Got the M7 home last night. Good thing too. Not a fly day now.

We left Ft Nelson after defrosting the airplane about 4 times (it would reform about as fast as we were getting it off) and headed direct to Peace River. About half way ran into a snow storm so we cut back to Ft St John. Got gas and lunch and headed to Red Deer. Didn't have time to make Cut Bank so we got a room in town. Snowed in Cut Bank all day the next day so we sat tight in Red Deer. Got outa there yesterday morning and cleared customs in Cut Bank. It was IFR in Idaho Falls so we landed at Butte to think it over. We thought about going to Salmon and down to Burley but we had come so far and had finally got a straight shot south and along the freeway to boot we didn't much want to take the long way home. So after looking at weather web cams on Monida Pass and in the Idaho Falls and Pocatello are we decided to head for home. (the FSS briefer disagreed) We had a nice ride straight home in solid VFR.

It took 6 days to get from Fairbanks to Brigham City. Around 2800 miles and 22 hours of flying. Not one day was "as planned" VFR forecasts turned into IFR and IFR forecasts turned into VFR. Over all an all-time amazing trip. Regardless of where we were there are good people there to help and provide services. I hope to go back someday, but not in March

UtahMaule wrote:We left Ft Nelson after defrosting the airplane about 4 times (it would reform about as fast as we were getting it off) and headed direct to Peace River. About half way ran into a snow storm so we cut back to Ft St John. Got gas and lunch and headed to Red Deer. Didn't have time to make Cut Bank so we got a room in town. Snowed in Cut Bank all day the next day so we sat tight in Red Deer. Got outa there yesterday morning and cleared customs in Cut Bank. It was IFR in Idaho Falls so we landed at Butte to think it over. We thought about going to Salmon and down to Burley but we had come so far and had finally got a straight shot south and along the freeway to boot we didn't much want to take the long way home. So after looking at weather web cams on Monida Pass and in the Idaho Falls and Pocatello are we decided to head for home. (the FSS briefer disagreed) We had a nice ride straight home in solid VFR.

It took 6 days to get from Fairbanks to Brigham City. Around 2800 miles and 22 hours of flying. Not one day was "as planned" VFR forecasts turned into IFR and IFR forecasts turned into VFR. Over all an all-time amazing trip. Regardless of where we were there are good people there to help and provide services. I hope to go back someday, but not in March

Cool adventure! Hopefully you have some photies to share. Thanks for the report.

I'll work on the pics.

A new friend, Tadd from PA bought a J-3 up in Maine. Although Tadd is an airline pilot, he had NO tail wheel time. I offered up Greg to help out. Yesterday they left Maine in the 65 hp cub. They had some long stops sorting out some issues. I was to pick Greg up in Beaver Falls, PA. And fly us back in the Scout.

Some how (totally amazing), I intercepted them about an hour north east of Beaver as it was starting to get dark. We flew formation and texted back and forth since they had no radio. Beaver is a tower airport, so I did a flight of two as we landed. I gathered up Greg and we did the last hour to my place in total darkness ( I don’t do that often) and got my runway lights to turn on with the radio, so all was fine.

UtahMaule wrote:I'll work on the pics.

yea we want to see the new Maule!

Hello Backcountry Pilots,
Flew up to Newman Ridge just NE of Spokane this morning. Just a litle winter at 4000 feet.

James






And video: http://s230.photobucket.com/albums/ee15 ... 120129.flv

Here are the pics. I'm pretty proud of myself for figuring out how to put them in a post



Test flight after annual at Chena Marina. Me and a Cub on skis in the pattern, my first time on groomed snow.





Tucked in for the night after working on it for 4 days, ready to head home in the morning.





Alaska..... headed for Tok





Spending the night at Tok due to HIGH winds in Whitehorse.





Near Haines Junction Yukon headed for Whitehorse, it got right down to zero and we turned around.





Tied down in Burwash Yukon after turning back. The rope on that flag pole is TIGHT





Yukon.





More Yukon.





Not my favorite place to be





Back home in Utah.





Awesome trip. I haven't quite got the looong wing figured out but I'm working on it

Sweet plane Rob

Yep, sweet plane, UtahMaule. Looked like an interesting trip.

Nice pics Utahmaule. Crappy time of year to make the trip, for sure.

gb

I flew the 7KCAB from Front Range up to Greeley to meet up with HiCountry and some others from Sidney, NE. Was great to see HiC and meet the others, unfortunately I don't remember eating breakfast. They were so busy I got my food about 5 minutes before I needed to hit the sky...the rental had to be back by 1100 for a student to go up.

Here's SKIPI NDB, getting a pic of it was my homework assignment from Cubscout.


Passing Denver International


Greeley, CO - KGXY



Lots of food in this one

Cool pictures UtahMaule. The one of Chena Marina brings back memories of when I lived in that area years ago. Sounds like an incredible trip. Congrats.

Flew with Gary in a Champ to GXY where we met Garry..my flying partner to JC in'09.....Gerald showed up from FTG.. and then Tadpole..we all ate breakfast....Tadpole had to slpit for FTG...Gary's daughter showed up so he went to Ft Collins...Gerald and I flew to STK where my wife was waiting to go to Home Depot looking for stuff to remodel our kitchen..and then back to SNY where Ed was giving a friend a ride in the PT-19. Was a month since I flew last..beautiful day today.

Made the Alaska trip with utahmaule. New user and just figuring out the site. But that Alaska trip was GREAT. Loved every minute of it.

Thanks Rob

Not a lick of flying for me this weekend. Lousy stinkin' weather.

This forced me into a situation on the lazy-boy. 3 solid hours of Operation Repo on the big screen. Finished 1 bag of Doritos and a 2 liter of Diet Coke. Otherwise, paralyzed.

At least it was a productive day..

Perfect day in Denali yesterday- finally enjoyed it after about 2 hours of f**king with frosty skis. Initially both skis were totally frosted on the bases, and it was all I could do to taxi at a crawl on my groomed ramp. Several epic struggles later, I got to one end of the runway and figured if I could get accelerating that might take care of the frost on the ski bases. Well, I was half right. It took care of the frost on ONE ski base. That makes a great setup if you want to make constant left-hand turns, but isn't particularly well-suited to taking off, IMHO. A few more epic struggles and some foul language finally did the trick, and I made the most of it with 3.5 along the spine of the Alaska Range, in calm air and severe clear.

-DP

Crappy weather day in Colorado, but good enough to get in the pattern. Felt good to get back in the air after not flying since last Saturday, even if it was snowing.

Not the coolest picture but figured it was better than nothing, okay maybe not. Had to work a little late tonight but with springing ahead an hour I was still able to get in a little flying. Did my normal routine of heading up the Bijou Basin looking for elk. I flew over Bijou Bottom and Steve came on the radio and asked me to land for a bit. He had been out counting cattle, not to be confused with counting sheep. Being the Florida beach bum I am I had to ask. We had a great conversation about raising cattle. I did learn a bit and appreciate nice tasty steaks even more. A special thanks goes out to our farmers. I appreciate all you do to help put food on our plates.

I flew up to Vernal, UT (VEL) this morning. Stopped at Dinaland Aviation and they offered us the use of their airport car so we could go into town for Breakfast. Great stop and some nice folks. Stop in if your in the neighborhood.