Real men aren't afraid of getting choked up, we just pick our crowds.
Ah Hell, I'm a Nancy and not afraid to admit it.
I've spent the better part of my working life doing 10-16 hour days and I've missed out on a large portion of my kids growing up. To be able to spend this time now with them has been priceless. Guys, I'm one of the luckiest people I know and the best part is that I know it. I have the opportunity now to spend these times with the boy and on less of an occasion, his sister. Damn teenagers, others (boys) get involved. I should threaten him with the "I have a plane and can spread your body parts so far, even CSI won't find 'em". But, they grow up and have their own lives. Not that I deal well with that.
In any case, today is today and tomorrow will come no matter what, live it to the fullest and have no regrets, don't leave a trail.
Tailwinds

South from Great Falls today into the Big Belt Mtns. Flew around in the mtns for about an hour or so. Saw about 100 head of cow & calf elk and about 8 nice bulls. Then flew around Holter Lake for awhile to check out the ice fisherman and check on our 5th wheel which permanently resides at the lake. Then north about 60 miles to Dutton for some cross wind touch-n-go's. Beautiful clear, cold, breezy day in north central Montana.


Joe.

Yesterday we went to Mcdermitt for the all you can eat dungeness crab. MLB had one and I had 4. Real cold this morning. 20 knot tailwind on the way home.

I really like this thread.

Sunday I flew for the first time to Selinsgrove, PA in the Pocono Mountains. Even though the rolling hills and valleys are beautiful, I always hesitate to call them mountains because there are trees on top!

The airport runway is 2800 feet, nicely paved, and is along a winding river in a valley. Old railroad bridges abound.

At 3500 feet it got real cold and I luckily found out there was another inch of travel on the heater control

Sure hated to end that flight!

Skystrider:

Welcome. Glad to have you on board.

FYI: Selinsgrove is quite a ways west of the Pocono Mtns. It's a common mistake, but the western edge of the Pocono Mtns is at the Lehigh River near White Haven and the Poconos lie to the east of there.

I guess your right! I have lived here 30 years and never really thought about exactly where the Poconos end. So I looked it up in Wickipedia and sure enough I live in 'em, and flew over 'em to get to Selinsgrove, but it ain't in 'em! Let me append that statement to Northeast Appalachians.

So how come you know so much about this area?

I spent the first 18 years of my life there anxiously anticipating the day when I graduated from high school so I could say goodbye and move to Montana, which I did a month after I turned 18. Best decision I ever made. That is, along with learning to fly.

Took my wife on a picnic yesterday. We flew from Nampa to Owhyee reservoir, the air was smooth but really hazy. When we got to Owyhee there were cows on the end of the runway. As I was deciding the best way to scare them off a super cub came and landed on the part where there were no cows. I had to make two low passes to get the cows out of the way. I didn't think I would need the part that they were on but I wanted to be sure since I had never been to Owyhee before. While landing the heel of my boot got caught on the heel brakes and made it though apply right rudder. Won't wear those boots again while flying.

Lots of cow pies all over the place.


We let our meal cook while we wandered around. Water is still frozen. Lots of tracks on the beach where someone was landing on it. Really a cool place, but there is a fair amount of trash. Someone has brought in a dish and cable so they can bring in a TV and satellite box and watch TV. Lots of traffic in the area. Three other planes landed and another three flew by but didn't land.

The strip was in decent condition, just gotta dodge the cowpies and rodent holes.

It was a good end to the weekend.

A bunch of us flew down and camped at Owyhee a few summers ago. Lotta fun, real cool place. One guy brought along a little inflatable boat a couple people could paddle around in! I'm not too big on cowpies, but I guess that's part of the charm of back-country places.
Hard to believe that someone brought in a cable dish and left it-- it musta been some real outback types! Reminds me of a guy I know who flew down and camped at the Evergreen fly-in with us one year, snuck off
from the (flame-free) "campfire circle" with his wife to go watch the news! I couldn't believe it. I like getting away from all that kinda crap, that's why I'm still cellphone-free.

Eric

Nice post on the Owahee. It is on my to do list.

This morning I flew part of the Oregon coast looking for whales. Saw logs, seals, birds, dogs, kelp, but no whales. I guess I'm a little too late. There was a strong inversion in the Willamette Valley. Much warmer at 3000 and calm as could be. Flying right on the interface, I could see a very distinct mirage just like asphalt on a hot day. I tried to photo it, but the haze made it indistinct in the picture.

tom

What's the law in Oregon as regards landing on ocean beaches? I've been told that Copalis is the only beach in Washington that's legal to land on, but not real sure if that's gospel. Don't know why a beach would be any different than a river bar. also, there are several beaches in Washington & I think also in Oregon where it's legal to drive cars, why not land airplanes?

