RV7Guy
Well Known Member
I was born in Aberdeen South Dakota and lived in Groton, 20 miles to the East until I was 3. Because of health reasons my parents moved to Arizona in 1958. Virtually all of my relatives on both sides remained in South Dakota. Two uncles on my fathers side farmed all of their lives, with one continuing to farm.
One of my fondest memories as I grew up was traveling back home. We would usually stay for 2 weeks and split the time between the farms and relatives in Groton. I loved the farm and spent time with my uncles driving tractors and combines and helping where I could. My dad used to love to get out in the fields and drive from sun up til sundown.
After getting married and having kids I've only had the opportunity to return 4 or 5 times. My dad died in 1980. He always told me to stay in touch with relatives. Easier said than done when life happens. Seems the only trips back were to attend the funerals of my Grand parents. One of my uncles has been pushing me to come out for pheasant season for 30 years This year I finally had the opportunity, the means and new found desire. This was a trip that was supposed to be done with my dad.
Another uncle, Erdon, who is retired joined us on one of the hunts. He is 88 and has some memory loss. He is a spitting image of my dad and I had not seen him in about 16 years. When I saw him, I pretty much lost it as the fond memories of years past flooded me. Old times were reflected and I came away with a peace I haven't felt in years.
In the past 8 months I've attended several funerals of relatives or friends. During those times I've renewed friendships with those who I had lost contact. After about the 3rd funeral I decided that I was going to stay in contact with long lost friends and make a point to stay in touch with those relatives who were so important when growing up.
Traveling to South Dakota by commercial airlines is a pain and expensive. It is also an inconvenience to relatives that would have to drive over an hour to pick me up. Driving would be a hard 2 day drive, especially solo.
The RV opens many doors to travel that were previously closed. I can go on my time, and to an airport much closer to the family. As you can see from the first photo, my uncle is not located in a booming metropolis. Keeping with my promise to stay in touch with relatives, I promised my uncle that I would make the journey this year to take in the pheasant season.
I flew to Clark, SD, (8D7) approximately 30 miles from the farm. I called ahead to see if there was any hangar space available. Unfortunately, the hunting season took up most of what little hangar space is available. This will come into play at the end of this trip.
My usual route of flight when going east from my home is, P19, to Dalhart, TX (KDHT). Dalhart is in the middle of cattle country and has a nice airport with two big runways. This allows pretty much "into the wind" landings any time of the year. Bailey's Flying Service on the North end of the airport is the place to go for fuel. $3.85 a gallon. Bailey's is an AG operation and fly the giant Air Tractors. I met AG pilot and fellow RV builder, Brent Colvin there. He met me on this trip and we had a nice visit. They are down for the season now and Brent was going to working on the 7.
The P19 to DHT leg was blessed with great tailwinds. I was cruising at 13,500 on O2 and never had less than a 177 kt ground speed. Much of the time was spent at 190+. Forgot to mention the 7.4 gph average for the leg. Off on the second leg. As I cruised Northbound at 9500, I was still doing 165-170+kts. The weather was relatively clear with a few high thins scattered about. The temperature was rapidly dropping. The Metars report for my destination was showing 28 degrees. Did I mention how great the 496 with weather is?? Although hazy most of the way, I was able to get a great shot of cloud formation in Nebraska. Almost looks like the angel on top of a Christmas tree.
The last hour of the flight was quite cold, cold for me anyway The OAT was showing 22 degrees. The heater wasn't keeping up. I wasn't miserable but much more than an hour at that temp and I would have been. Yeah, I'm a cold weather wussy.
Ah, my destination in sight. A check of the wind sock showed a light breeze out of the NW. I turned to downwind and noticed 2 deer on the runway and 4 more on the edge. On final I decided to shoot for point past the deer in case they didn't care to move. As I crossed the numbers, the deer scattered into the corn field to the East. My uncle Rolland, was waiting on ramp as I taxied up to the empty ramp. After 22 frequency changes for flight following and 6:25 hours, I was there. The temperature was 22 degrees. My hands became numb during the tie down process
Rolland was surprised at how much stuff I could pack in the RV7. We got everything loaded up and headed toward the farm. We stopped at a small roadside motel that caters to hunters so I could get my "out of state" hunting license. While processing my license the woman noted my address and said she had just bought the hotel and moved there from Chandler AZ. Turns out she lived just a couple of miles from me. She bought the hotel so she could live the small town life.
