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Wayne Hadath

Active Member
I have recently flown off the 25 hour restriction in my newly minted RV 10 and I am busy installing the wheel pants and fairings to see what the real speed numbers will be. For those who are building one or are thinking of building an RV 10 it is a real nice machine especially as a four seater. I have built an F1 Rocket from a parts kit and I have being flying it since 2005 and have over 425 hours and probably 80,000 miles on it. Most of my trips have been in Ontario and the US. I have never flown over the Rockies. I built the RV 10 because my wife, Barb and my 2 children are tired of taking turns and so the need for 2 more seats. All are very happy with the new toy.
I am playing in the Snoopy Hockey Tournament in Santa Rosa Ca the week of July 10 to 17 and we decided this would be the perfect reason and destination for a long summer cross country in the RV 10. I am looking for preferred routes and attractions for our trip. We will be departing CYKF in Kitchener Ontario and will need to be at KSTS, Charles M Shultz Airport in Santa Rosa by July 9. He must have been pretty famous to have his own Hockey Tournament and an Airpport named after him! :rolleyes:I will be traveling with my wife, 15 year old daughter and 13 year old son. I am VFR with O2 onboard. Any suggestion on what we must see and routes would be appreciated. After the tournament we will decide to either return home or travel north along the coast up to Vancouver BC. This is all new to us as a family.
Thanks
Wayne

Pic: http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/2469/image00002zk.jpg
 
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I like national parks and similar. See if the Grand Canyon is viable. Also Yosemite and Grand Teton.

If you go to/near Mt Rushmore as mentioned below, you are also close to Devil's Tower (Close Encounters of the Third Kind).

If you go north on the way back, Washington State around Seattle is awesome. Then I hear that Banff is awesome.
 
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Wayne,

Congrats on finishing your 10 and completing the 25 hr fly-off!

For your X-C, I've been looking at a similar route to get to OSH and then home from the Great Canadian Air Rally. The great circle route from CYKF-KSTS is pretty good with respect to terrain, and some pretty neat places are not too far off course. All depends on how much time you are committing to the trip, as some are worthy vacation destinations themselves. Along the way, the Black Hills of South Dakota, with Mt. Rushmore and Little Bighorn (Custer) are one possiblility. Jackson, Wyoming, with (as Ron mentioned earlier) Grand Teton NP and Yellowstone NP is one of the most beautiful areas on earth. A little farther west, you'll fly almost right over my neck of the woods (Reno), and another one of the prettiest places you'll ever see, Lake Tahoe.

If you go farther north (coming or going), then Glacier NP in Montana is spectacular too. If you came out via the north route, you could celebrate Cananda Day in Calgary, see the Stampede, then drop down to Glacier NP, then go west or southwest to head towards STS. Either way you go, pick someplace fun to join in 4th of July celebrations too! (Cool time of the year to vacation!).

If you want to drop in to Reno and see Tahoe, you're a welcome guest anytime, car included! Pylon Racing School for the Reno Air Races is 16-19 June, so perhaps a little early...unless you're planning a really long vacation!

Have a great trip and I hope you have fun in the new 10! Give a holler if you want to visit!

Cheers,
Bob

PS: Since you're busy flying the 10, can I borrow the keys to the Rocket? :D
 
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You could go out a little north of the direct route

There are some easy passes over the Rockies from Salt Lake City north that would allow you to stop at Mitchell, SD and show the family where you raced from in 2008 AirVenture Cup and hopefully will again in 2010 (seems kind of tight with your RV-10 schedule). Show them the Corn Palace and stay overnight or press on to Rapid City if you want to drive around that interesting area of South Dakota. From there you could go out of your way a little and stop at Jackson, Wyoming (AKA Jackson Hole) for another interesting drive opportunity or more direct to Salt Lake City which has some interesting points of interest. From either of these points I would go to South Lake Tahoe, then direct to Santa Rosa. If you take the return route through Vancouver you should stop at Gold Beach in Oregon and ride a Jet Boat up the Rogue River for lunch and Portland and make the drive off of the main highway along the Columbia River basin past all of the waterfalls to Hood River - the view of the river basin from the visitor's center on the bluff is spectacular. Seattle, Washington is a worthwhile stop then perhaps fly over to Victoria on Vancouver Island or to the city itself on the mainland. Both are interesting places to visit. Then the trip back across southern Canada should be pretty spectacular - we have been considering that trip for several years but haven't done it yet.

