Come help celebrate Ironflight's b-day on 9/23 - L35 (with Trip Reports)
 

For the third year, we are celebrating Paul's birthday out west and would love to have some RV friends come up and join us in Big Bear. We'll plan to be on the ramp at 11:30 am next Thursday and head into the Barnstormers cafe on the field. That makes it easy for late arrivals to find us. After lunch, we'll walk the 1.5 blocks to our cabin for some birthday cake and ice cream. RSVPs aren't necessary but would be nice to plan the number of seats at the restaurant and cake at the cabin. E-mails (to my BB) should be sent to LHose "at" ag.tamu.edu.

Hope to see some folks there!

Rain check, please.

Next year-----we will have a magic carpet to make the ride :D

Great afternoon!
 

It was a beautiful day in the mountains and we had a wonderful mid-week gathering. Seven folks flew in and one motorcycle climbed the mountain. I can't imagine a more enjoyable group of folks to share time with. Greg and Julia Arehart won the "furthest distance" award. It definately made for a special day for Paul. Thank, all, for joining us.

Paul,
I am a little late but I wish you a very Happy Birthday. I feel as if I know you and read all your posts. As a former Boeing employee and a Test Conductor on the SAT V SDF in Huntsville, I commend you for your service to The Space program.
Paul LeDoux
very slow RV-8 QB

Great flying day
 

Couldn't have been a nicer day for flying (well, except for the smoke and smog). 15-20 knot tailwind going south at 15500 and jousting with the F-18s. Then a 5-10 knot tailwind going home! The air was perfectly smooth both headed S in the morning and even headed N in the late afternoon. Nice to fly through the center of a big high pressure.

A few photos from the flight - not the greatest photos as it was pretty smoky from fires on the W side of the Sierra.

Route map (courtesy of the APRS website):



Starting to see some fall colors near Mammoth:


Mt. Whitney looking west:


Wind turbines near Lake Isabella (they really were still - virtually no ground breeze):


Smoke/smog in the LA basin:


Mt. Whitney from the back side (flying 16500 - gotta love these airplanes)


Old mining camp at Bodie, CA:


cheers,
greg

What fun!
 

Perfect weather and good company, with birthday cake and ice cream. Great way to spend a day! Thanks Louise and Paul!

A few photos from the back seat, thanks Lee!







John Clark ATP, CFI
FAA FAAST Team Member
EAA Flight Advisor
RV8 N18U "Sunshine"
KSBA

That was great fun today. Terrific weather, superb company.

Paul's OK, too.

(Not sure why the photo embed didn't work, but here's the public album.)

http://picasaweb.google.com/kitplanesmag/IronflightBD#

Milk Shake!
 

Is that a Ben & Jerry's Milk Shake Paul is wolfing down in Marc's photo? Well, I guess one day a year Paul is allowed to get off his diet, especially since he did a lot of hiking out west. Happy Birthday, Paul!
P.S. Oops, just read the entire thread (backwards). Looks like it was cake and ice cream at the cabin. Happy Birthday anyway, Paul.

Thanks again for the invite. Glad I could be a part of Paul's Bday.
Only .3 each way from Chino so sneaking out from work was possible.
If I had know Dave Howe was going to be there it would have been
legit :D Nice to meet some new folks too. Didn't recognize John
without his hat (from his avitar)! Nice way to spend a couple of hours
on a Thursday. Paul and Louise have a safe flight back to Texas.

Tom

Back in Texas
 

It was great to see some of our California friends, and give them an excuse to sneak away during the middle of the week - thanks all for coming!

(Oh Don the two bites of ice cream I got from the bottom of the carton was all I got - we won't talk about how much cake I ate!)

We had a good flight back to Houston today - left just as the sun was rising in California, and had some headwind most of the day. Snuck through some building weather in West Texas, but otherwise, not a bad day of flying. Louise got the long leg, and I got two shorter ones. She also got the one leg with (light) tailwinds for awhile....

Valkyrie needs an oil change, new tires, overall inspection and LOTS of cleaning after a nine-day trip. Glad I have a wekend to get it done before LOE!