We left Rio Vista around 2:45, took off on 33. 4.2 hours, not bad

I actually got to fly four days in a row this week. Tues, Wed, Thurs, and Friday. Tuesday and Wednesday were flying work related. To a couple of local ranch strips and then to the office on Tues. Wednesday was up to Snyder and then further up the Panhandle to a job site just off the Caprock. Both days were CAVU and great trips.

This is a place where I cleared a little landing spot, about 1200', with a skid loader on the ranch in the panhandle.

Fencing materials and an airplane.....regulars around my workplace.


Thursday and Friday were spent flying to College Station and back to watch the 118th consecutive meeting (and last one for a while) of the Texas A&M Aggies and the Texas Longhorns. The end of one of the longest standing Thanksgiving rivalries in college football. Aggies let this one get away...again 27-25 Texas.

The trip to Aggieland was smooth, but really hazy in east Texas. Going home was VFR on top all the way, found a hole to drop through close to home, and then bounced the rest of the way in to land in a 25kt wind.

robw56 wrote:Yesterday we tried to go camping at Gravelly Valley but the mountains looked socked in. So we decided to fly out to Columbia instead where the weather was great. We had to wait for some fog to burn off in the valley this morning so we flew to Calaveras County, Westover, Placerville and Rancho Murieta. It was a great morning for flying in the foothills. Not so much for Rio Vista. The ceiling eventually raised to 600ft with 4 miles vis and we snuck in under the clouds.

Gravelly was socked in so you diverted to Columbia.... That sounds amazingly similar to me and Joey's Gravelly Valley camping story. Gotta' love Columbia though.

Had a great holiday weekend. Lots of short hops in the area. Sunny skys and cold dense air. Is this a great country or what?
Here's a trial video with a strut mount for my drift hd170. Seems to work fairly well.
http://youtu.be/zxOvu0p72C0

S-12Flyer wrote:Had a great holiday weekend. Lots of short hops in the area. Sunny skys and cold dense air. Is this a great country or what?
Here's a trial video with a strut mount for my drift hd170. Seems to work fairly well.
http://youtu.be/zxOvu0p72C0

I enjoyed watching your video. Much better being outside on the strut and not as much glare when you flew into the sun at the end of the video.

A quick breakfast run to Alpine Wyoming in great weather, it would appear I've stumbled into another solar job (my sideline) where the airplane will hugely help out. I met with the owners of a year round dude ranch that are WAY off the grid. The only access to the site I was told was by 4x4 then the last 20 miles by snowmachine. I quickly corrected him, "or by ski equipped airplane", and as he also guides in Alaska and is/has been around the bush pilots up there, knew exactly what I meant and agreed. They had already picked me up at the Alpine strip for the short ride to the cafe, so knew "where I was coming from". They had 500" of snow last winter, it's at 7,000', and the ranch has several large meadows, it's looking like time to put the skis on

58Skylane wrote:Crater out east of Flagstaff?

Wow, it's amazing how that crater was formed right at the end of a road and with a parking lot right next to it.

Magnet wrote:

58Skylane wrote:Crater out east of Flagstaff?

Wow, it's amazing how that crater was formed right at the end of a road and with a parking lot right next to it.

You sure said a mouthful there. The natural order of things never ceases to amaze me. A parallel in my life is found in my long hard struggle to learn the Spanish language. I just can't seem to get it right. Then recently I went to Mexico and found that there were young children there who could speak it perfectly! And just where they needed it most! Astounding!

Just another local strip around here.
http://youtu.be/PE6mvYlHzBc
http://youtu.be/wDx0iWfwX8c

Emory Bored wrote:

Magnet wrote:

58Skylane wrote:Crater out east of Flagstaff?

Wow, it's amazing how that crater was formed right at the end of a road and with a parking lot right next to it.

You sure said a mouthful there. The natural order of things never ceases to amaze me. A parallel in my life is found in my long hard struggle to learn the Spanish language. I just can't seem to get it right. Then recently I went to Mexico and found that there were young children there who could speak it perfectly! And just where they needed it most! Astounding!

It's just like those signs that say "you are here". How do they know?!! I could be anywhere but somehow they knew I would be there, Amazing.

S-12Flyer wrote:

Emory Bored wrote:You sure said a mouthful there. The natural order of things never ceases to amaze me. A parallel in my life is found in my long hard struggle to learn the Spanish language. I just can't seem to get it right. Then recently I went to Mexico and found that there were young children there who could speak it perfectly! And just where they needed it most! Astounding!

It's just like those signs that say "you are here". How do they know?!! I could be anywhere but somehow they knew I would be there, Amazing.

Oh yeah, this is getting deep now!

I did a Utah loop with a buddy yesterday. Stopped at Dolores Point. Ran into some friends and 5 other planes there. Stopped down to Gateway for some kiler Quevos Rancheros , then up to Mack Mesa,down the river to Caveman, and back home.
Great day to be flyin.
Gary

Cool Gary! Looking forward to seeing you again now that I'm moving back to Colorado!

Hey Tadpole
Sorry that didn't work out for ya, but glad to have ya back. You still got the Stinson? Or, what ya gonna do for a plane? There are some deals out there.
Gary

shortfielder wrote:Hey Tadpole
Sorry that didn't work out for ya, but glad to have ya back. You still got the Stinson? Or, what ya gonna do for a plane? There are some deals out there.
Gary

I sold the Stinson when I moved. I used that money to sell my house there at a loss and will be using what's left for a down payment on the one we're buying. So I'm not sure when I'll have another plane. Hopefully before the market turns but I think I've got plenty of time.

S-12Flyer wrote:

Emory Bored wrote:

Magnet wrote:
Wow, it's amazing how that crater was formed right at the end of a road and with a parking lot right next to it.

You sure said a mouthful there. The natural order of things never ceases to amaze me. A parallel in my life is found in my long hard struggle to learn the Spanish language. I just can't seem to get it right. Then recently I went to Mexico and found that there were young children there who could speak it perfectly! And just where they needed it most! Astounding!

It's just like those signs that say "you are here". How do they know?!! I could be anywhere but somehow they knew I would be there, Amazing.

Okay literally laughing out loud here! Now I thought I was the only one who thought that way. I am obviously an amateur. I must applaud my intellectual betters!

S-12Flyer wrote:

Emory Bored wrote:

Magnet wrote:
Wow, it's amazing how that crater was formed right at the end of a road and with a parking lot right next to it.

You sure said a mouthful there. The natural order of things never ceases to amaze me. A parallel in my life is found in my long hard struggle to learn the Spanish language. I just can't seem to get it right. Then recently I went to Mexico and found that there were young children there who could speak it perfectly! And just where they needed it most! Astounding!

It's just like those signs that say "you are here". How do they know?!! I could be anywhere but somehow they knew I would be there, Amazing.

Oh I know! Think about this too svanarts; while flying over Northern Nevada's mountainous deserts I used to wonder, "how in the world did this area get so craggy and rough looking?" Then it hit me. It's because it's outside all the time!

Glidergeek wrote:

I flew up to the panhandle again Monday morning and after seeing Glidergeek's photo , I noticed this Jr sized crater....or something of the sort. Maybe this was just a piece of shrapnel from the big one in AZ.



Anybody else fly among the wind turbines?? They're all around me and a lot of my flights involve going through or over them.

Those turbines are massive!
If they are the same as we have here in Oregon and Washington, each blade is 120' long.
I have also come across these towers in areas not to far from the turbines, not sure what they are for.....maybe checking wind conditions? They are very hard to see.

I think Jerl did that w/a backhoe or a trackhoe