (though I cut 200' off one of them for takeoff and had plenty of room). Kelly popped into some short ones including an 800'er, in his 172.
I got a little taste of river flying while Kelly was in one of the short strips. Not saying if I got below tree line... but it was pretty exciting. Got as far north as Cricket field before heading back to Chehalis (CLS) for to refuel.

Proceeded over to Burnt Ridge something like 2700', I believe. Kelly wanted to show me the Burnt Ridge Ski Jump. After chatting for a bit with the Burnt ridge owner, I loaded onto the 172 and Kelly flew us over to the Jump. Unfortunately, my batteries died on the camera so no video coming in. 900' with a significant upslope. Land to the West. No go around.



The landing was fun. Even at the top, where it's relatively flat, Kelly had to chock the wheels to keep it from rolling. After chatting with the owner there for a while, It was time to ride the jump down. Whaaaa hoooo. Good way to end the day ('cept for the flight home).

On the first of July I flew from Vale, OR. S49 to Richland, WA. to let off a passenger that knew I was flying to Portland and asked me to drop her off at Richland to meet her grand daughter. I then flew on to Aero Acres OG30, which is just our of Oregon City. It was a great flight except for some haze and smoke.

July 4th, not nearly as interesting as most of these other trips, but fun anyway. Went to Napoleon (MI), 3NP, to meet friends for lunch & ice cream. Two grass strips, two restaurants, two NORDO cubs taking off as I was coming in. What a great day!

ASW

Flew over the Cook Inlet in Alaska to Mt Iliama and Mt Redoubt
Redoubt is still spewing steam from the North West side.
Was smooth but some haze from a fire neat Homer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICoAk2c-XMI

Walt

redmond ore. to turlock ca.stopped at susanville ca. to releve my blater and fuel was 4.98gal.i'm not buying fuel here,so i went south 20mi.to beckworth ca.fuel was 3.71gal.so i fueled up..on to turlock stayed for 2 days,fueled at turlock there is a new F.B.O.there and fuel was 3.75gal.fueled up and headed to orville ca.fuel was 3.60gal.fueled up went to willows ca.to eat,,fuel was 4.17gal...nice place to eat at and plenty of room to park..that restrant is open 24hrs...over weed ca.to medford ore. visit mother inlaw..back to redmond ore.

Just got home from flying a little over 2 and a half hours in the Rockies. Took my father in law up for the flight. I got fly around a bit with one of our jump planes over Garden of the Gods, and then up into the mountains we went. Landed at Leadville (LXV). Then we got down and dirty in some mountain passes and popped out over Breckenridge, then home.

What a great way to start the day. Only could be better if I had a Pacer already and could play in some of the dirt out there!

Pic attached of my father in law posing at Leadville with the mighty T-41C Fighting Mescalero!

I get no recreational flying for the next month and a half so I hope no one minds if I share work related issues... Work has me headed to Iowa for the corn shin dig... left Yuma the morning before last in '175 ( a 500 gal -34 Thrush). Didn't make it much past Show Low before I started hitting Wx... next stop was to be Grants / Milan NM... a no go due to Wx with enough juice to make the west edge of Albuquerque I shot for double eagle. When did they put in the tower? ... On to Santa Fe, another no go, but too close anyways so I circle around the bend and manage Las Vegas, only to find out the jet A tank had leaked in the storm and their fuel was wet.... damn these short legged airplanes. After a look at the wind and some quick math it's off to Raton, fuel, a cheeseburger, and a quick nap as I wait off more wx, then off to La Junta. A line of nastyy stuff up ahead calls it a night, but there's a bed in the FBO, and a J5 on the ramp... so it's all good
Up in the morning, expecting to hear the local guys cat up and flying... no dice? so I'm off again, first stop is Burlington CO, ten minutes to get 5 gals pumped... no bueno, so I head off to Wray. Another snack, fuel from the coolest Ag operator in CO (I'm biased...) and I'm off again. Mc Cook in no time and then Neligh NE for the night, man.... who'd a thunk yuma to IFA would take 3 days in a Thrush? Any ways Neligh is pretty cool and my chief pilot is there so we hook up and head out the next morning. The Wx gods like him much better, so I am happy to do the rest as a flight of two. We are in the fair state of Iowa now...never been here before, but the first six hours have been a-ok
a pic or two from the road:
Done for the day in La Junta

On the road again

Somewhere near souix city (sp?)

