Summer 2014 trip

tommylewis · Jun 25, 2014

Tom & Bonnie left Texas last Thursday and flew our RV10 to Cheyenne to visit our son for the weekend. On Friday we took a nice 4 mile hike down north of Ft Collins.

On Monday we flew west to Afton, WY and borrowed the crew car to hike to the Intermittent Spring. The crew car is an old caddy with 222k miles.

The spring is located where the stream starts at the top.

On Tuesday we flew to Joseph, OR and met up with the Sutters and Moores.

On final at Joseph.

Our RV 10 on the ramp

Louise Hose · Jun 25, 2014

Remember, we now have guest accomodations if you make it through the Carson City area. Love to see some or all of you.

tommylewis · Jun 26, 2014

Several RVs

We have quite a collection of TX RVs gathered here for a few days with 3 RV10s, 1 RV7a, 1 RV6a, 1 RV8, and a C182.

A Vans cap sighting!

Rosie · Jun 26, 2014

Tuppergal and I are still waiting for the Lewis' to detour and stop in to visit us at L00!

Rosie

tommylewis · Jun 26, 2014

VAF sighting

How is this for a unique VAF hat sigting?

We had an happy hour, or so on the deck and this mule deer joined us. He liked water melon.

tommylewis · Jun 26, 2014

More pictures

So it has been a rainy day here today and we have a wifi connection so you are going to get more pictures tonight. Yesterday we went on a 2.5 hour hike up Hurricane Creek trail. It was beautiful!

Here is Bonnie crossing the creek

Dave and Wendy on the hike

Tom & Bonnie on the hike.

Tom crossing the creek.

The wild flowers were great. It is spring here.

It was a great hike.

tommylewis · Jun 28, 2014

Yesterday

Yesterday we drove to look at Hells Canyon overlook. It was socked in when we got there, but cleared after eating our lunch.

Joseph has some beautiful bronze statues. There is a foundry in town that we took a tour and learned a lot.

Went on a nice hike last evening.

Louise Hose · Jun 28, 2014

It doesn't take much of a geologist to recognize from your pictures that you're in volcanic country! Very pretty.

flightlogic · Jun 28, 2014

Great photos from along the way. I am jealous....

tommylewis · Jun 29, 2014

Last day at Joseph

Today we road the gondola up to the mountain on the east side of this valley to 8150 feet. The views were stunning.

This is the waterfall from the top that we hiked to in the previous picture.

Yesterday we hiked up the mountain at the south end of the valley and this is a view north to the lake.

This the the three couples that are traveling together, Lewis, Sutter & Moores, on top of the mountain.

This is a picture of the lake on the gondola going backdown looking to the NW. The town of Josephcan be seen and the airport s just beyond the town.

Moving on tomorrow.

tommylewis · Jul 1, 2014

Idaho

Monday morning we flew over to Johnson Creek Idaho. It was a beautiful morning flight.

This is the view of JC approaching from the south.

A view over Yellow Pine which is just north of JC.

Traffic pattern is land on 17, takeoff on 35. On final at JC.
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Short final

Our RV 10 parked in front of our camping spot.

Today we flew over to MCall and bought a bunch of food for the week.

texdog · Jul 2, 2014

Johnson creek

Obviously no issue with nose wheel at Jonson creek!

tommylewis · Jul 2, 2014

Happy Birthday to Dean Fellows

Today is Dean Fellows 89th birthday and this picture is from the webcam at Johnson Creek as Martin & Claudia and Tom & Bonnie toast to Dean. Dean is an RV6 flyer out of Addison, TX.

Happy Birthday Dean!

chrispratt · Jul 3, 2014

Happy 89 Dean. Fireworks tonight just for you.

Chris

tommylewis · Jul 4, 2014

happy July 4th

Tom & Bonnie enjoying a cold one before the 4th parade in Yellow Pine Idaho.

tommylewis · Jul 6, 2014

July 4th at Johnson Creek

We had a nice 4th celebration at Johnson Creek. On the evening of the 3rd, we counted 28 airplanes here with another 8 flying in on the 4th. The town of Yellow Pine is 5 miles north and the courtesy vans shuttle folks into town for the parade and then again for the fireworks in the evening.

This is the Grand Marshall.

The queen and her court.

One of the airport vans decorated.

Bonnie took a picture of the 5 of us on the porch of the tavern.

Fireworks that way exceeded my expectations.

On Sunday a bunch of folks flew out and about a dozen airplanes are left.

I hope you had a good holiday weekend as we sure did.