Hope to see you and the rest of Team Canada at Mitchell, South Dakota at the end of July.

Bob Axsom
 
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Plane name

I like you planes name "Four Fun", but I think I would have to name it "Ten Four Fun":D
 
On your way back East from Vancouver, don't hesitate to stop in Chilliwack (CYCW) for famous pie. Plenty of RV's on our field. Have a great and safe trip.

Shane
 
Santa Rosa

Hi Wayne,

There are quite a few RVs here in Santa Rosa. Give me a call or send me an e-mail if you'd like to talk about the sights here. I've lived in Santa Rosa most of my life and have worked for the Police Department here for the last 18 years. I might be able to point out some things you'd like to see and maybe steer you clear of a few areas too. For example, the ice arena is a nice facility, but the area within a few blocks of it is not the best neighborhood.

Take Care,
 
Yellowstone

One of the places I would suggest is the little airport at Gardiner, Montana, right at the North Gate of Yellowstone NP. The airport there is within sight of the gateway arch that Teddy Rosevelt dedicated, and the manager of the airport is Bill Chapman, an artist who has done a lot of illustrating for the Nat. Park Serv.

It is tucked in a mountain valley, but should not be a problem for a 10. It provides great access to the park, and a fiendly small town too!
Jim F.
 
Yellowstone

One of the places I would suggest is the little airport at Gardiner, Montana, right at the North Gate of Yellowstone NP. The airport there is within sight of the gateway arch that Teddy Rosevelt dedicated, and the manager of the airport is Bill Chapman, an artist who has done a lot of illustrating for the Nat. Park Serv.

It is tucked in a mountain valley, but should not be a problem for a 10. It provides great access to the park, and a friendly small town too!
Jim F.
 
Wayne,

It looks like you are a Dynon customer. If you do fly up through Oregon/Washington, make sure you stop by Vans in Oregon, and then stop and see us in Seattle.

The best place to land is at Paine Field, just 15 minutes from us. It has a nice Hilton hotel (you can park your plane there), place four great aviation museums. Paul Allen's Flying Heritage Collection; his planes from 1928 through WWII all fly. And that collection was just joined by another, John Session's Historic Flight Foundation with a flying P51s, a F8F Bearcat, a Spitfire, Tigercat, and a B25 amongst others. All flying. And then Boeing's Future of Flight Museum and Tour, and Seattle's Museum of Flight Restoration center.

And then continue north to the San Juan Islands. There are a lot of great airfields, inns, and camping areas, and beautiful views from the air or the shore.

Let me know if you do come this way.

-Robert
Dynon Marketing
 
Wayne, I'll second what Bob Axsom was saying. If you fly up the west coast, be sure to plan some time here in the Portland area. A tour of Vans Aircraft is a must, and just west of here is the Evergreen Aviation museum, housing the largest experimental aircraft ever built... Howard Hughes' famous Spruce Goose! The Columbia River Gorge, just minutes from here, has some of the most spectacular waterfalls and scenic spots in N. America. The Oregon coast is spectacular. Lots of places to land and see. A fly-around of Mt. Hood and Mt. St. Helens would make anyone's day. I live in the middle of all these attractions, and my wife and I would welcome a visit or overnighter as our guests. Just let me know!
 
If you want to stop in Bend, Oregon i can provide a car and a house in the old mill district 90% of the time.

danny
 
Stop and get some dual

There sure are a ton of generous folks responding in this thread. I can't add much regarding a route, but I get concerned when someone says "I have never flown over the Rockies" and is planning a trip that includes 800 miles of (mostly) rocky wilderness.

