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Julia & Greg's most excellent holiday trip to Texas

Greg Arehart

Well Known Member
In four parts....

It was a year ago that I was just embarking on my 40 hours constricted to within 100 miles of Reno, so we decided that this year we should do something a bit more interesting. It was cold but beautiful in Reno, and we were thinking it was time to go someplace warmer for the holidays. With relatives in warm, sunny Dallas, that seemed like a good place to go.



So we did the present-opening business Christmas eve, and early Christmas morning, we planned to launch for Texas. The weather was predicted reasonable, but with potential for freezing fog locally in the valleys until it burned off mid-morning. Upon arising, there was no fog in the valley around Reno, but sometimes the stuff will form early in the morning. So we hustled out to the airport, only to see a fogbank in that general direction. When we got there, we loaded up, pulled the airplane out of the hangar and got ready to depart. The fog was just north of 08-26, and covered the N part of 14-32. With clear skies and no fog to the S, we launched just in time.



Beautiful morning and nobody else in the skies! We headed east toward Fallon, NV and passed over Soda Lake which was generating its own fog.



Headed for Eureka (05U), we obtained clearance through the Fallon Naval Air Station bombing range (glad that they weren't bombing on Christmas day, as it would seem out of context) and past the Stillwater Range. In this photo you can see the old shorelines of Lake Lahontan, a Pleistocene-era large lake that covered most of the valleys of western NV.



Further east we passed by Austin NV where the BLM is doing some sort of testing by churning up the ground in patterns. Snowy areas are where the sagebrush is gone from the churning. The Toiyabe Range is just behind the patterned area - some of the best remote hiking in NV.



Julia had called ahead Christmas eve to several airports to determine where we could make a fuel and pit stop. Almost nobody in NV was going to be open on Christmas. However, when she called Eureka, the fellow who answered said "of course we're here 24/7! You can certainly get fuel on Christmas." So Eureka it was. Turns out they live on the field and own the FBO so it was easy for them to be there. We stopped and chatted for a bit, and Julia noticed some photos on the wall. Blue Decathlon with a round-faced guy in front of it. Turns out this was Steve Fossett. The story is that he was there about a month before his accident in 2007 and really was planning on attempting the land speed record just N of Eureka. He had made arrangements for fuel and logistics through the FBO folks. Of course we all know the sad end of that story. Anyway, John and Vincie provided us with fuel and Christmas cookies. John was interested in the RV so we got talking and it turns out that he had recently bought a RV-4, so we had to get a look and talk some more. By the time we left, we were a bit behind schedule, but no big deal.



On we headed. Winds were favorable at 15500, with tailwinds of 35-65 mph! This would make up for the time spent on the ground talking. We passed by Wheeler Peak NV, the highest point in the state at just under 14000 ft. Part of Great Basin National Park and Lehman Caves. Another great place to hike in the summer.



Winds continued to be favorable as we crossed into the Colorado Plateau in S central UT. The red rocks of the plateau contrasted nicely with the green trees and white snow, but there was some significant haze that made photos wash out a bit.



On past Bryce Canyon, UT with the high country of the Aquarius Plateau in the background. Here again, there was enough haze that photos (particulary distant ones) didn't do the scenery justice. Much better looking at it in "surround scenery" from an RV at 15000 ft.



We started our descent into Page, AZ for fuel and a break.



To be continued next post....
 
Part 2

As we descended into Page (PGA) we passed by the marina at the S end of Lake Powell.



And got a great view of the Glen Canyon Dam, which holds back the Colorado River to make Lake Powell.



Right next door is the Four Corners power plant, the source of much controversy because of the visual pollutants that come from the burning of the coal. But it sure was pretty on this day, with brilliant blue skies.



And here's the airport. Note that the short runway (2200 ft) is only used when there are extreme winds from the west.



