Operation Pecos Crayola: The Return Trip

28 March 2009	I was able to finally get out of Northwest Regional (52F) at about 8:30 AM CDT. After checking weather, the winds were really blowing at 52F, 300 20G30 or so, with a stiff west wind around 40 kts at 3000'. There was an overcast deck at about 3000', but that lifted around Abilene, and the winds started to slack up around Big Springs. Odessa was reporting 300 @15 on the ground so that was OK. I had to put up with the bumps for a couple hours but I was on my way home. For a relatively short flight, it took me 2.8 to get from Dallas out to Odessa. Looking at the pics, the wing sure looks like an RAF chipmunk wing!
	Just after departure from 52F	My view for the next couple hours!	I believe this is Possum Kingdom Lake (I'm not kidding, I didn't make that up)	Skies clearing out past Abilene.	But the wind was still there!
	So, after gas and a bottle of water, it was time to head west, squeezing between El Paso and the White Sands restricted space. Generally, I dealt with a 20 - 30 head wind for most of the route, but that seemed to die off the closer I got to Casa Grande, AZ. After 3.5 hours I hit the Phoenix area and Casa Grande was about 80 degrees and 5 kts of wind, a huge change from Texas experience! It was also the cheapest gas at $3.05 but getting in was a challenge, as it's a local instrument training airport for the local flight schools. I put gas in the RV, called the wife, had a coke, and talked with a guy who just flew his RV-8 for the first time. I didn't catch his name, but the RV was really nice!
	280 miles to Deming, winds are better.	Guadalupe Mountains, east of El Paso.	The Biosphere near Tuscon	Almost to stop #2	On the ground at the Big House!
	I launched out of CGZ at 12:55 and headed west once again. For the most part this was a non-eventful leg as the winds had subsided and there wasn't much out there in the way of clouds or weather. About 20 miles west of Buckeye, I was at 8700" and caught a Cessna 172 or 182 at my 10:00 heading north, and passed right under me. It sure looked like he was at about 8500! If I was also at 8500, That would have been way too close, and as it is, it was way too close.
	Interesting ridge line near Buckeye, AZ	Crossing the Colorado River, looking South.	Nasty rocks north of Palm Springs	Not a good place to land!	No room at the Inn. Victorville aircraft storage
	It took 2.5 from Casa Grande to Rosamond Skypark (L00) just outside Edwards AFB. I had a couple friends there from my Air Force, and EAa Chapter 1000  days and stayed with one of them for the night. On arrival, Rosamond was probably 75 degrees and calm winds, a rarity for this time of year. Between that and a frosty mug of Sierra Nevada, it was a good end to a long day. In total, 8.3 hours in the airplane.
	I believe this is El Mirage Adelanto (Restricted). Who knows what's going on here!	The Poppies are in bloom! I forgot about this event!	More poppies with Edwards in the background.	Arrival at Rosamond Skypark, the inspection of the plane by the dreaded Project Police, and obligatory beer!
29 March 2009	Sunday started out with some stiff winds at Rosamond out of the west and clouds over the top of Tehachapi Pass. Bakersfield was clear as well as the central valley, so the trick was getting over the pass. I departed Rosamond at 8:52 AM, and got into some fairly moderate to strong turbulence for a little airplane. At 8700 the bumps started to lessen, and at 10,500, I was on top in smooth air across the Pass. Clearing the pass, I descended back to 6500 for the winds as they were about 40 at 8500, and about 20-30 at 6500. Nice - not! Anyway, after 2.9 I got to Red Bluff, only to have to land into a 30 kt wind. ASOS was calling about 20G27, but by the time I landed it was steady at around 30. Luckily, it was right down the runway, but never the less, I was about at my limits for this airplane.
	Looking west over the top towards Bakersfield.	10.6 over the top. Much smoother than under that junk.	Here's looking east about the same time over Tehachapi Pass.	One of the many 1/2 full lakes along the western Sierra foothills (Lake McClure)	Tied down at Red Bluff.