A member of a flying club I was in years ago proposed flying from Minneapolis to Seattle and one of the club instructors suggested some dual time once he got close to the mountains. I don't recall if I thought that was good advice at the time or not. Now that I live in Denver though, and occasionally fly over the mountains, I think that was sage advice indeed.

Your 10 has all the performance you need and more, but there is a certain pucker factor when you leave the flat lands behind and there is nothing but inhospitable terrain ahead of you as far as you can see.

Buy a book, take some of the on-line ASF tutorials, and consider spending a day just before you get into the mountains in earnest so you can fly with an Mountain instructor. I know a couple really good ones in the Denver area if you get that far south.
 
So many choices

Wow! I do not log on for a few days and look what happens! I thank all for the posts and private messages. Just what I am looking for. I plan on plotting mutiple routes for timing and weather options. I appreciate the concerns about mountain flying. I have some experience and a book and I have talked extensively to pilots that have mountain flying experience. I am sure our route will be influence by airport availability and roads and not likely the shortest or most direct route.
Yes Bob J, I have a new canvass. The base coat is applied and this winter I hope to apply the design coat. It will be another silly theme but due to the large fibreglass top on the RV 10 I am going with white as the design color, well at least on the fibreglass. I have not chosen a theme yet but bunnies so far have the most votes.
Bob A. I am going to send in my aplication for the Air Venture Cup but I may not make it back to Ontario in time to turn around and head to SD. I sure would hate to miss the Air venture Cup. Team Canada might just be Tom Martin.
I am still working on the fairings and wheel pants. I sure hope they give me 50 knts for all the work they take.
Wayne
F1 Rocket 425 hours
RV 10 42 hours
 
1st stop

It looks like the vote for the first stop will be the Rapid City Sd area for an over nighter and a look around. Looks like KRAP (not a great handle) is the closest airport to Rapid City but is it the best location to visit the local area?
Thanks
Wayne
 
I think so

There is a loop you can drive around to see Mt. Rushmore (it's a big deal to us USA folks) and Crazy Horse Monument (monument to the Indian leader was in work when we were there) that goes through some pretty mountain country and you can travel east toward Pierre (locally at least it sounds like peer) to see the bad lands. If you have a rental car it is a pleasant break in your trip. When we were traveling through the area we landed at Pierre, checked into our motel because none were available in Rapid City. The next day we drove past the famous drug store (I believe it is at Wall) and the Bad Lands on the way to Rapid City, visited Mt. Rushmore, paused at the Crazy Horse Monument continued around the very large loop formed by senic highways and returned to Pierre. The next morning we continued our flight to southern California. By landing and staying in Rapid City you should have a very easy time of it and see everything at your leisure. I have landed and stayed over night at Spearfish as well and that was a good stop not too far north of Rapid City.

Bob Axsom
 
watch that density altitude

Forgive the preach, but a family of four from Florida just died here in AZ on their way to the Grand Canyon. Sounds like a DA scenario brought them down at an intermediate stop in NE AZ. Good for you if you've already done a DA/Perf chart. I hate to admit I havn't. Have a great safe trip!
 
Yes there is that concern

Both of my near death experiences occurred at that area. Flagstaff and Ft. Bridger. Wayne shouldn't get into that too bad with the RV-10 but it will eat you for lunch in an Archer.

Bob Axsom
 
Here we go!

