Musings about RV Versatility
A guy stopped by as I was piling cargo from the car onto the wing tonight for a weekend trip ?up north? (this phrase has special meaning in Minnesota; it means that one is getting out of the Twin Cities and going to some sort of lake place or hunting shack). He said some nice things about the 3 RV?s he could see as I pulled mine from the hangar. I could tell he was a little curious about just how much junk I was actually staging on the wing. Since I was solo tonight, it can become an impressive pile.
As I was leaving Anoka airspace, the controller asked ?66AP, what time you coming back??, I said ?Probably Sunday some time?, he said ?Oh, well, have a nice weekend up north, and 66AP, traffic a DC9 descending 4000 feet, 11 o'clock?. Great guys there.
Anyway, this got me thinking about all the junk I?ve hauled to and from the lake this summer in the RV. We have a travel trailer, known as a camper in earlier times, on a lake about 45 minutes by RV from my home base of Anoka County in the northern suburbs of the twin cities of Minneapolis/St. Paul. Of course, being a true homebuilder, I?m always messing with some project or another. This, naturally, involves materials and tools. Just off the top of my head, here are some of the things I?ve hauled this summerin the 6A:
Nail gun, cordless drill, canoe paddles, boxes of fasteners, leaf blower, winch, pulleys, rope, chain, bait (for fishing), chain saw, groceries, beer, guns, cooler with Sam?s club type stuff for Mom (they live here). Some trips had most of the stuff listed on one single flight. I?ll have to get a picture of the stuff staged on the wings next time, as it is a little absurd.
In any case, the point was to show just how versatile these two seat planes can be. I am very glad that I made the right hand stick easily removable, as I?ve strapped something in that seat many times.
Oh, as for time savings, it takes about 3:00 minutes from our house to the camper by car. This includes a stop at the ?up north? hangar, to get the boat. And, on Fridays and Sundays traffic can be miserable leaving/arriving to the cities. When flying, it is 25 minute drive to the airport, about another 25 minutes moving the plane, car, loading cargo, etc. until engine start. Flight time is usually about 45 minutes, so say 1:00 hobbs time. Put the plane in the hangar, grab the boat (I keep an old van there for this purpose), and door to door it is about 2:20. So, not a huge time savings. But! I get to fly the plane for a couple hours!
These really are delightful machines! For those of you building, keep picking away, you?ll find joy in these planes.
__________________
Alex Peterson
RV6A N66AP 1700+ hours
KADC, Wadena, MN
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