NYTOM · Jul 6, 2014

Look familiar

I pretty sure those two people to the right hanging on the rail at the Yellow Pine Tavern work for Avery at Oshkosh.

Martin Sutter · Jul 7, 2014

You are right Tom, that is Claudia and I. We are now officially retired from the Avery booth. While we enjoyed the many years at Oshkosh and Sun and Fun behind the counter. Playing "tourist" at the shows is fun too. We do miss the many great folks we met from all over the world.

Martin and Claudia Sutter
Building and flying RV's since 1988

tommylewis · Jul 9, 2014

What to do

We have been enjoying the visit here at Johnson Creek. One day we used the courtesy van to go down to Ice Hole.

I tried my hand at fly fishing. Like the avid fisherman say "a bad day fishing beats a good day at work."

Bonnie was the only one of our group to actually swim. Guess why it is called Ice Hole?

Another day we hiked up to the Warm Spring tube. I really felt like I needed a six shooter and a cigar!

Some friends from Atlanta flew their RVs in this morning and Dave & Wendy left for TX.

tommylewis · Jul 9, 2014

Trip to McCall

On Monday morning, we flew over to McCall to restock our food shelves. We spent the day exploring the town and flew back to JC about 6 pm.

This is the view on takeoff to the north.

The ridge to the east of McCall

Closer to McCall

A view of the lake.

We borrowed 6 bikes from the FBO and pedaled on a bike path downtown to find breakfast. Our next stop was the Mile High Marina where we rented a party boat and toured the lake for a couple hours.

From the lake we found a sandwich shop and the pedaled out to a state part east side of town and relaxed. A visit to the grocery store and loaded the 3 RVs for a 15 min flight back to JC.

tommylewis · Jul 10, 2014

Last day

Earlier this week we got the van again and drove toward Yellow Pine and stopped at a small campground to do some fly fishing again. We took our lunch and enjoyed a beautiful spot on the River. I actually caught 2 small rainbow trout and Dave caught one. It is catch and release but was more fun.

Proof!

While we did have several hours of rain yesterday afternoon, we have had good weather for our visit. This is our longest visit at JC with 11 days of camping. Tomorrow, Friday, we move on to join our son and family for a visit to the Teatons.

Yesterday some friends from Atlanta flew their RVs into JC, dropped off their stuff, and then flew down to Boise to pick up the spouses. Another option for those whose spouses do not enjoy an 11 hour RV ride.

This is a view to the south from mid field as George leaves to pickup Linda.

tommylewis · Jul 10, 2014

yellow Pine lunch

The RV group having lunch in Yellow Pine.

tommylewis · Jul 15, 2014

Moved on

On Friday morning we flew out of Johnson Creek to Driggs Idaho. We climbed up to 11.5k for a 201 nm flight over the mountains.

Takeoff out of JC.

View of mountains.

One of the mountain strips we flew over. I believe this was Indian Creek airstrip.

West side of Tetons as we approached Driggs.

Driggs airport on final for SW runway.

ccsmith51 · Jul 16, 2014

Nice photos

I was there with a couple of RV buddies just last month. We arrived on Monday, June 23rd, planning on spending three nights. But by Tuesday the weather started rolling in, and we were completely weathered in until we snuck out on Friday, heading to West Fork Lodge, MT, where we planned on spending one night, but weather kept us two...

You probably met Scott and Marilyn at JC, they stay there almost the summer and have an RV-6. He mentioned that he has his stuff sent in by UPS. That seems to be a great idea.

I am selling my RV-4 and purchasing an RV-6. Next year I want to bring my SO out and I think I will follow Scott's UPS lead.

tommylewis · Jul 17, 2014

Tetons

Chris, when we flew into JC on that Monday, folks said that there had been 2.5 days of rain during the previous week. We had 3 -4 hours of rain one afternoon. Had a great time. This visit of 11 days was the longest we have stayed at JC.

When we left JC last week, the Sutters and Moores flew back to TX to warm up and we flew over to Driggs to join our son and family for a week in Tetons.

Tetons with our granddaughter

VAF hat sighting while on River raft trip

All the streams are very high and fast after some 500 inches of snow. The wild flowers were very pretty.

We have seen a lot of wild life. This bull moose was eating a late afternoon meal while lots of pictures were snapped.

Have had a very nice visit. We will be flying out Friday am.

tommylewis · Jul 21, 2014

On to Cheyenne

Last Friday we flew out of Driggs over to Cheyenne. On Thursday, the smoke had moved into the area so the vis was definitely a lot different.

Tetons at 11.5k on our way east.