Well we just got back from a trail run to New hampshire, It was a 2.5 hour trp and we shook out a few bugs. It was a first trial for the Ipad with foreflight. My wife was copilot and she has never found maps of any kind readable or valuable in any way. The ipad seems to make complete sense to her???? She was able to follow along and do research on airports along the way, THe ipad gets a big thumbs. I would recommend to all who plan on cross country trips. On the return trip shortly after takeoff the Garmin 696 starts to get confused and finally goes dark. Thank goodness for the back up 496 and Ipad. I unplugged and plugged the battery of the 696 when I got home and it came back on. I did an sofware upgrade and installed. So far on this trip it has worked fine but seems a bit flacky at times.
"Four Fun" the Rv 10 has performed flawlessly. It sure is a great cross country machine.
Yesterday we were delayed due to a weather system in the mid west but departed Kitchener at 11:30 and made Worthington Mn (KOTG) after 5.5 hours. We decided not to jump Lake Michigan but routed south around Chicago. The XM weather onboard the 696 help us travel thru the weather system west of Chicago but it lost cloud cover half way thru the system. It may have been operator error. Sure is nice to see the VFR airports and where the rain is. We are departing after breakfast for Cedar Rapids to spend a day exploring Mount Russmore and area. Tomorrow we will head for Lake Tahoe.
Great fun.
Wayne
 
Wayne,

Happy trails, and if you have time to call while in Tahoe, # is 7755443511.

Cheers,
Bob
 
2nd day

Took off from Worthington Mn for a 2.5 hr flight for Rapid City (oops). XM weather worked well and we had to divert north at Mtichell to avoid some rain. I found out why the 696 did not show clouds yesterday. If you zoom in too much it removes the clouds.
Landed and used the West Jet FBO. My wife, Barb talked to them the night before. Found them with the Ipad. THey set up hotel and gave us a heads up on car rental. We ended up getting a convertable Mustang. What a way to see the sights. Toured Mount Russmore, Crazy Horse monument and did the Needles highway. Learned lots, saw lots, did lots. A real WOW for all of us. Lots to do in this area and a day is not enough. Arrived back in Rapid city after 7:00 and found the hotel had lost out reservation. It is real busy here but the FBO was able to find us rooms. Weather looks great and today we are headed for Lake Tahoe KTRTS with a fuel stop at LGU. It will be the kids first look at the big rocks. Bob, I will give you a shout later today.
 
Wayne,

Not sure if you'll read this before arrival, but I'll be at RTS all day, and have a car for you to use while here. Don't rent one if you haven't yet! C-ya when you get here!

Cheers,
Bob
 
3rd day

Day 3

Wow...what a day!!! They just keep getting better and better - full of lots of laughs and lots of adventure! Due to the late end on Day 2, we got a late start on Day 3! We left our hotel for one last ride with the top down on the way to the airport. The weather was beautiful... Warm and sunny. Forecast was beautiful all the way to Reno Stead, Nevada (4SD) - home of the famous Reno Air Races.
We took off 9:30 and headed northwest to Devil's Tower for those of you who remember Encounters of the Third Kind. It is a State Monument and pretty cool to see from the air... Although Amelia thought it was neat and we were able to wake Eddie momentarily and we're sure he won't remember it or couldn't care less! If you seen one Devil's Tower you've seen them all! We flew for another 2 1/2 hours as we started to see the Badlands... Which now having flown through them... You get why they call them bad... If something wrong happens then it will definitely be bad!!! It's just aired there is no water, there is people, there are no roads, there's no trees, no vegetation... Just "badlands"!!! Pretty but bad!!! But then there are the mountains too... Little bits of mountains mixed in with the Badlands or should we say big bits of big mountains and wow are they breath taking. Canyons that look minute from the air but would be 3-4-500 ft deep yet as harsh as this all may be, there are some hardy souls who chose to live in this environment... Not many but some! Eddie has come to terms with the fact that he doesn't like mountains... "they're tooooo big!!!!" as soon as he got out of the plane he laid on his belly and hugged the pavement for a long time!!!! We landed in Logan, Utah (LGU) to refuel, have lunch and take a break. It was a picturesque valley with a great FBO andhomestyle diner that was a great experience all around.
We took off to finish our leg to Reno. It's now mid afternoon and the bumps are out. For those of you non flyers, it tends to get a little bumpy in the afternoon due to convective heating. But perhaps it had more to do with mountains. So we had 2 1/2 hours of flying to finish, including flying as high as 13,000 ft so we were all connected to O2. Amelia's O2 levels were the best but that could just be that she was reluctant to have the nose candelas up her nose( which they really don't go up your nose - they just rest against it) All in all everyone did an awesome job of course first and foremost with our Pilot Wayne and great passengers. Wayne said he doesn't know many people who would've flown 5 hours in the ruff stuff... Let alone ruff stuff in the mountains!!!
Wayne picked Reno as he had a buddy who has a Super 6 Rocket in a hangar here. So we looked at planes, listened to plane talk and got a free tour of the airport. However he did guide me to a hotel, which we finally arrived at... Wayne with his pack of Budweiser under his arm (flying high and flying with O2 really makes you parched!!!) well of course Reno is known for it's Casinos... And this hotel is a HUGECasino!!! And splashy and it was like the Griswald's had arrived!!! I could go on about all the details... Let's just say checking in almost took as long as flying through the mountains! Everything got screwed up and when we finally got into our rooms...and Wayne got right to the sink to get his beers on ice... There was no power in our room so we had to move... But fortunately they upgraded us to these incredible suites... The kids are next door each in their own king sized bed!!!
So now it's way too late since we met Bill and his family for dinner.
Tomorrow we only have 1 hour of flying and about only 15 minutes of that will be in the mountains... Wayne and Eddie are both happy about that! Kathie and Carmen are picking us up at 2:00 so we won't have to be up quite so early!
We'll let you know when we've arrived... And don't expect a daily report of our hockey results and we're just reporting the on the flying!
Barb
 
