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My dream come true: Oshkosh 2018

Norcalrv7

Well Known Member
As long as I've been in aviation, I've wanted to go to Oshkosh. In my eyes, the only way to go would require a 2 things

1)Flying myself there from home in California
2)Camping at Oshkosh for the weekend

Time slipped by, and every year It seemed like the wrong time. When I met my girlfriend Tiffany 2 years ago, My hangar was home of an airplane with a completely bare firewall, and a gutted panel. She patiently watched me work, and I promised her that *someday* this airplane would fly me to my dreams to Oshkosh.

Sometime Around April, I decided that 2018 would be my year. I requested time off work, and plotted the route to fly. With only 170 Hours of time Lycoming FWF, The thought of a mid continent breakdown made me feel a little sick to my stomach. I guess the unknown is part of the adventure. I did know that my SDS EFI engine had run like a clock since day 1, So it should be the same a few times zones away right?

Early Tuesday morning Tiffany and I stuffed our camping gear in N542LC and left home base at Eureka California for the trip of a lifetime.

IMG_20180724_101049 by Caleb Lesher, on Flickr

IMG_20180724_101823 by Caleb Lesher, on Flickr
 
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Day 1 destination was Johnson Creek, ID. We departed in low IFR conditions from EKA, and quickly climbed into thick smoke from the nearby wildfires.

It was Hot, bumpy, and the view wasn't very nice. We pressed on, and about 2 hours later were rewarded by beautiful blue skies near Caldwell, ID. A quick fuel stop and it was A quick hop over the hill to Johnson creek. This place exceeded all of my expectations. If you haven't been, Its better than you could imagine. The grass is like a golf course, camping sites are free, and hot showers are on site. There is even a phone charging area with Wifi! The nearby creek is crystal clear, and the sound of the running water relaxing.


IMG_20180724_121611 by Caleb Lesher, on Flickr

IMG_20180724_121617 by Caleb Lesher, on Flickr

IMG_20180724_152841 by Caleb Lesher, on Flickr

IMG_20180724_195736 by Caleb Lesher, on Flickr

IMG_20180724_172402 by Caleb Lesher, on Flickr

IMG_20180724_213431 by Caleb Lesher, on Flickr
 
Day 2 destination was Yellowstone National park. We departed early before the heat and wind. We were rewarded with some spectacular views and smooth air. We diverted south in order to fly by the Grand Tetons, Which was totally worth it! after tying the plane down at west Yellowstone (WYS) we grabbed our rental car and headed for the park. Unfortunately the traffic was terrible, but the views inside were worth it. We stopped to watch old faithful, Which seemed to have more people watching than a launch of the space shuttle. After the day of exploring we stayed at the Bar N Ranch. Highly Recommended!


IMG_20180725_083404 by Caleb Lesher, on Flickr

IMG_20180725_083729 by Caleb Lesher, on Flickr

IMG_20180725_103454 by Caleb Lesher, on Flickr

IMG_20180725_121909 by Caleb Lesher, on Flickr

IMG_20180725_140510 by Caleb Lesher, on Flickr

IMG_20180725_151150 by Caleb Lesher, on Flickr

IMG_20180725_163145 by Caleb Lesher, on Flickr

IMG_20180725_184812 by Caleb Lesher, on Flickr

IMG_20180725_203753 by Caleb Lesher, on Flickr
 
Day 3 was to be a long day. We departed Yellowstone Eastbound for Minneapolis some 760NM away. I wanted to cover as much of the flatland as possible early in the morning in order to avoid weather. We got some nice aerial views of the park along the way too!