The Wx gods had been much kinder to Dan as he worked his way from NV, so it was a no brainerd to drop in behind him when we hooked up

The last leg of the day (or 3 ) trip:


I know.... it's not back country, but it's as close as I'm gonna get for a bit

Hey man, I'll take a travelogue in a turbine powered taildragger any day of the week.

Made a sunset flight with my wife to the Garden of the Gods. Picture is the sun setting over the USAF Academy. Wish I would have had something other than my cell phone to take the picture.

Recently the vol. fire department I am part of purchased a flatbed truck for conversion to a wildland fire engine. The truck was located near Sacramento, CA. We are located in Cathlamet, WA about 650 miles to the north. I drew the "short straw" and the dilema begin to find the cheapest and quickest way to get the truck back. Thankfully our town is the type where folks are willing to help each other out and volunteer their time at everything from running the ambulance, to mowing the little league fields.
We located a local pilot with a C170B who was willing to fly my "road trip copilot" and myself to California for a small bit of gas money. A lot cheaper and more fun then flying Horizon.

Left Kelso (KLS) at 0600 with clear skies and a 12 knot tailwind. Clear sailing down the WIllamette Valley until we reached the Siskiyous. Had some overcast to deal with, but flight watch said the skies were clear once you hit Cali so we pressed on.

Landed at Siskiyou County Airport (SIY) in Montague for fuel. Not a lot going on except some gliders, cropduster ops and really expensive fuel. $5.35! Made those 145 horses pull for all they were worth climbing out with full fuel. Pressed on following I-5 and saw some awesome views of Shasta and the nearby mountains. Made our way south down the Sacramento Valley, listening to NorCal approach made me glad PDX isn't that busy.....

Auburn, CA (AUN) our final destination. We jumped out, thanked the pilot and headed to find our new truck. He filled up with some over $5/gal 100ll and headed home. Had some lunch at Wings Grill on the field and started the 12 hour drive home.... The pilot was nice enough to call me and let us know he was home before we were even out of California.

Mt. Ashland Ski Area poking through the clouds


Low Clouds piled up at the OR/CA border


The C170 at SIY with Shasta in back


Final destination

Great flying weekend in Colorado


Pancake Fly-In at Everitt Airfield, CO. Nice grass strip. My buddies 56 Skywagon in the background



Landing my Skywagon at Bijou Bottom private 1800' grass strip which is about 6200' in elevation



Bijou Bottom Strip. Yes, there is a grass runway out there.



Flying through Hayden Pass, CO



Great Sand Dune National Mounument located in Colorado



Creastone Peak along the Sangre De Cristo mountain range, CO

Nice Bmurrish. You sure like those Sangres a lot.

I got to spend most of friday flying, I brought a friend to Worland, WY to pick up a pickup. 500nm each way, just over 8 hours of flight time. Got to see some cool country, and Devils tower in Wyoming.

Left at 5 am, sat at Spearfish, SD for an hour because the line guy was 45 minutes late for work, and no credit card pump, and made it home by about 2:15 in the afternoon.

went from 6ND6(home) to Kspf-czi-kwrl, and kwrl-czi-y19-6nd6 on the way home

Friday and Saturday found me flying over the Siskyou and coastal California mountain ranges landing at 22 different airports and RON'ing at Beagle Sky Ranch near Medford. Went riding the backroads with my pal Chuck from Sams Valley to Rogue River on vintage Honda CBX and CX 500 turbo. Gravelly Valley airport at Lake Pillsbury may be the only California public airport with a shooting range/embankment at one end! Nice flight down the coast from Shelter Cove to Fort Bragg.

Gravelly Valley


Dinsmore


Shelter Cove. Guy driving Pinzgauer has H295 Helio Courier


Northern California Coast