Eric

zero.one.victor wrote:What's the law in Oregon as regards landing on ocean beaches?
Eric

In Oregon you can't land on beaches legally. They even have that in the FAQ on their aviation website. So many of the beaches are deserted so much of the time, it is a shame we can't use 'em. It would be great to fly into a beach that doesn't have a trail, that no one else could get to.

Speaking of Owyhee, I got a bit of a laugh today. I was looking thru my copy of Fly Idaho when I checked out a full-page ad in the back for the Skystar (Kitfox) Outback. Nice picture of the red factory demo airplane sitting parked at what looks very much like Owyhee--which is in Oregon!
Guess it isn't that funny now but at the time it just struck me that way.

Eric

Made a solo trip to the cabin yesterday to haul some freight and join some friends at the lodge for a poker party. Snow conditions were ideal and we could (and did) go just about anywhere we wanted to in either the plane or the snow machines. Found out the hard way that my old Skandic SLT cannot keep with the Apex my friend has and broke the slide rail about 35 miles from home. Had to ride up the next day with the other machine and tow the thing home in the old culvert sled that we pretty much leave to the fire wood hauling duties. After a few attempts at different methods, worked out a few bugs and after dumping it a couple, made it back in three or four hours.
It was one of those still, cold beautiful mornings that makes a person so alive. If I were to be afraid of anything, it would be that we would have a predetermined number of days in our lifetime that we get to experience such overwhelming beauty. Even with a foggy head after a late night, it was a pleasure to make the long ride at 15 below. Just wish the kids had been a long for this one.

Flew to Punta Penesca, Mexico last Thursday in my Maule 235 for my semi-annual Sea of Cortez "fix" from Thermal, Ca. "TRM". Penesco is about 100 miles south of Yuma,Az. We departed under sunny skies climbing to 5,500 and calling Riverside radio on 122.30 to activate " a must file flight plan". I was given a squawk code 1240 to cross the broader in order to prevent F-18's from El Centro interrupting our two day ocean fix. After crossing the broader at Celixco, I contacted Mexicali tower on 118.20 , not a requirement but wanted to give them a heads up on my position. They were very friendly and professional and asked me to report 20 to the south and 50 to the south. I only heard one other airplane in the area. Everyone likes to feel important! After flying over gigantic sand dunes we called Penesco on 122.8 for an advisory. The airport has a 5,000 foot asphalt rwy and a 2,000 ft dirt strip for "backcountry" fliers. The manager was very friendly and guided me through customs where I paid an multiple entry fee of $50 and $8 per night parking fee plus $8 for whatever. The customs and military were very polite and professional. There were 16 planes tied down including a Citation jet and I felt the security was good. The cab ride to the beach resorts was $15 where we rented a nice condo for $200/night, expensive but had US quality. The food was just ok in this town of over 40,000 people. However,the beach and sunset were first class. Penesco is packed during the summer months with the Phoenix crowd, a 3 1/2 hour drive away. We departed on 29 climbing to 4500 where we called San Diego radio on 122.6 to give them a "precise time" or up date on our arrival in Calexico to clear US customs where you will pay a $25 annual entry fee. The fun trip registered only 3.5 hours on the tach...Garv

Just got back from a week of float planing in Haines City Florida. Mostly flew a PA 12 on straight floats, but also got an opportunity to fly in a straight float 172 and a Lake amphib. Worked with Brian Schanche of Adventure Seaplanes of Minnesota, he takes two of his planes down in the winter for rental and training. Great place to go in the winter and there are over 500 lakes to land in that area. Now that I am home and hopped up about flying here, all that can be done is look out the window and hope the snow melts enough that my strip will be usable.

Went to Mammoth. Windy, cold, bumpy and on the way home the CO detector went off almost continuously. I'm headed to the airport to de-cowl and have a look.

Flew to Perris today for breakfast. Perris isn't a back country strip but has a good restaurant and is skydiving central around here. Stopped at Lake Wohlford on return home. Also not a back country strip but Private and short. Next time will take Pictures.Iceman

Flew the repaired suspension back out to the cabin along with a bunch of fuel for the Iditarod next weekend and took advantage of some incredible snow conditions for T&G's on some swamps including a great sandwich stop. Met some guys from Trapper Creek out for a lark, one of which just got his ticket last week, both in ski Pacers. Explored the Chugach for a while on the way home. Cold and severe clear (-18 in the AM) Best fuel price at Wasilla 3.79 #$%^&!

Flew around the back country in Eastern SD county yesterday in my good buddies 182. (My Maule is down for annual. ) Gave me an opportunity to tak some pix of a couple strips. Sorry we were so hi there were border cops perched on the canyon rim watching Smugglers, so we didn't want to provoke or scare them into thinking we were doing something illegal.. After annual I'll go down in the canyon and maybe land for some closer shots... What i took is in my Gallery if you are interrested. We had snow!!!!! Any more of this winter weather and I'll be lookin for some skis.. Must be a result of that global warming Al Gore is talkin about. After all he invented Global warming didn't he? Or was that the internet?