Had a nice tailwind at 11.5 and a smooth ride over to Cheyenne. We are enjoying the Frontier Days celebration with parades and rodeos.

tommylewis · Jul 23, 2014

Frontier Days

Saturdays opening parade was about 1.5 hours long and Bonnie and Emma counted 358 horses in the parade.

Mondays pancake breakfast count of people feed was 5900 when we left. It is a free breakfast with batter mixed in a dump truck and many griddles in use.

The bull riders were exciting with 22 successful rides out of 52 so the bulls won. This rider did not last the 8 seconds.

The rodeo grounds are west of runway 27 so we saw the Thunderbirds takeoff for their practice flights during the rodeo. Wed morning they do their show at the community college south of town.

Since Bonnie and I were raised in rural South Dakota, we really enjoy Frontier Days activities with rodeos, parades, and Native American dancers. It is a highlight of our summer travels. Of course, visiting our son and family just adds to the enjoyment of this visit.

tommylewis · Jul 24, 2014

Flight from Cheyenne to MN

Today's flight from Cheyenne to MN was interesting. First the winds aloft were impressive resulting in some nice ground speeds. We were at 9.5k, LOP burning 10.5 gal/ hr.

Secondly, there was a line of weather from ND down to Nebraska. There were a few holes, fortunately. This is a look as we entered the gap in the line as shown on an iPad via XM.

This is a look as we flew through a hole that started as 40-50 miles wide but had closed to 20 miles. This is a view of the ADSB radar on the GRT HX.

And this is the view on the iPad of XM radar. The gap was closing.

And this is a snapshot out the left window.

Made for an interesting day. Glad we had XM and ADSB weather available. I am sure there were other RV folks traveling this route today enroute to OSH.

Louise Hose · Jul 25, 2014

We look forward to seeing you at Oshkosh. Are you also in the Twin Cities today?

tommylewis · Jul 25, 2014

we're here

Yes, we are visiting friends in twin cities, landed at Lake Elmo, planned on flying to OSH on Friday but decided Sat weather looks better.

scard · Jul 25, 2014

...And we'll be reversing the track to attend a wedding (wedding clothes at OSH) SW of the cities on Friday, landing Mankato, MN Friday for the event in Sleepy Eye a few hours later. RTB Austin TX on Saturday, in order to miss "the barn dance!??". It seems that each OSH involves in-laws in one way or another

maybe that needs fixin'. Nah, more OSH, less in-laws in any ratio sounds fine with me.

Louise Hose · Jul 25, 2014

tommylewis said:
Yes, we are visiting friends in twin cities, landed at Lake Elmo, planned on flying to OSH on Friday but decided Sat weather looks better.

Us too. Maybe we'll see you along the way!

tommylewis · Jul 28, 2014

Oshkosh

On Sat morning we flew over to Oshkosh. It was clear in MN, but in between there were areas of low scud so we climbed on top and flew over at 5500 with a nice tailwind. We arrived at Ripon with no other traffic and landed about 9:30. Signaled the flagman at HBC with 3 fingers and we escorted to the area close to facilities.

Dave and Wendy flew in from TX and camped next to us. This is their rug.

I know there are a lot of RV10s flying now but it is really apparent by the number of 10s in HBC. This picture is of our 10 with 3 more parked next to us.

The Lewis's and Moores enjoying the Monday afternoon airshow.

The weather has really turned cool so it should be a good week at Oshkosh.

tommylewis · Aug 8, 2014

Still on the go

We really enjoyed Oshkosh because of the number of RV folks that introduced themselves and thanked us for these posts. Thanks.

I will catch you up on our travels. We left Oshkosh on Friday morning but have not had time to update this link. This pictures shows the field as we left OSH by taking off on RW 36. A lot of folks had departed HBC by then.

We left on Friday so that we could spend the weekend fishing with my brother in the Missouri River. We had a nice flight to Miller, SD and some good fishing. We then spent the rest of the week with Mom. On Thursday we flew IFR up to Miles City MT. We filed for 8k and broke out of the scud at 6k for a nice flight on top. The cloud cover cleared off about 100 miles out of Miles City. After a fuel stop, we then flew to Glacier, Kalispell, MT.

So this picture was taken as we approached GPI from the south, probably 40 miles out.

And this was on base for 20 at Glacier, looking toward the Glacier National Park. They were reporting clear with 6 miles in smoke.

Today the smoke had cleared and we drove up the Going to the Sun road to Logan Pass. It was a beautiful day and the drive was great. We hiked the Hidden Lake trail and this was the view down to the lake. The trail was closed beyond this point because of bears.

