Summer 2012 Travels

[tommylewis]

I can still see all these pictures, but if you cannot copy this link to see them.

http://photobucket.com/albums/pp138/tommy1lewis/Summer 2012

The country around Steamboat is really nice, but this year everything is so dry so we were glad to move on before another fire develops in CO.

We saw the signs at Strawberry Springs for evening indicating clothing optional. But 8 over 60 old farts probably would not be something anyone would want to see. The pools would empty in a hurry.

This is the view off the deck at the rent house we have this week in Driggs. I am setting here enjoying a cold one and the view.

[tommylewis]

I could write up any of the great hikes we took this week, but instead today's glider fllight along the west side of the Tetons was a real highlife of this visit.

A Husky towed us up to 11.5k to the west of Grand Teton where we released and caught thermos and stayed there admiring these beautiful mountains.



This was an awesome view of the Tetons.

[tommylewis]

Last Sat morning we flew out of Driggs about 30 min before rain moved into the area. I was flying this leg as Bonnie had flown into Driggs. I climbed to 11.5k and flew around the north end of the Tetons. This was the view out the right wing.



From this point we flew to the Togwotee Pass on the east side of the Jackson Valley and SE down to Riverton then direct to Custer SD. Shortly after the pass I took this picture of the two left screens on our panel. As you can probably figure out, we were at 11.5k, 187 mph TAS, 2370 rpm and 19.9 mp, 10.5 gph. I did not take a picture of the right screen which shows the engine info, but we were LOP with cylinders ranging between -30 and -50 with cylinder temps 310 to 330. Outside air temp was 55 deg. At this point in the flight the winds were from the side, but shortly became a 20 mph tailwind. A real nice flight.



Landed in Custer to find the prearranged rent car waiting and a spot in the hangar to park the RV 10. When I get the picture of the final approach to Custer to load I will post it here.



We are now traveling by ourselves as the rest of the gang went back to Texas.

[pmccoy]

Tom, thanks for sharing your adventure. Very cool photos. I especially like the "Strawberry Hot Springs". I would love to go check that out in person. Keep it up. Those of us who have yet to get flying love to see trip write ups. What a great way to stay motivated. Thanks.

[Subwaybob]

Thanks for all the great pics. I love the instriments pic. Three different instriments, three different headings! Just average em out, you'll get there!

[Sid Lambert]

Hey, I saw you guys at Johnson Creek. We left there and went to Cavanaugh Bay. It was sooooo hot at Johnson Creek.

Was the F1 Rocket with you guys? It was a nice one. It was also fun watching Dale land at JC in his Harmon. Interesting approach to say the least.

[tommylewis]

Hi Sid, yes I remember talking to you at JC. We went down to Ice Hole on one of the hot afternoons. The F1 rocket was not with us. We also enjoyed Dale's coming and goings. We had 3 RV10s and 1 RV7a in our group.

Bob, those are not headings, but tracks, and come from 2 different gps. And we did get there, so far.

[tommylewis]

Tom & Bonnie flew into OSH mid afternoon today, Friday. Not many here yet, will be fun to watch the arrivals this weekend.



Camped in row 307, stop and say hi.

[tommylewis]

We had a great 9 days camping in HBC. Here is a sunset over the RV10.



Here is a picture of the lineup to depart on 36. Bonnie is flying this leg as I flew in.

[tommylewis]

We are still traveling the country but have not had the bandwidth to update this site. From Oshkosh we flew to Miller, SD to spend time with my Mom. After five days of visiting and completing her todo list, we loaded up the RV10 and flew to Gillette WY for a night and visited Devils Tower. There are two car rental companies in the airline terminal and it is a 60 mile drive out to the tower. It is about a 2 mile hike around the base of the tower.

Tom and Bonnie at Devils Tower


The next day we flew to West Yellowstone to meet our son and spent a week camping at the KOA and touring the p ark. The kids had not been to the park before and we had a wonderful week together. We hiked numerous trails and saw lots of animals. The new things for us were swimming in Boiling River and also at Fire Hole Canyon. This is the first visit in years that we have not camped in the pilot camp ground at the airport. We will likely be back camping there next summer.

Final at KWYS



Tom and Bonnie at Grand Prismatic Spring



Load we are carrying in RV10


The RV10 has been a great machine for traveling the country. We have run it lean of peak a lot more this summer and typically see 10.5 to 11 gph and 160 knots true. We started the trip 150 lbs under gross and now are 200 lbs under gross. We have off loaded some camping stuff. You can cover a lot of country with these machines.