Another Coast-to-Coast

On July 29, George Young wrote: Good morning, folks,

Tho' it's been a week and a half since we returned to Virginia, I'm
following up on my earlier eMessage to summarize our return trip from
Oakland.

We enjoyed a fine visit with family in Oakland, and departed on the
7th still feeling a bit apprehensive about the territory we were
planning to fly over and about dealing with the weather and get back
to Virginia by when we planned. But as we proceeded, we gained
confidence in our ability to plan, and to adjust our plans, and have
a good time and visit interesting places as we proceeded. We made
progress even better than we expected so had more time to visit more
people and returned the plane to Rick Aviation on the 16th, 3 weeks
and two days.

From Oakland to Newport News we covered about 2200 miles with 28.5
hours on the clock, in15 hops. The longest was 2.7 hours, about 375
miles (statute). We operated from airports as low as 9 feet
elevation and as high as 5918 ft (Cortez, CO). Lots of our flying
was done at 9,500 altitude - where it was cooler (the day we were in
Blythe, AZ, the temperature on the ground reached 115 F) and the air
was smoother; and we did have high elevation terrain beneath us.

* We departed Oakland late in the morning, after the morning fog had
receded, flying down the Salinas valley keeping a view of the Pacific
Ocean on our right. Because weather often gets troublesome starting
in the early afternoon, we planned to stop for the night in
Bakersfield, CA before crossing the southern end of the Sierra Nevada
mountains.

* Weather the next day was great - but we started the day with our
first (and only serious) mechanical problem - one of the magnetos
(ignition systems) wasn't working. But the mechanic was 'In' - he
replaced condenser and points, and we were on our way within a couple
of hours. We proceeded to fly over Tehachapi, CA and the edge of the
Mojave Desert, passing just west of Rosamond Dry Lake (and beyond it
Edwards AFB) and over Lancaster, CA (where I worked and lived from
'87 to '89 and did some flying out of the Aero Club at Edwards).
Then over Palmdale and out into -the Mojave Desert- to Blythe, CA.
By now (early afternoon) thunderstorms were a-brewing in the
mountains east of Blythe so we opted to spend the night there.

* From here we had planned to proceed to Tucson, but because of the
pattern of thunderstorms in southern Arizona we opted instead to head
for Kayenta, AZ and visit Monument Valley and other attractions
thereabouts. So up very early on the 8th, we departed for Winslow,
AZ where we refilled the fuel tanks and headed on to Kayenta. Along
the way we saw a wide range of topography and geologic features, plus
we took an aerial tour of Canyon de Chelly, looking from above at the
canyon we visited on the ground 5 years ago. The flights were easy
and comfortable, and before landing at Kayenta we took time for an
aerial tour of the immediate area and see and get pictures of some of
the topography. Then we hired a guide for an evening tour of
Monument Valley - included a number of strange 'monuments' and some
'ancestral Puebloan' petroglyphs.

* We were looking forward to the flight the next morning - an aerial
tour of Monument Vally - it was awesome. As the night before, clouds
precluded an amazing sunrise, but a sprinkling of small cumulus
clouds scattered among the 'monuments' made for a beautiful tour - we
have some great pictures which we will post along the way. We
proceed from there around some mountains and flew over -the- Four
Corners (CO, NM, AZ, and UT) and on to Cortez, CO to get there early
enough that we had time to visit Mesa Verde. Renting a car, we
visited two of the more prominent 'cliff dwellings' and returned to
Cortez in time to have the best Mexican food of the trip. And we've
been talking about Cortez since.

* On the 10th, we headed for Clovis, NM with a refueling stop at
Double Eagle airport in Albuquerque. On the way we took an aerial
tour of Chaco Canyon, getting a superb view (and photos) of the
'ancestral Puebloan' villages there. These, and other pictures, I'm
sure will find their way into my wife's program on the Pueblo
Indians. Family was waiting for us in Clovis and we had a great
visit.

* On the 12th, now that we're comfortable with being able to get home
by week's end, we decided to fly to Kansas City and drop in on my
brother. We refueled in Dodge City, landed at Kansas City's Downtown
airport in mid-afternoon, and enjoyed a nice visit that evening.

* On the 13th we decided to go to Nashville for the stop halfway to
home. The two flights that day were easy - by this point we had
become much better in figuring out our plan viz a viz the weather and
in "doing the numbers" - that is writing down all the information we
will need for navigation and communications for each leg. We became
traditional tourists that evening in Nashville - went downtown to 2nd
street and spent the evening in a bar listening to live C&W music,
having a beer, and eating a pizza. (But we're back in our room and
in bed by 10:00 since we get up by sunrise to be on our way).

* We're only a day's flight from home, it's only Friday, and we don't
need to be home 'til Sunday. So we call family who live near
Raleigh, NC and invite ourselves for a visit. Leaving Nashville we
make a brief detour due to some rain and maybe thunderstorm activity
near Asheville, NC, and complete an easy flight to Raleigh. There we
have a very nice visit, relaxing now that we've come to feel
proficient in traveling by air (and, of course, that we're near home
and not behind schedule).

* On Sunday it's less than a 1 hour flight to Newport News and home -
a piece of cake.

It was a truly great trip; as my wife said a couple of times: "a
vacation of a lifetime". Three weeks rubbing elbows in the cockpit;
each day assessing the weather, choosing a route of flight, and
ultimately deciding to go or not go, or when to turn back (which we
did out of Wendover on the way west); and deciding where to stay each
night and where to eat; that's intense Living but a great experience
to have had and (we hope) to be able to share.

We -do- have pictures (lots of them since the digital 'film' doesn't
cost anything) and we will get them posted - we're sorting through
and doing some 'digital darkroom' work with them. george & pat