What's new
Van's Air Force

Don't miss anything! Register now for full access to the definitive RV support community.

Easter Weekend trip ! part 1

Darren S

Well Known Member
Well it?s been awhile since I?ve done a trip write up but I had to share my latest trip with the VAF crew as I was reminded again of what an incredible ?do it all? machine the RV?s are.

My now 18 year old daughter and I were wanting to visit Transformation Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma on Easter Sunday as we?ve watched many sermons on Youtube. It?s a vibrant and upbeat church and I knew nothing would beat experiencing a service live and in person. So?...have plane, will fly!

So some quickie flight planning on Foreflight showed that we could stop at Mount Rushmore on the way down and then loop back through Colorado on our way back up.

Colorado you say!? Hey, isn?t Leadville there ? Home of the highest airport in North America? Why yes it is. Well, time to check off another item on my bucket list.

So off we went.

i6jsia.jpg


2qte1eg.jpg


Departure day was Good Friday. We cleared US customs in Great Falls, Montana before proceeding. The winds began to howl in Great Falls and if ever an RV could do a vertical landing?.I think I came close. The winds were gusting 35 knots! It was crazy.

Luckily the winds were heading our direction and we made a beeline to Rapid City, South Dakota.Yes, home of KRAP! Gotta be the funniest airport ident ever. Anyways, we landed there for the night and tied down.

Without getting too inflammatory, it?ll suffice to say that the service in KRAP was ****. This is not a rant post so I?ll skip the details. Read the comments on Foreflight if you?re curious. I concur.

We secured our ride for the day and then proceeded to check out Mount Rushmore. So cool! Definitely flyby worthy the next day. The biggest irony was this. After 12 years of construction and incredible attention to detail to make the 60 foot faces look as realistic as possible, the gift shop sells this downright hideous souvenir that would make poor ole? Gutzon Borglum (the artist) do a barrel roll in his grave!

But I digress

2q1z8z5.jpg



zsrgcy.jpg

If you want to do a flyby, contact the tower on departure and they?ll give you vectors to the mountain.

9gyphh.jpg

Sorry but this is the ugliest souvenir


Saturday found us up early and off to Tulsa. After a quickie stop in Smith Center, Kansas for lunch we ended up in at Pogue Field in Oklahoma. It was remarkably smooth down low especially for such a hot day.

20t4byg.jpg

Riding in style! iPad with movies, snacks?..first class style!

We checked out the church to make sure we wouldn?t get lost the next day and then off the the hotel. Tulsa has these cool scooters that you can rent for 15 cents per minute. You use an app called Lime to rent the scooters. Once you get that sorted out you use your phone and presto! The thing comes alive. Super fun!! We rode for 45 minutes all around downtown then it was time for bed.

2n8x7kh.jpg



Easter Sunday arrived and I won?t go into all the details about Transformation Church other than to say it was more dynamic than I ever expected!

2utq8ax.jpg


We left after the 9 am service, returned the airport car and pointed the RV West. My first job after Dental School was in Pueblo, Colorado so that seemed like a suitable destination. The midday heat made the journey very bumpy and fatigue was setting in.

The headset was hurting my head, I couldn?t find anything good on XM radio, I was tired of the heat, the bumps and my autopilot kept kicking off! God forbid I actually have to hand fly for a few hours. I was cranky?...Maddy slept the whole way :)

28jicxx.jpg
 
Part 2

We made it to Pueblo only to be greeted by no airport car and no rentals available. Uggh. Uber to the rescue and off to the La Quinta Inn we went. I did get to driver to take me by my old apartment building. OH MY!! Ummmmm, what to say?? We all have humble beginnings :) The cats lounging in the window sills made the visuals that more impactful.

An in room movie, dinner and it was bedtime ?.. Early.

Monday dawned with OVC and calm winds. I had to find a hole to get on top as I was headed to Leadville, Colorado and their 10,000 foot high runway. In Western Canada the mountains between BC and Alberta are 12,000 feet max, I was cruising along at 13,700 and I was skimming the tops. These are some high mountains!