We left Page and headed for Santa Fe. Then we realized that our route was pretty darn close to going by Canyon de Chelly on the Navajo reservation. What the heck, let's fly over and have a look - after all, that's what RVs are for, right! We began to make a detour at about 45 degrees to our original course. As we almost always do, we were using Flight Following for the next leg to Santa Fe NM. Within about 10 minutes, FF was on the radio "65A, are you still going to Santa Fe?" "yes, we're just making a slight detour to get a look at Canyon de Chelly." No problem, but its good to know that they really ARE keeping track of what we are doing up there. Here is a photo of some sandstones near Chinle, AZ.



And the N part of Canyon de Chelly:



And a closer look into part of the canyon:



Onward to New Mexico. It looked like we were going to go past Chaco Canyon and we tried to get a look. Once again, we deviated from our direct course and FF came on and asked if we were having any problems. "No, just doing some sightseeing enroute." Finally we approached Santa Fe and the Jemez Caldera, a recent large volcanic feature, kind of like Yellowstone. [you gotta realize that I'm a geologist and these sorts of things are interesting to me...]. Jemez is beautiful volcanic high country.



And on into Santa Fe.



We spent the night with friends that we hadn't seen since we lived in New Zealand over a dozen years ago. It was great to catch up and see how their kids had grown. Santa Fe was cold, so we rented a hangar for the night. They put us in a huge hangar with the fancy jets and twins. The RV-9 looked like a Christmas toy in there - well, I guess that description works for me! The next morning before we departed, there was a twin Beech that had sat on the ramp all night who declined de-icing, took off, got iced up and crashed. Absolutely clear air. I don't know if they were overloaded or any other contributing conditions, but the airport is at 6300 ft elevation. Fortunately nobody was hurt. It gave us some pause but we departed without incident around noon and continued east.

It wasn't too long before we started to see the high plains of eastern NM and west TX. Suddenly, we went from mountains and canyons to cultivated plains and this is what the transition looked like:



To be continued....
 
Part 3

On across the long expanse of Texas. Remember that we were planning to go someplace warm for the holidays, but we continue to see snow on the ground as we fly east. The snow accentuated the patterns on the landscape, so it was a visual treat in such flat country. Again, most of the photos don't really do justice to the view out of the RV but they might give you a flavor of what we were seeing.





We continued to have favorable tailwinds (30-40 mph) so made good time. Before long, we were in the DFW area. Not too busy on the day after Christmas, but required a lot of thinking on our part to make sure we were aware of all the traffic etc. Saw lots of these guys, usually higher than us.



I've got a lot of respect for those of you who fly around class B airspace. I suppose one gets used to doing so, but I'm more comfortable with other types of airspace.

We landed at T31, where Craig Taylor was kind enough to host us in his hangar while we were in Plano for a few days. Craig has recently acquired a RV-8 which is beautiful, and has an immaculate hangar. After spending $55 for a night at Santa Fe, we really appreciated Craig's hospitality. I can't say enough good about the RV community!

For the next several days we shivered in the cold in Dallas while visiting relatives. And it snowed while we were there. So much for getting out of the cold weather. We had a good visit with family, but since this is an airplane forum, probably nobody (except my mother) wants to hear the details of how Aunt Ruth is doing, so I'll skip that part.

Our plan was to leave on Wednesday morning, fly to Midland TX and then on to Santa Fe again. Wednesday morning dawned (kind of) with mist, 100-foot ceilings, and lousy visibility, as predicted the night before. Well, its supposed to burn off by mid-morning, so no big deal. 10 o'clock, 11, 12 came and went with not much improvement. My cutoff time was about 1 pm for departure (from the house) to get anywhere reasonable. 1 pm arrived and ceilings were up to 600 ft. Guess we get to have another home-cooked meal at Mom's. Then at 1:20 I saw blue sky! Hustle out to the airport and let's see what things look like - at least we can maybe get out of Dallas.... We arrived at T31 about 1:40 and the stuff was lifting, visibility was ok, and everything looked much better to the west. So we launched and headed for Midland. Good thing we did so, because it closed in the next day for all day and we probably wouldn't have gotten out on Thursday.

Whew! Headed west again, and continue to see interesting landscapes.



