So today I flew the rental KCAB. Took a good friend of mine who's retired AF and United...used to fly U-2s for a long time. He hasnt' flown in over a year, medical issues, so he had a great time flying from the back seat today.

Took off out of FTG and headed towards Greeley which turned out to be crap so we headed back south. Hunted out some strips, found an ag strip that was really nice. Looked for an old missle hole in the ground near Deer Trail but came up with nothing. Then buzzed Mountainmatt's place followed by Bijou Bottom. Then buzzed my buddies place in Black Forest and headed back to FTG. Was a really great time and good flying. But we both sucked enough to forget a camera, so at least there's no proof!

How is the strip at Oakley. Learned to fly in Burley but never landed in Oakley. I know my cousin's boss keeps his planes there. I'm planning on checking it out this summer while we make our way to and from Idaho. Where did you eat? There used to be a place by the swimming pool, but I think it closed. Then there used to be a diner on the corner of the highway coming from Burley and Oakley's main east/west street.

Glad you didn't have to wash the dishes.

GSP

The strip was in great shape, and the walk to the cafe was maybe 5 minutes at most, it's not hard to find in a town that size!

Bounced down to Anchorage and back today to pick up an item but really just to goof off in the plane. Tailwinds both ways, I hate it when that happens.

Drop off the plane for the annual tomorrow so after that no flying for a week or two

Really nice evening light in Broad Pass:



Approaching my home strip from the south:

I flew 1,000 miles at no more then 500 AGL. About half way, I landed in the plowed field for a break. Met this Amish guy who took me on a 8-10 mile round trip ride on a flat bed buggy behind a rather fast horse. First time being Amish for me, and it was cool. By the time we got back about 35 Amish folks had gathered around my plane like it was a flying saucer. They would not let me take their pictures though.


Then I checked out these college kids rowing in the Muskingum River.



And finally, how about the clothe line??

Suppose that is a redneck washer/dryer combo?

shortfielder, You may be right, a couple quick rinse dips, then an auto dryer?? I wonder about the top line. It looks like a great place for birds to roost on top of those "clean" clothes??

Great shots Patrol Guy!
I took these the other day while flying out to a ranch solar install job I'm doing about 90 miles away. How great is it to have fun while working??
Feeding time at the sheep ranch


Checking out one of the canyons leading up to the 10 K plus peaks. They are perfectly formed to give you a new dramatic view every few seconds, and it is so seductive to want to keep flying up them to see more. I envision them thinking: COME ON SUCKER! KEEP FLYING UP THIS BLIND STEADILY RISING, NARROWING CANYON, JUST A LITTLE FURTHER........then I turn around and get the hell outa there

Yeah, yeah, I know the picture quality sucks. I still think you can make out the wind barbs though. Weather has sucked big time here in CO lately but I really wanted to fly. Our airfield is almost 7000' agl so I normally select 9k on my GPS for winds. Yep, that's 40kts. Winds on the ground were straight down the runway and a little less so not that big a deal. Sure seemed like I was crawling on final.

Called bmurrish to see if he was going to fly..he said no, the wind was coming up. Thought I would fly to STK before the wind came up here at SNY..took off, headed south and got my butt kicked! Turned around and landed SNY on 31..winds 340@ 15 g 21....put the plane back in the hangar...0.2 hrs on the tach...but I did get to fly. HC

Flew Crookston to Grafton, ND for pancake breakfast. Sat down at a table with some older folks, and was introduced to "Hop" Hupner, for whom the Grafton airport is named. He's a looooonnnggg time spray pilot, but mostly he wanted to talk about flying B-25s in WWII, and I didn't discourage that. He was command pilot on B-25 named "Ave Maria" flying in North Africa and out of Corsica with the 12th Air Force.

Good breakfast, and great conversation. Really interesting character. His first spray plane was a J-2 Cub with a 40 hp engine......

MTV

After selling my previous place 4 years ago to a great couple, I have not landed there since, not since the check cleared! I did a little work there last week on the hot water solar system, and Shannon had a small check for me. It was the perfect excuse to check the old strip out, she said go for it, 5 minutes later I was there. Only a mile or so away, and 500'vertical higher up the mountain from my new place. Note the new barb wire fence on short final, one of the reasons I moved. As funky as my new strip is, it is way better then the old one! Total flight time today there and back .3 hrs with a little screwing around on the way of course. Beats driving as usual!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4OQLN6N160

Ended up making two local test flights today messing with my CHT guage. Like HiC said, it was darn bumpy. Winds were up around 25kts but only about 30 degrees off the runway. Weather isn't looking that great for this week which means Caveman may be a no-go.

mtv wrote: He's a looooonnnggg time spray pilot, but mostly he wanted to talk about flying B-25s in WWII, and I didn't discourage that. He was command pilot on B-25 named "Ave Maria" flying in North Africa and out of Corsica with the 12th Air Force.

That is really cool. Some guys' flying careers sound like a movie plot, and they really are the best ones to just tune in and listen to.

Electric City, WA - Steamboat Rock State Park area. Gorgeous day!

Bugs66 wrote:Electric City, WA - Steamboat Rock State Park area. Gorgeous day!

Nice. A buddy of mine had his bachelors party on the isthmus, north of Steamboat, a couple years back. I was kicking myself for not flying in. I'd agreed to share a carpool with someone else.

Spent the day getting more comfortable in the 172. Flew up north. Ended up visiting with Kelly and Larry. Kelly has a 172 with 8.50's mentioned in other threads. Larry has a nice Stinson with a continental 220 and CS prop. He's looking to sell it BTW, very nice, bushwheels too. Only downside is it's a bit on the heavy side. We flew down to an island south of KLS (Kelso). They landed on the island while I did a low flyby. One more pass, Kelly does another landing at another spot. Larry is a bit fast so he goes around. Kelly departs and trades molecules with a tree, ack!. Just a little too tight for comfort. Looked like a heck of a lot of fun but a little too rough for my bird. I have fun flying 500-700' above the river. Whole different world down there.

Came upon this scene 2 miles from my house in North Pole. Moose floating away on a chunk of ice in the Tanana. Not sure how it ended though.

Camped out at Grand Gulch with some friends.


Had a great time hiking the canyons.


Old wood boiler and an angry alien.


Daniel's family has more pilots and planes than many small airports. Thought it was cool that
they decided to just drop in to say hi.

I didnt fly any where today but was gonna stop at the Wrangler in Fairfield for lunch on my drive to Boise. Found out they closed Monday and Tuesday.

Also saw G3 hard a work...at least i think it was G3

Yep, it's still windy in CO. We even had snow last night. Managed to hit Bijou Basin after work.Took my hangar partner up to show him the elk herd he has never seen.

ckellems wrote:Came upon this scene 2 miles from my house in North Pole. Moose floating away on a chunk of ice in the Tanana. Not sure how it ended though.

Wow...that is something else. Real ice pilots.