To the Paint Shop!

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After a looooong wait it was finally time to deliver my -7 to Cascade Customs and Design in Bend Oregon. I decided to make a proper barnstorming trip out to the Idaho back country on my way up from the the east bay.

Our destination for the first night was Stanley Idaho. A front was forecasted to blow through in the afternoon with 30kt winds so we had to get an early start .

Our first stop was Derby field in Nevada where remains of the old triangle field were fading into history. You never know what hardware you’ll find parked on the ramp.

 

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After a quick fuel stop it was onwards to Stanley. My goal was to arrive with half tanks. Light enough for the high DA but plenty of fuel to divert to calm winds if the weather wasn’t cooperating. Pockets of aspen and cottonwood trees were starting to change colors along the way.

Stanley is located at the base of the Sawtooth Mountains. Salmon run 1000 river miles from the pacific to spawn in the nearby lakes.

There’s a shed full of cruiser bikes on the field. We grabbed our bikes and rode 10 minutes into town to grab a place to stay and snacks for the longer ride to nearby hot springs.

 

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It’s a 5 mile ride down the salmon river to some HOT hot springs.
Switch pools until you find a temp you like.

 

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The next day we were off to Joseph Oregon. We decided to navigate via the Salmon River with a quick recon detour to Johnson Creek. I’ll be sure to land there next time I’m in Idaho. I got major Super Cub envy while flying over the Big Creek airstrip. There were a couple cubs parked in the trees on the east end of the field. Goals.

Next up was McCall for lunch. There’s shed with assorted bikes on the field and the lake is a short ride down a bike path.

 

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From McCall it was a short 20 minute flight across the Snake River Grand Canyon to Joseph. It would’ve been a 4.5 hour drive due to the terrain. Gotta love RV’s.

Joseph is named mini Switzerland for a reason. There’s a lake at the southern end of the town that was carved out by a glacier 40,000 years ago. 900ft high Moraines border the lake.
We stayed at the Kokanee inn on the southern end of town - I highly recommend it.

They have a free mountain bikes and snowshoes depending on the season. We grabbed bikes and fishing rods and rode around lake Wallowa.
No fish but the ride made up for it.

 

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The next day we were off to Bend Oregon - home to Cascade Customs and Design, Composite Approach, Epic and the list goes on. We made a quick detour down the Columbia River to the small town of Hood River.
There’s a vintage aircraft museum on the field that has an eye watering collection of antique aircraft. I left with major biplane envy.

 

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From there it was a quick 35 minute flight to Bend. Mt Hood was hard to miss on the horizon.

It was finally time to hand over my bare aluminum machine to the pros at Cascade. We went over the nuances of the build and I toured their paint shop and prep hangar. In around 8 weeks I should be able to call this project finished!