	I got the airplane tied down and then started talking to the fine folks at Lockheed Martin. They seem like a nice group and helped work through some routing options and wait times were not a problem after hearing about all the FSS problems since LM took over. Winds coming over the Siskiyou Mountains was going to be a problems with 50-60 kts at altitude over some really big rocks. The interior OR valley had scattered rain showers and applicable icing AIRMETs heading up through central OR. The coastal route had the same insane winds on the surface, over 30 kts, and the inland route up the east side of the Cascades was also really windy. Well, I called it quits! That's enough for me and Monday is looking better. So, I called Comfort Inn and they sent someone out to get me. Hotel was nice and comfortable, with an Applebee's across the street. I really hadn't had much to eat the last several days, so a steak and a glass of Cab were in order.
30 March 2009	Monday was much better with Red Bluff winds only doing about 15 - 18 instead of 30 kts, but it was about 35 F OAT! I checked all my usual sources, wunderground.com, weathermeister.com, runway finder.com and had a chat with the folks at Lockheed again. Oregon looked pretty good up to Medford, but the valley from Grants Pass north of Roseburg up towards Eugene was low clouds and mist. That was OK since the route from Dunsmuir (near Shasta) up to Eugene looked pretty good, with a 7500' ceiling starting just south of Eugene, then lowering to around 4500 near Salem. I launched out of KRBL at 0805 and headed north into the wind. Although it was still fairly strong, once above about 3000', it seemed to smooth out. As I approached the Shasta area, I cinched down the belts and expected some nasty turbulence, but other than some short moderate bouncing, it didn't get too bad crossing the area at 8500'.
	On departure from Red Bluff.	View to the west.	Castle Crags near Mt. Shasta.	Mt. Shasta.	More Mt. Shasta (and SPOT)
	I cleared the Medford area and headed direct toward Eugene, figuring I'd stop at Creswell to get a good view of the OR/ WA weather. Well, as I was letting down to Creswell, I cancelled flight following, then found that the Creswell airport was directly under a very small patch of broken clouds at about 300'. That wasn't going to work, so I picked up Cascade again and continued north. Albany seemed to be a good stop, so I put into Albany with basically calm winds under about a 4500' overcast. Total time from KRBL Albany was only about 2.1 hours. I talked to Lockheed once again, got a good picture of the weather, gassed up, had a Coke, and launched out for the last leg of the journey. The rest of the trip was fairly easy with the weather about 3000' OVC, slight winds out of the south, and about 10M visibility. It took exactly and hour from Albany to Auburn and running up the valley at 2500' and around 200 MPH is what these RV's love to do!
	Looking towards Roseburg Medford direct Eugene over the hills.	Cleared the hills, just north of Creswell. Scattered at 300'	Finally some decent RV speeds!	Running up the valley north of Kelso. Down the home stretch.	The machine safe on the ground at Auburn.
	So, after 14.5 hours in the RV, over three days, I arrived back at Auburn very happy to be home. By the time I put the airplane away, grabbed a coffee, and drove to work, the rain had already started once again! Good timing! Overall, the airplane did really well over the course of the trip both down and back. It's due a little maintenance and a good look over, but generally I'm happy with this airplane to say the least. Here's a short list of some of the thanks due: - A big thanks to Classic Aero Design and their seats! Excellent comfort and quality for long days in the airplane. - Sharpie and Weathermeister.com get a big rave for the mobile applications. Great stuff for quick updates on short stops! - Air Chart Systems get's a big approval for their bound WAC charts which are really easy and convenient to use. - My buddies at Rosemond Skypark for the hospitality on the return flight! - Grady and Brandon at GLO Custom paint for the awesome job on paint. - Doug Reeves for creating the VAF site and all the help received through that! - And finally Van's for an outstanding machine!
	Happy builder/ owner/ pilot after a great trip! Now I can start thinking about some other stuff, like cleaning the hangar.
	Pictures from the paint shop...