We will be back in the park tomorrow.

crabandy · Aug 8, 2014

Very nice to make you very short but sweet acquaintance at OSH, walking back from the coffee tent I instantly recognized you two from this great trip report. Looking forward to seeing more trip reports!

tommylewis · Aug 11, 2014

On the move

On Sunday we loaded up the RV10 and flew west to Orcas Island. With all the fires in Washington we had some TFRs and smoke to deal with.

So this is the view from 14 nm NE of Sandpoint ID as the smoke started.

As the smoke got thicker we climbed to 10.5k and this was the view.

As we got past the TFRs and we got to the Cascades the smoke cleared some.

Mount Baker was clear and beautiful.

Mount Rainer 100 plus miles to the south.

Landed at East Sound.

We will be enjoying the cool temperatures of the NW.

tommylewis · Aug 20, 2014

From Orcas Island

We certainly are enjoying the cool weather in the San Juan Islandswith 75 deg being the warmest we have seen. We have seen some clouds and fog, but generally good weather.

This was one morning looking over East Sound.

We have been busy doing some hiking with hikes around Cascade Lake, around Mountain Lake, down to Obstruction Pass, down to the waterfall, and up Turtle Back Mountain. We made the ferry boat ride over to Friday Harbor for lunch.

This is a picture of the 4 guys solving the worlds problems on the Ferry Boat. That is right to left, Tom, Murrey, Dave and Martin.

The 3 couples that were sharing one house during the first week on the waterfall hike.

We also attended a numer of music events with two Orcas Island Chamber Music concerts, two brown bag lunch concerts, and one concert in the park on Sunday evening. A lot of great music available this time of year.

Sunset view off the deck of the rent house.

Today Bonnie and I took a Biplane ride with Rod. It was great.

So we are 3/4 through our visit to Orcas and looking forward to another chamber music concert and a couple more days of exploring.

tommylewis · Aug 27, 2014

On the move again

On Sunday morning, three RVs flew out of Orcas Island over to Whidbey Island for lunch because a former neighbor at Pecan, Ed & Meranda, now live there. We had some morning fog that cleared about noon but some areas were still socked in with fog.

We flew into Eisenberg, Oak Harbor, and since there was sky diving in progress we made a wide pattern. On left cross wind about to turn left down wind.

On final for rw 25.

After a nice lunch, we flew over to Port Angeles to pick up rental cars and check into our rent house so we can tour Olympic National Park for a week. This is the shoreline while on downwind.

On final for rw 8.

The weather here is very comfortable also.

tommylewis · Sep 2, 2014

Olympic National Park

We spent last week exploring Olympic National Park. This was the view while hiking Hurricane Ridge.

Another day we drove to the west coast and explored some beaches. This was Ruby Beach one morning.

Another picture of Tom & Bonnie on Ruby Beach.

A VAF hat sighting on Beach 4.

A lot of moss in the Hoh Rain Forest.

Bonnie making Cairn piles on the drift log at Dungeness Spit.

Another water fall at Marymere waterfall hike by Crescent Lake.

We had a great week exploring the area. On Sunday, Dave & Wendy left for Texas and Tom & Bonnie and Martin & Claudia flew down to Sun River for a few days.

tommylewis · Sep 3, 2014

Flight to Sunriver OR

On Sunday morning, we loaded up 3 RVs and took off about 9:30 am. The weather was clear at Port Angeles but the Seattle area had a number of IFR and marginal vfr reporting points. So the plan was to climb on top to see if it was doable. This was the view on takeoff of the Olympic Mountains.

So we climbed to 11.5k and found this view of Mt Rainer and a nice tailwind.

So Dave & Wendy decided to head east for TX and climbed to 13.5k while we headed for Sunriver.

As we got down by Portland, this was the view of Mt. Hood.

This was Mt Jefferson and 3 Sister as we approached Bend OR.

This is on final at Sunriver.

Had a great time at Sunriver and are headed for Paul & Louise today.

bweiss · Sep 4, 2014

great photos. Thanks for posting.

A5555 · Sep 4, 2014

wow

looks like another planet from up there above the clouds.

alpinelakespilot2000 · Sep 4, 2014

Steve Melton said:
looks like another planet from up there above the clouds.

It does, but please be careful trying to get that view. I did VFR on top across the Cascades once 11 years ago, coincidentally also from Port Angeles, and to this day it's on my "never again" list. Usually the Columbia River Gorge is open and it is not that much of a detour at RV speeds.

Looks like you had a great trip Tom. Thanks for the ideas!

Aden Rich · Sep 4, 2014

Port Angeles

Glad to see you guys had a good time here on the Peninsula. Next time you come back, look me up. I can show you around and hopefully have a flying RV-6 by then. With the Pacer and a 205, we could load up enough people and go out to Copalis, the only beach airport in the Cont. US.....you can legally land on...