Leadville is down in a bit of a valley. I was told that the surrounding mountains can be as high as 14,500. Crazy! What an absolutely spectacular view as I came over the last mountain ridge and began my descent to the airport. The winds were light and the landing was uneventuful.

2dqsdb6.jpg

Approach into Leadville


25gbiqf.jpg

efm1s0.jpg


I collected my certificate and bought gas and a T-Shirt. Bucket list item?.check! So cool!

If the landing was uneventful, the takeoff was a little more exciting. Those of us who fly behind 180 hp constant speed props know that when the black knob is pushed in, you get a bit of a push in your seat. Well up at 10K, no such luck. There was no bite to the prop and the RV accelerated like a beat up flight school Cessna 150. I took off on runway 16 and climbed out at 500 feet per minute. I nursed a turn to the North and watched my airspeed like a hawk as I wasn?t in the mood for a low altitude stall.

Next destination was Yellowstone Airport and a visit to the park and Old Faithful. We ended up in Rexburgh, Idaho as the Yellowstone Airport was still snow covered. That was ok as Maddy and I had a nice 2 hour drive through the mountains to get to the park.

io3yfb.jpg

My ramp mate in Rexburgh

mrwb38.jpg


2hd0jeq.jpg


Old Faithful was cool as was the Grand Prismatic pool. Another flyby worthy photo op.
And that?s just what we did on our way home the next day.

654wa1.jpg

Grand Prismatic ! Very cool from the air


But all good things must come to an end and all too soon it was back to reality.

We headed home the next morning and cleared customs back into Canada via Lethbridge.

Great weekend, great memories, great flying. Hey?.if you own an RV you can do it too!
 
Outstanding post!!

A real trip for your history books, I want to do one with my son this year. Some of the same stops.

Hope to see more. . . .
 
Thanks for the great trip report! I love to see people making memories with family in the RV. My daughter is also 18-years old, so we're trying to find every opportunity to fly together before she heads off to college in the fall. I think Oshkosh will be our last big trip before she leaves the nest.

Oh, and you're right! That Mt. Rushmore souvenir is the stuff of nightmares.
 
Nice!

It's been long time Doc since you posted your wonderful journeys. Were missing your reports and videos. My coworker recently visited that spiritual place in OK loves it. When in our woods again Darren? Where time goes? I see you got some grey :D


 
Great Photos!

Thank you for sharing. Great reading and fantastic photos!

Best regards,
Mike Bauer
 
I too have missed your reports, Darren. Thanks for this one! Headed west in September - just might have to get to Leadville!

Best regards,

Merrill
 
Nice!

Good to hear from you again bud. Gotta come and visit you in the clinic in one of these days. Pls. get your staff give me a call for an appointment.
Cheers
 
It's been long time Doc since you posted your wonderful journeys. Were missing your reports and videos. My coworker recently visited that spiritual place in OK loves it. When in our woods again Darren? Where time goes? I see you got some grey :D



Great job. I have to say that as I was reading about your trip and the various comments, It just seemed that something was missing. That was until I got down to this post and saw that you had the coveted ?Air Czar? endorsement. It?s all good now. A great trip indeed.
 
Great trip report

I am finishing(or so i hope) my RV 7 this year and this was a great opportunity to see the benefit of having one.

I live in Alberta, near Edmonton so i will likely follow your trip exactly someday.

This and my recent flight in the Citabria for some aerobatics has reawakened my need to get my RV 7 in the air.

Thanks for that.

What a great family time eh? Spending it with your daughter, memories for sure!

Dave
 
Interestingly, I took my son to Denver for the Easter weekend. Not sure where Pueblo is, but you were lucky with the Wx on Sunday. We left Sunday afternoon and had to dodge numerous cells and thread a few needles to get out.

Larry
 
Back
Top