Due to the nice weather, the So-Cal and Arizona RV Lists had a good turnout (43 people arriving in 24 planes) at Waldo's BBQ this fine Sunday morning. Many thanks to Katie Velvick for pulling all the strings to get this set up. It's always great to meet up with old and new RVing friends.
Interesting on-field restaurant with lots of aviation props and pictures scattered throughout.
All good times must come to an end and so it was with this brief encounter. Note that with the exception of Andrew's father (second from left) everyone in this picture has flown their Homebuilt RV across the ocean.
(L-R: Andrew "Shark Bait" Brandt, Andrew's dad, Chuck, Carolyn "Red" Zilik, Gary "Seismo" Zilik, Larry & Geri Schneider, Scott & Deb Mills, Paul "Rosie" Rosales, Victoria "Tuppergal" Rosales)
Saddled up, getting ready for departure back to Colorado.
So how come it is that the entire trip to Vegas we fought 22-30 KT headwinds, and as soon as we depart from Henderson we are slapped in the face with a 10 KT headwind? Meanwhile, the planes headed back to California get a nice 5 to 15 KT tailwind? Hmmm.... Oh well, and so it goes.
About a half-hour after clearing a couple ridge lines, the wind turned around on the tail. Mind you, it was only in the 5 to 9 KT vicinity all the way back to Farmington. But WAY better than 49 KTS on the nose!
Due to our afternoon departure, we knew we couldn't make Front Range before running out of daylight. Not being night current and not wanting to take the risks of trying to make the passes in the dark, we stopped again at KFMN.
Now here is when we run into $6.56/gal gas, but with NO discount this time. Plus we are told that we can't use the courtesy car to go to the hotel as they didn't want us to keep it overnight. In all of our travels
(landing at 206 airports in 48 states), this is the first time that's happened. Heck, we've had people hand us the keys to their personal vehicle!! Called the only cab in town. After waiting a half-hour and still no cab, we wound up with an $83.00 rental car.
The one saving grace was that we found a great pizza and brewery place in town. If you ever have occasion to be in Farmington, NM, check this place out.
Three Rivers Brewery. I had an Amber Ale and a Powerhouse Porter. Yummy!! Plus they hand toss all their pizzas.
After checking out the Holiday Inn Express, we came across this strategically placed sign and just had to laugh.
A very chilly night and an OAT of 17 degrees when we arrived at the airport made for some very frosty wings.
Always the conscientious pilot, I took out the High Tech DE-icing equipment. Gary and I both had pretty hard starts, but we finally managed to get them going and warmed up for about 10 minutes.
Our final leg back home. Here we are coming up to Cumbres pass again. The air was as smooth as silk. I flew most of the way home with the rudder only. It was awesome! In spite of the stiff headwinds we encountered during the first half of our trip, the high pressure system made for some absolutely fantastic flying weather.
Some of the more interesting trip stats:
Fuel = $422.00, Show Tickets = $326.00, Meals ~ $180.00, Rental Car = $280.00 (split 3 ways). Our hotel rooms were paid with my Marriott points. We logged about 10.5 hours and flew 1617 miles. Took us 5:20 to get to KBVU. About an hour playing along the river. The trip home from Havasu was 4:10 total time. (over two days)
It's been said many times before but bears repeating... All this fun and adventure is made possible by the airplane we built in our garage. Stay focused. Stay motivated. KPR!
Regards,
Scott and Deb's EXcellent Weekend Excursions: New Year's 2011/12 in Vegas
We are almost over the pass here. Blanca peak is to the right and surprisingly it's pretty smooth.
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