IMG_20180726_082032_1 by Caleb Lesher, on Flickr

IMG_20180726_083412 by Caleb Lesher, on Flickr

IMG_20180726_091030 by Caleb Lesher, on Flickr


The Last of the mountains we would see for a very long time.
IMG_20180726_091954 by Caleb Lesher, on Flickr

We dodged a few storms, and cancelled our flyby of mount Rushmore
IMG_20180726_100654 by Caleb Lesher, on Flickr

We don't get cells like this in Northern CA!
IMG_20180726_101253 by Caleb Lesher, on Flickr


Fuel stop in Pierre SD. Very friendly folks and a nice FBO
IMG_20180726_123637 by Caleb Lesher, on Flickr
 
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Day 4 was Oshkosh Arrival day. I had red the notam, watched youtube, and practiced the Fisk arrival in my head beforehand. We got a little tangled up with a converging airplane around RIPON, but otherwise the arrival process was easy. Tiffany proudly held up our HBC placard in the window, and we were marshaled right to a nice camping spot in the grass.

IMG_20180727_102502 by Caleb Lesher, on Flickr

IMG_20180727_112119 by Caleb Lesher, on Flickr

IMG_20180727_120844 by Caleb Lesher, on Flickr


I wont bore you with too many pictures, but the next 3 days were heaven!

IMG_20180727_131133 by Caleb Lesher, on Flickr


IMG_20180727_135625 by Caleb Lesher, on Flickr

IMG_20180727_140608 by Caleb Lesher, on Flickr

IMG_20180727_143609 by Caleb Lesher, on Flickr



IMG_20180728_105948 by
Caleb Lesher, on Flickr

IMG_20180728_111058 by Caleb Lesher, on Flickr


I've been watching Mike Pateys Draco build on youtube, so seeing it in person was awesome!
IMG_20180728_123120 by Caleb Lesher, on Flickr
 
Apparently we feat like we hadn't been spending enough time in an airplane, So we stopped in Colorado Springs to eat lunch in one. Full of lunch and fuel, we departed for Telluride, CO. Crossing the Rockies in a little airplane is no joke. I am always impressed with the performance of my RV and this was no Exception. With full tanks, and 100 lbs of bags, We climbed right on up to 14,500. I'm glad I decided to bring the O2!


IMG_20180730_111514_1 by Caleb Lesher, on Flickr


IMG_20180730_115502 by Caleb Lesher, on Flickr

IMG_20180730_140750 by Caleb Lesher, on Flickr

IMG_20180730_140918 by Caleb Lesher, on Flickr

IMG_20180730_141111 by Caleb Lesher, on Flickr

IMG_20180730_143423 by Caleb Lesher, on Flickr

IMG_20180730_143513 by Caleb Lesher, on Flickr

IMG_20180730_143627 by Caleb Lesher, on Flickr

Teluride runway, Which is the Second Highest in the US. The density altitude was 11,500' when we landed!
IMG_20180730_144705 by Caleb Lesher, on Flickr

IMG_20180730_144816 by Caleb Lesher, on Flickr
 
On our second to last day we departed Telluride, through monument Valley for the Grand Canyon. There is some pretty harsh terrain out there!

IMG_20180731_095732 by Caleb Lesher, on Flickr

IMG_20180731_104129 by Caleb Lesher, on Flickr

IMG_20180731_103955 by Caleb Lesher, on Flickr

IMG_20180731_105933 by Caleb Lesher, on Flickr

IMG_20180731_110751 by Caleb Lesher, on Flickr

IMG_20180731_113244_1 by Caleb Lesher, on Flickr

IMG_20180731_113539 by Caleb Lesher, on Flickr

IMG_20180731_155007 by Caleb Lesher, on Flickr

IMG_20180731_121422 by Caleb Lesher, on Flickr

IMG_20180731_123559 by Caleb Lesher, on Flickr
 
While at the grand Canyon, We suffered our first major change in plans for the trip. Every single hotel was booked up, so we did the obvious thing. Fly to Vegas!

We took this picture to freak our parents out just in case flying an home built airplane all over the country wasnt enough
IMG_0777 by Caleb Lesher, on Flickr

IMG_20180731_173405 by Caleb Lesher, on Flickr

One more day of flying to get us back home in Northern CA.
Sacramento was a very busy with all the firefighting aircraft

IMG_20180801_121917 by Caleb Lesher, on Flickr

IMG_20180801_134217 by Caleb Lesher, on Flickr
 
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All in all, this 3800 NM trip was one for my record books. We ended up flying about 27 hours total. Most days we flew about 3 hours in the morning, then had the rest of the day to explore. Next trip we might give ourselves an extra day in places like Telluride, or Johnson Creek area to relax. The amount of things and places we were able to see would have been impossible any other way. I can't wait for next year

Cheers!

