Well, border-State to border-State technically!
As much as I love the frozen north (it seems to be warm up there for this time of year, actually!), it was time to head home to the Texas coast this morning. The Valkyrie was loaded full of leftover Christmas cookies and treats from Mom (no way to get away without them...), she started up like normal after spending a few days in a warm and toasty hangar. The forecast was broken and overcast skies at 8 - 10 K most of the way, so I once again didn't bother filing IFR, and took off with great visibility. After scooting around the Minneapolis Class B to the east, I began to climb, but got stopped by a wispy ceiling at 5,000'. I settled for 4500' and noticed snow flurries zipping by. A look at the XM weather showed the precip. (which clearly wasn't reaching the ground) was only going to last until the southern edge of the state, so I pulled on carb heat (just in case), turned on the pitot and stayed where I was at (good visibility under the clouds) until I could climb.
The upper wind forecasts shown on the XM were for strong southerly headwinds down low, slowly turning to westerly crosswinds up around 9- 12K, so I wanted to get high as soon as I could. By the time I was over Iowa, climbing was no problem, but right off the bat, I could tell that the wind forecast wasn't right. The winds stayed on the nose at 30-35 knots (as shown on my EFIS) all the way. And they stayed that way for the rest of the day! Still, the air was smooth, and I was getting great mileage (about 21 mpg), SFC (.39 - .41) and fuel flows ( 8.2 gph) at 9.5K, and with a TAS on the gauge of 182, I figured I wasn't going to go much faster if I went higher anyway.
I had my usual printout of AirNav fuel prices for the route, and while I prefer to make my first leg long, and the second leg short (I can do 2/3rds of the distance with an hour's reserve), I couldn't find a good gas price in Arkansas, so I stopped near Kansas City at Clay County, where I got gas on the way up. $2.99/gallon isn't fabulous-great, but way better than most places! Climbing back to altitude, I saw that I was going to have 9.5 gallons on board (an hour's reserve) when I got to the coast, so the plan was to keep an eye on that number and go the rest of the way if the winds stayed the same. The visibility was better than 90 miles when I looked out and saw the ridges of Arkansas - Rich Mountain VOR's location is easy to spot, and I could see beyond that when the navigator said 90 nautical to PGO.
The toughest thing on a flight like this alone is to keep from getting bored! If it was a little shorter, I'd allow myself the occasional detour to look at stuff, and the odd aileron roll to stay awake, but when I am already looking at a 6.5 hour day, I kinda just want to get there as quick as I can! Th XM radio sure helps to give some variety, and I always enjoy listening to Flight Watch. I have noticed that more people people must be using onboard weather, cause there are fewer people calling to ask FOR weather, and more just calling to give PIREPS....
The only excitement of the day came when I landed at my "good fuel price spot" on Galveston Bay (Anahuac) with 9 gallons left on board (just as the computer had predicted!), and the pumps were placarded "out of service". Oh well, the county has another airport just 12 miles away (unfortunately in the wrong direction), and that was close enough to run to with low fuel. I usually pick up fuel someplace cheap and close before going in to home base because our fuel prices are about sixty cents higher than elsewhere close - and that can really add up!
Valkyrie rolled up to the hangar with a trip time of 6.5 hours (subtracting the detour for the extra fuel stop) - about an hour more for the trip due to the head winds. Still - better than a 21 hour drive in the truck, and I won't go near a commercial airport during the holiday rush! I put her away and delighted int eh fact that there are precious few bugs to clean up after a winter trip. Pulled the top cowl, put on the oil drain line and opened the QD to let it drain overnight...350 hours now, time for yet another oil change.
Bottom line?
Keep pounding those rivets folks!
Paul
Ho Hum...Just another border-to-border flight....
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