Wayne, it was great spending time with you and your family! Barb, it was really a pleasure to meet you, Amelia and Eddy! Look forward to seeing you again in August at the Great Canadian Air Rally!

Here are a few pics:

Here's "Four Fun" with the family aboard. I was going to tell Wayne that he finally has an airplane he can't paint with Canuck primer gray (like his and Tom's Rockets and Gary's 7)...but ooops too late...already done in primo primer gray!! Barb, I know you haven't had your last word on that yet! :p
wh4fun.jpg


After a vist around Stead, checking out the MiGs, showing them where the race takes place, and visiting Rare Bear (that picture's on your camera Barb), then the check-in saga at the hotel (find the lobby...not easy in a casino...find the room...just as hard...no lights, get new room...find new room...ooohhh cool suite!) and the restaurant saga (no kids menu, new restaurant, kids table with 4 boys and a girl...poor Amelia!), we had a great meal with great company. Best line of the night: When I asked which child was playing in the hockey tourney, Barb pointed at Wayne and said, "the old man who was huffin' and puffin' up Mt. Rushmore yesterday!" :D Hey wait, we're 'bout the same age! :eek:

Did some kid's time at the arcade, where it looks like Wayne enjoyed the roller coaster sim as much as my son Matty!:
whcoaster1.jpg


This morning was the pack up, get O2, get gas, launch for Snoopy-Land (Charles Schultz AP in Santa Rosa). The Hadath kids are lending a hand, while my boys and a nephew were playing airport biker gang:
whkidsbikes.jpg


The "Four Fun" Four: Amelia, Wayne, Barb & Eddy:
whfam2.jpg


Four plus Four, seeing them off! Obligatory timer "push and run" shot:
whfamfriends.jpg


One nice -10 taking off down the Reno Race runway!
whtoff.jpg


Have a gret trip, and good luck in the tourney, Bruiser! See ya at AVC and OSH!

Cheers,
Bob
 
Arrival

Great shots Bob!! We had a great time in Reno. We left Reno and flew over Lake Tahoe and soon began the descent into the coast. It sure changes fast. It was a beautiful flying day with great vis and not one bump. One hour later we were landed at Santa Rosa and met with Steve Barnes who made us feel very welcome and we tied down "Four Fun" in the EAA coral. Steve gave us a tour of the airport and the surrounding area and a ride to our hotel. It was great getting some local help and knowledge. We have been enjoying our stay here and visiting the sights and some fine wine establishments. The large redwoods standing over 300 feet are very impressive to us from the east. Our hockey team has gotten off to a slow start and we are still working on getting our first goal. Maybe tomorrow.
 
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