Aden Rich.

tommylewis · Sep 4, 2014

reply

Thanks guys. It was a great flight, and fun also.

Steve, you are correct that vfr on top should not be taken litely. In our case, we decided it was better than snorkeling our way down the valley. Be careful out there.

Aden, will try to remember that if we come back. Copalis has been on my list to try someday.

Jerry Fischer · Sep 5, 2014

tommylewis said:
On Sunday morning, we loaded up 3 RVs and took off about 9:30 am. The weather was clear at Port Angeles but the Seattle area had a number of IFR and marginal vfr reporting points. So the plan was to climb on top to see if it was doable. This was the view on takeoff of the Olympic Mountains.

So we climbed to 11.5k and found this view of Mt Rainer and a nice tailwind.

So Dave & Wendy decided to head east for TX and climbed to 13.5k while we headed for Sunriver.

As we got down by Portland, this was the view of Mt. Hood.

This was Mt Jefferson and 3 Sister as we approached Bend OR.

This is on final at Sunriver.

Had a great time at Sunriver and are headed for Paul & Louise today.

That 2nd pic looked a lot more like Mt. St. Helens...

tommylewis · Sep 8, 2014

More

Since Louise invited us to visit her and Paul in Dayton Valley Airpark, last Wed the Sutter's and Lewis's flew out of Sunriver climbing to 9.5k with clear skies and a good tailwind for the first half.

This is a picture of Dayton Valley on right base for rw5.

This is a picture of our RV10, Sutter's RV7a, and Ron & Kelly's RV7a in front of their hangar. Wed evening they hosted a hangar get together so got to meet some neighbors. Ron & Kelly own a neighboring lot and very also visiting.

On Thursday morning, we flew down to Bridgeport CA for breakfast. After breakfast, Louise narrated a aerial tour of the area as we flew south to Mono Lake and landed at Lee Vining airport by Mono Lake to do some exploring. This is a picture on the shoreline while on left base for 16. Those are called Tufa columns. See Louise, I did learn something!

And this was one of the more interesting ridge lines.

We had a great visit and Friday morning the Sutters left for TX and we moved over to Tahoe for a week. Looking forward to the Reno Air Races next weekend.

Bluelabel · Sep 10, 2014

This is a picture of our RV10, Sutter's RV7a, and Ron & Kelly's RV7a in front of their hangar. Wed evening they hosted a hangar get together so got to meet some neighbors. Ron & Kelly own a neighboring lot and very also visiting.

[/QUOTE]

It's nice to finally know who's plane has been gracing my laptop as wallpaper....

tommylewis · Sep 18, 2014

Tahoe & Reno

So two weeks ago on a Friday, we flew into Minden, NV to park the plane for a week at Tahoe and a weekend at the Reno Air Races. We have stopped at Minden before because rental cars are available and it is an easy airport to access. Here is a picture on final for rw30.

This is our favorite Tahoe hike along Rubicon trail out of DL Bliss state park.

After a great week hiking and exploring Tahoe, we went up to Reno for the air races. In between air races there were some good air show performances like this jet team.

The sport class of racers were the most entertaining like this picture shows.

And this taxi by of sport planes. I am pretty sure they were suppose to taxi outside the baracades but they fit inside so that was where they taxied.

It was a good time.

tommylewis · Sep 18, 2014

Week of flying

So Monday morning we left Minden. If you check our Spot track below you will see our fun week of flying. We had a plan but then Bonnie posted some pictures on Facebook that some our her cousins saw and replied that they were close by. So we changed our plans and flew south to Bishop, CA on Monday and spent time with some family that we had not seen in many years. Here is a picture of Mono Lake on the way south.

Another mountain ridge on the way.

On final at Bishop

ADSB does not work in the Owen Valley around Bishop.

Since tropical moisture was moving into the SW, we felt like we needed to move so on Tuesday morning we flew over to Cedar City, Utah. With all the restricted areas, MOAs and Mountains in the way, we flew back north before turning east. This was another mountain on the way.

This was the view on right base for Cedar City.

One reason to visit was to see Cedar Breaks and this is one view.

Another view of the Cedar Breaks.

The Fall colors are coming out.

On Wed morning we flew up to Salt Lake City and landed at South Valley Regional and this was the airport.

Thursday morning we flew out for Cheyenne to spend the weekend with our son and family before returning to TX. This was a great week of flying and we avoided the tropical moisture that moved into the SW.

Summer 2014 trip

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