Pretty soon we were in west Texas (not real soon, since we now had a significant headwind that had been a tailwind a few days earlier). West TX is a land of cattle and oil (or "earl" in the local parlance). We stopped for fuel in Sweetwater (headquarters of the WASP corp in WWII) and it was clear that cattle were king! Enroute we saw a lot of these:



which we thought were fans to "ventilate" the stockyards when necessary.... Actually, there were thousands of these wind generators out there - not only is there energy in the form of oil, but lots of wind as well.

We arrived in Odessa TX just before sundown and as the nearly-full moon was rising.



Greg Niehues (currently building a 9A) met us at ODO and we were able to get in a half-hour or so of "inspiration time" for him to keep him on-track building his airplane. He kindly hosted us for dinner and overnight at his place in Midland. Again, thanks to the forum.

We were up early on Thursday morning and headed west again. Weather was generally cooperative, but continued with some moderate headwind component for the first hour or so. We passed over a lot of oil wells in W TX and E NM:



As we got into the NM mountains, the turbulence got started. Not too bad at first, but over some of the ridges it got pretty nasty. Our plan was to go into Alamogordo NM for a late breakfast and then on west. As we crossed over the last ridge headed for ALM we were hit with some severe bumps. After hitting the canopy once, it was time to really cinch down the seat belts!

Coming into ALM there was a pretty nasty crosswind - about 25 knots at almost 90 degrees (Julia took the photo for the flags to show the wind):



We had a good landing (I have now stretched my X-wind component envelope) and ordered fuel, went into the restaurant. Linda took a loooong time getting us food, so if you are through here, don't count on a quick bite and back into the air. But it was good brunch and a good break after bouncing around a lot.

We departed to the west in the same wind conditions. One of the reasons we chose ALM was that we could get food and fuel, and we could fly over White Sands. Or so we were told. We had contacted Approach in eastern NM and asked if the restricted areas were open, and told that yes they were (if you look at the chart, there is a very large N-S area that would be a pain to circumnavigate). So, we departed ALM, turned west and climbed to get a look and radio contact with Center. We finally contacted Center, they gave us a squawk code, and soon had us on radar. Immediately we were told that we could not go through the restricted area and needed to head for the VFR corridor. Apparently it was OK to fly OVER the restricted area at 23000 or better but not through it. So, a little detour to the S. Fortunately, lots of tailwind headed S, so only made for a 15-minute delay. So, here's as close as we got to White Sands National Monument.



We were able to get vectored through some of the southern restricted areas and headed on to AZ. All the flight levels were reporting chop, but it smoothed out for us at 10500. Into AZ and copper mining country. Here's one of the large open pit copper mines just west of Safford AZ.



We stopped in Safford for a break, and suffered calm winds and warm temperatures!

Continued in next post....
 
Part 4 of 4

Leaving Safford, we passed by Phoenix (man, what a huge city!) and onward to Blythe CA (BLH). Just N of Blythe are the Blythe Intaglios, similar to the well-known Nazca Lines of S America but not quite as large or numerous. These are now protected (note the fence lines around them in the photo).



So we spent New Years Eve in Blythe, CA - went to a movie and to bed early after a long day bouncing around in the air.

New Year's day we planned to fly to Big Bear Lake for the RV brunch and then home to Reno. Here's the approach to L35 from the east (runway is on the R side of the photo at this end of the big lake).



Met a few folks there, including Gordon (I can't remember how to spell his last name) who turned 90 this year and just finished his 7A (been flying a 6 for 15 years)! I first met Gordon when I sold my 172 last year to someone on his home field at Yucca Valley CA. Amazing guy with a long history of flying.

We left L35 and headed north, got cleared through Edwards AFB and all the restricted areas for a direct route to RTS. We took a few photos, but the light wasn't good and the ride was a bit lumpy. Enroute, we planned a stop at Bishop CA (BIH) since I had had two large iced teas before leaving. Just S of BIH is an array of telescopes at the N end of Owens Valley (used to be Owens Lake before LA drained it for the water):



Bishop is in a grand valley, with Mt. Whitney (highest peak in lower 48) not far away. Unfortunately, it was obscured by clouds this day. We did get a photo of the range to the east and the obligatory on-the-ramp photo of 65A:



I had been hoping for a clear day to fly up the east side of the Sierra, as the mountains can be just spectacular. Not to be today, but the clouds made for a beautiful ride.



