Fantastic weekend!
I was a bit apprehensive because this was my first flight out of my phase 1 box. The Saturday weather was perfect in the morning, winds calm in the California central valley and forecasted to be increasing at bit in the afternoon. Worried about the increasing winds I was hoping for an early departure as a flight of 2. Wingman (Lars) was running late, everything else was a ‘go,’ so I opted to head out 1st.
The air was smooth as I stepped up the altitude… 3500…5500…7500…9500…and finally 11500 for crossing the Sierra. South Lake Tahoe in sight to the left, turn to the right, a few bumps through Luther pass, and Alpine county in sight. As I’m looking for the wind sock and deciding on a runway, I hear Louise chime in and let me know 17 is preferred. There was a stiff breeze out of the south, and an uphill landing, I planted 76CX right on the numbers and stopped almost immediately. Had to taxi pretty much the entire length to parking.
Greeted by those that arrived well before me, I was elated to have flown an airplane I built to a mountain airport to go camping. Once everyone was settled, we were off for a short hike to the river for lunch.
Lots of stories being shared, a few beers, roaring campfire…just relaxing. (the fire is not actually lit yet in this photo, but later, believe me, it was roaring)
Sunday morning, a quick pack up, wheels up around 8, a few minutes later we were parked a Minden for breakfast. A short while and some fine conversation later everyone was heading off to their home airports.
Winds were picking up and it was looking like I was in for a bumpy ride back home. Circled over Minden to 11000’ then continued the climb to 12,500’ as I pointed west over Lake Tahoe. Turbulence wasn’t so bad but the winds were up there. 51 knots, mostly a headwind! (I'm heading back down to 10,500')
Once over the high points, the air was stable and it was relatively uneventful all the way home.
Again, fantastic weekend, I hope to be back next year.
The rest of my pictures are here:
https://goo.gl/photos/2nsHaabg5vCMc5iU8