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