One of the most amazing views of the entire trip was Mono Lake with the clouds and reflections (and this photo doesn't really do it justice):



We continued past the old mining town of Bodie, CA - 7000 ft elevation and snowed in this time of year:



And saw more incredible clouds and light:



Finally, arrived home, and it looks about the same as when we left....



Overall, about 21 hours and several thousand miles, family and friends, and a great way to spend the holidays.

If you're still building, I hope this provides some continuing inspiration.

cheers,
greg
 
Last edited:
What a Great Read Illustrated! Thanks Greg it's motivational indeed. Did you play with colors or the pictures are unedited? That picture of your RV on the ramp is very interesting.
 
Different perspective on wind turbines

...


which we thought were fans to "ventilate" the stockyards when necessary.... Actually, there were thousands of these wind generators out there - not only is there energy in the form of oil, but lots of wind as well...
Greg, great write-up and photos.

When one sees wind turbines one can expect that that place has some wind. Our closest wind turbines are just south of Guadalupe Pass in the small Delaware Mountain range. I was flying over the area last month and noticed some wind damage.

DSC05724.jpg

Quite a few of the multi-million dollar turbines were damaged. I have friend that works there and he said some of the debris was found 1/4 mile from where it originated. Notice the one in the photo that was ripped out of the ground. The concrete foundation goes about 15 feet deep.

We commonly get these winds when a storm passes through Colorado.

P.S. Thanks for giving me an excuse to post this photo!
 
Great write up Greg...even better than the stories over brunch!

Stock-yard ventilating fans...now that's funny write thar! :D

And c'mon, how is Aunt Ruth doing! :)

Nicely done!

Cheers,
Bob
 
Beautiful pics Greg - I really loved the one of Mono Lake - can't wait until the time we get to spend more time out there with you folks!

Paul
 
I'm motivated!

After seeing your plane in person (thanks again for coming to Winnemucca) and reading your trip report, I am double motivated to finish my RV-9.

Now the good part!!! Greg how could you, a geologist and resident of Nevada, make the mistake of calling Wheeler Peak the highest point in the State? It is a beautiful mountain and could appropriately be called the highest mountain located entirely in Nevada, but the actual high point is Boundary Peak in the White Mountains on the western border, NE of Bishop CA. It is the lower of Mt. Montgomery's two summits, which is located mostly in California. As penance for your grave error, you should probably have to come back to Winnemucca and show me your plane again!!
 
Vlad, photos are totally unedited other than to decrease the resolution so they fit on the forum pages. The light was very interesting during our flight up the east side of the Sierras.

Axel, next time we WILL stop and visit!

Paul, yes, that was a grammatical mistake on my part as I am aware of Boundary Peak (even worked there once years ago). Usually I note that Wheeler is the highest peak WITHIN the state of Nevada. Guess I'll just have to come to Winnemucca again....tough price to pay but somebody's gotta do it!

Cheers,
greg
 
Great story with many beautiful pictures. Thanks for the write-up.;)

Jim Fogarty
RV9a building
 
Photos

Greg,

I'm curious if some of those photos were taken with your wing camera mounted setup?

Nice travel story.

Ed
 
I did have a good time in TX, though I would have liked to have spent a bit more time so I could fly around some and see the places made famous by VAF. I'll be back.

Ed, the photos were all through-the-canopy shots. The current wing setup almost requires the copilot to remove the stick to use the computer (for safety reasons), and Julia wasn't keen on having the stick missing and a computer in her lap for all that time. And since my autopilot wasn't working, it was really nice to have a copilot to fly some of the time. I will get to AZ one of these days and give you a look at the setup.

Cheers,
greg
 
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