Caleb

Route by Caleb Lesher, on Flickr
 
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Wow, congrats, Caleb, on successfully making the conversion from the Subie to the Lycoming with SDS, and fulfilling your dream. Great pictures. But mostly, you are one lucky dude for finding Tiffany. Don't let her get away! Be happy. Hope to cross paths some time, maybe at Johnson Creek!

Oh, that boring stretch through Teluride and down to the Grand Canyon? I've done that on a bicycle (but in the other direction)!
 
Impressive! Every stop and sight is either on my ?did that? or ?yet to do? lists except one. (OshKosh). But then it?s the journey most great trips.
Nice write up and photo log, thanks!
 
Thanks for the writeup, Caleb! I did my first OSH trip last year (via commercial spam 737's) and had a fantastic time. The RV7's getting closer to flight and I'm looking forward to taking my better half to OSH in 2019/20!

Awesome flight! Thanks for sharing.
 
America so nice!!

Love the pictures mate!
Thanks for sharing.

You guys sure are lucky to have such a diversity in flying land over there!

America is really beautifull from the sky!
 
Air Venture

Wow!
Your first trip to Air Venture was a complete venture. It took me twenty years to visit all the places you did in 27 hours.

I was in a lot the the same places at Air Venture at the same time you took the pictures. I would have enjoyed talking to you, but Air Venture is so big we miss a lot of people.
 
Great adventure Caleb! Brings new meaning to "Getting there is half the fun!". I enjoyed your story and I'm glad you met someone who enjoys being by your side!
 
Murray Field

Great to hear EKA is still alive. I flew a courier route to Murray Field back in the 70?s. Still doing the Freshwater approach?
 
What a great trip. This is why I spend so many nights working in the garage, so one day I can do the same with my family
 
Wow, congrats, Caleb, on successfully making the conversion from the Subie to the Lycoming with SDS, and fulfilling your dream. Great pictures. But mostly, you are one lucky dude for finding Tiffany. Don't let her get away! Be happy. Hope to cross paths some time, maybe at Johnson Creek!

Oh, that boring stretch through Teluride and down to the Grand Canyon? I've done that on a bicycle (but in the other direction)!

That is very impressive! I was glued to the window for the sights between Telluride and grand canyon. Very different terrain the North West! I'll admit I tightened my seat belt and double checked the Spot tracker was working after seeing how remote it is out there!
 
Sure did, do they still have the plywood approach in Rhonerville? I have lots of fond memories of flying bank checks into EKA when the weather was so low you had to go VFR��
 
Congrats on your first Oshkosh in your homebuilt.
Does not get any better than that.

I enjoyed your trip report & pictures of the journey.
 
Nice! Noticed the playground pic near the AF tanker.....Careful there you?ll be selling your current airplane and build a 10...

Or buy a PC24, maybe a V35B (recommended for family :)

Good journey

HR
 
A most excellent adventure. Congrats, and thanks for sharing your story and awesome pictures
 
Nor Cal to Oahkoah

Yes, Yellowstone good before Memorial Day or after Labor Day, open hwy. or open benches @ geysers, Faithful, etc...@ Telluride 1x, seems like box canyon, tucked so far away. Being Fall then, carpet of colors. Should anyone land in Durango vs. Telluride, a narrow gauge steam engine train w/ open cars goes to Silverton, then back; deep canyons off the rail, American Alps. Closes in early Oct. :)
 
A great trip in a plane you built yourself with a lovely copilot who apparently thinks you hung the moon. The lovely copilot to whom you showed a great time. I don't know that it gets any better than that.
 
Wow! Great trip report and the pictures were fantastic! Thanks for sharing.

Someday I hope to do the same. That looked like a really fun time.
 
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