With a full-day pass in my hot little hands from the lovely Missus for all of Saturday, which happened to be forecast CAVU all day, I fueled up the Goodbye Girl
and flew over to Butte to pick up my youngest son for a day of mountain flying, airstrip volunteering, and...fishing. First route was Missoula to Butte, picked up the little feller (now 21 and 6'3") and launched for Meadow Creek (0S1) for the annual work party sponsored by the MT DOT/Aeronautics Division.
This was my first real attempt with the GoPro and editing, hope you can see it in HD, it's pretty good scenery.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Xcq8-hEeLM
Upon landing,
the crew was given a list of chores to do on the field: paint the windsock masts, install new windsocks, repair picnic tables, chainsaw deadfall trees along the runway, weed whip around the cones marking the runway and....demolish an outhouse. Hehe, guess which one we picked? Here is part of the outhouse demo crew...me being the photographer.
A tree had fallen on the poor outhouse (there are two) and the USFS decided that it did not warrant repair. Thus, we commenced demolition.
There was some discussion about leaving the outhouse as an "open air" model to enhance the view and improve opportunities for writing poetry ("Here I sit, broken hearted...") and related graffiti...
but management decided that it all had to come down. I couldn't help but think about all the great times that had been had therein.
It was a good thing I brought the college boy along because none of the rest of us had the skills to operate the sledge hammer for breaking up the concrete foundation. It simply would not fit any hands but his. And he really beat the s&*t out of it
Seems that Mechanical Engineering degree work is paying off.
After tearing apart the wood frame and siding, and breaking up the concrete floor and footings, we put all the concrete back in the "hole" (it was nearly full anyway, so clearly time to move on) and piled up the wood for burning at a future date.
The job complete, we moseyed on up for lunch, which was generously donated and prepared by the EAA chapter in Kalispell, MT.
After steaks and cheesecake, the fish were calling our names, so we launched
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JhDrSlDKp0
(this Youtube video is only 480p, I think because I made it too long and Youtube wouldn't accept it. I will shorten it and try to load it as 1080p, which is pretty cool)
for a short tour of the South Fork of the Flathead River downstream (north) to the Spotted Bear airstrip. Upstream of Meadow Creek, this river is one of the finest wilderness rivers for fishing and floating in the lower 48, accessible only by foot or horse. Downstream of Meadow Creek, the river drops into a canyon, then opens up onto Hungry Horse Reservoir, seen past the Spotted Bear airstrip. Spectacular.
Then back south to a nice paved strip at Benchmark (3U7).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mBM0G83PBI
It's not real clear from the video, but there were some of the squirreliest winds I've ever encountered, warned about in the AFD and expected, but we managed to put her down on the 6000'x100' paved strip - thanks largely to the power and performance of the RV - maybe a little credit to Mike Seager. Note: pilot campground is very nice and secluded.
After a couple hours of unfruitful but very sincere fly fishing, we loaded up and launched to take the little feller back to Butte, then on to home, in time for dinner with the Missus.
Have I mentioned how much I love this plane? Seriously, 4 hours on the Hobbs, unforgettable times with my youngest son, flying and landing and fishing in some of the remotest and most beautiful lands in our great country. Not even remotely envisioned 5 years ago when I started flying, or 4 years ago when I started building. The last year and a half of flying her has been spectacular and it gets better all the time. Keep pounding those rivets!
Father's Day Weekend Mountain Flying
Nice
Linear Mode