Continued...
One of my fondest memories as I grew up was traveling back home. We would usually stay for 2 weeks and split the time between the farms and relatives in Groton. I loved the farm and spent time with my uncles driving tractors and combines and helping where I could. My dad used to love to get out in the fields and drive from sun up til sundown.
After getting married and having kids I've only had the opportunity to return 4 or 5 times. My dad died in 1980. He always told me to stay in touch with relatives. Easier said than done when life happens. Seems the only trips back were to attend the funerals of my Grand parents. One of my uncles has been pushing me to come out for pheasant season for 30 years This year I finally had the opportunity, the means and new found desire. This was a trip that was supposed to be done with my dad.
Another uncle, Erdon, who is retired joined us on one of the hunts. He is 88 and has some memory loss. He is a spitting image of my dad and I had not seen him in about 16 years. When I saw him, I pretty much lost it as the fond memories of years past flooded me. Old times were reflected and I came away with a peace I haven't felt in years.
In the past 8 months I've attended several funerals of relatives or friends. During those times I've renewed friendships with those who I had lost contact. After about the 3rd funeral I decided that I was going to stay in contact with long lost friends and make a point to stay in touch with those relatives who were so important when growing up.
Traveling to South Dakota by commercial airlines is a pain and expensive. It is also an inconvenience to relatives that would have to drive over an hour to pick me up. Driving would be a hard 2 day drive, especially solo.
The RV opens many doors to travel that were previously closed. I can go on my time, and to an airport much closer to the family. As you can see from the first photo, my uncle is not located in a booming metropolis. Keeping with my promise to stay in touch with relatives, I promised my uncle that I would make the journey this year to take in the pheasant season.
I flew to Clark, SD, (8D7) approximately 30 miles from the farm. I called ahead to see if there was any hangar space available. Unfortunately, the hunting season took up most of what little hangar space is available. This will come into play at the end of this trip.
My usual route of flight when going east from my home is, P19, to Dalhart, TX (KDHT). Dalhart is in the middle of cattle country and has a nice airport with two big runways. This allows pretty much "into the wind" landings any time of the year. Bailey's Flying Service on the North end of the airport is the place to go for fuel. $3.85 a gallon. Bailey's is an AG operation and fly the giant Air Tractors. I met AG pilot and fellow RV builder, Brent Colvin there. He met me on this trip and we had a nice visit. They are down for the season now and Brent was going to working on the 7.
The P19 to DHT leg was blessed with great tailwinds. I was cruising at 13,500 on O2 and never had less than a 177 kt ground speed. Much of the time was spent at 190+. Forgot to mention the 7.4 gph average for the leg. Off on the second leg. As I cruised Northbound at 9500, I was still doing 165-170+kts. The weather was relatively clear with a few high thins scattered about. The temperature was rapidly dropping. The Metars report for my destination was showing 28 degrees. Did I mention how great the 496 with weather is?? Although hazy most of the way, I was able to get a great shot of cloud formation in Nebraska. Almost looks like the angel on top of a Christmas tree.
The last hour of the flight was quite cold, cold for me anyway The OAT was showing 22 degrees. The heater wasn't keeping up. I wasn't miserable but much more than an hour at that temp and I would have been. Yeah, I'm a cold weather wussy.
Ah, my destination in sight. A check of the wind sock showed a light breeze out of the NW. I turned to downwind and noticed 2 deer on the runway and 4 more on the edge. On final I decided to shoot for point past the deer in case they didn't care to move. As I crossed the numbers, the deer scattered into the corn field to the East. My uncle Rolland, was waiting on ramp as I taxied up to the empty ramp. After 22 frequency changes for flight following and 6:25 hours, I was there. The temperature was 22 degrees. My hands became numb during the tie down process
Rolland was surprised at how much stuff I could pack in the RV7. We got everything loaded up and headed toward the farm. We stopped at a small roadside motel that caters to hunters so I could get my "out of state" hunting license. While processing my license the woman noted my address and said she had just bought the hotel and moved there from Chandler AZ. Turns out she lived just a couple of miles from me. She bought the hotel so she could live the small town life.
Continued...