Heading West!

iflyvfr

iflyvfr

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Greg
If the weather allows that is. Next Friday is launch day for a 2 week 'flyabout' with Page, AZ as the ultimate destination. On our way, we intend to stop NW of Denver to visit a friend before continuing on down to Roosevelt, Utah. Leaving early in the AM we head north towards Laramie. Does this seem like the prudent route for an O300 equipped 172? I'm thinking we stop at KRWL, Rawlins for fuel before we head south for 74V.

https://skyvector.com/?ll=36.965693...033N10900W KVEL 74V U34 UT03 3708N11058W KPGA

If it's too hot, we'll be heading the opposite direction towards Bar Harbor, where DA won't be an issue. Any suggestions welcome, this is going to be epic!
 
Have fun!! And share pictures!

Both destinations (Page, AZ and Bar Harbor, ME) are cool destinations.
 
Page is a nice location and airport. Might be worth making a side day trip to Sedona.
 
Thanks folks! Looks like West it will be. First stop likely Cape Girardeau, MO and then a longish day headed to Boulder. Hoping to make side trips to Dinosaur National Monument and Monument Valley, but beyond that who knows? Hopefully being after Labor Day the crowds will have thinned. Sedona is on my bucket list if we can make it happen @retpd2001, thanks.
 
iflyvfr said:
Thanks folks! Looks like West it will be. First stop likely Cape Girardeau, MO and then a longish day headed to Boulder. Hoping to make side trips to Dinosaur National Monument and Monument Valley, but beyond that who knows? Hopefully being after Labor Day the crowds will have thinned. Sedona is on my bucket list if we can make it happen @retpd2001, thanks.
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Go where and when the weather will allow, and have a good time.
 
Just checking in, having an amazing trip out Here in Utah/Az. We are headed to Sedona & Crater Lakevtoday then headed to Colorado tomorrow, Looking for opinions on overnight stops in one of 3 places: Cortez, Durango, or Farmington, NM

There all fairly close together, any suggestions to help us decide one over the other? Pics soon; this trip has been amazing...
 
iflyvfr said:
Just checking in, having an amazing trip out Here in Utah/Az. We are headed to Sedona & Crater Lakevtoday then headed to Colorado tomorrow, Looking for opinions on overnight stops in one of 3 places: Cortez, Durango, or Farmington, NM

There all fairly close together, any suggestions to help us decide one over the other? Pics soon; this trip has been amazing...
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I thought Cortez was a dump but it's convenient to Mesa Verde National Park. I was there in the car, not with my plane. Durango was much nicer.
 
Durango has Mesa Verde Natl Park with the cliff dwellings, and the really kewl Silverton narrow gauge railroad.

But....there are fees, some waived with fuel, almost $6/gal, same as Farmington.

Advantage of Farmington? You can take a photo of you standing in all 4 states at the same time at 4 corners.

Consider Pagosa - cheaper fuel, and hot springs pools!
 
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iflyvfr said:
Just checking in, having an amazing trip out Here in Utah/Az. We are headed to Sedona & Crater Lakevtoday then headed to Colorado tomorrow, Looking for opinions on overnight stops in one of 3 places: Cortez, Durango, or Farmington, NM

There all fairly close together, any suggestions to help us decide one over the other? Pics soon; this trip has been amazing...
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Cortez airport is closest to a motel. Animas airpark is much closer to Durango than Durango-LaPlata. Pagosa Springs is nice with a new runway. I would consider Telluride. We really like a few days in Telluride.
 
Hi all, well we're back from a spectacular trip out west. Appreciate the feedback and suggestions. Took us 1.5 days of flying to get there from Ohio, but Saturday evening on 9/1/18 we landed at Vance Brand, Longmont, CO. IMG_0371.jpg The next day a friend took us to Estes & into the Park. Straight away he took us to the highest peak in the park, 12k+ elevation - bad idea! When I got out of his car I didn't feel right. My body was buzzing and I was unsteady on my feet. Holy hypoxia! I was clearly not acclimated to the altitude out there and seriously thought I was going to fall over. Before long my buddy asked our friend to get us to lower altitude as he was feeling pretty sick too.
On Monday morning, and feeling tons better at 5000', we got to the airport early and headed north along the front range IMG_0397.jpg until we could turn west towards LaramieIMG_0404.jpg . We then IMG_2987.JPG headed towards Rawlings to refuel IMG_0418.jpg . What happened next was the first really awe inspiring leg of the journey. We traveled south over high but relatively flat terrain until we came to a saddle in the mountains IMG_0442.jpg nearly on the border of Wyoming & Utah. Passing thru that, we spied the Green River which our sectionals said would take us to our destination. But we had no idea what we were in for: IMG_0451.jpg IMG_0463.jpg IMG_0489.jpg IMG_0487.jpg Pic one was the red wall entrance at the mouth of the canyon. Only 13 miles long, we were nevertheless amazed at what we'd just seen. We passed Vernal before landing for 3 days of exploring with a friend in Roosevelt, UT. We were off to a great start and there was much more to come.
 
Love the pictures and your write up! Hope to see more pics!
 
Thanks @Skywalker , btw the rendezvous in Paw Paw was successful this weekend. The Main Coon did great and is loving his new home.
 
Sounds like a great flight. You do "fly vfr"! It sounds like you get a lot of use out of your airplane.
 
Jim_CAK said:
Sounds like a great flight. You do "fly vfr"! It sounds like you get a lot of use out of your airplane.
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It was spectacular Jim, thanks. This was the most epic of them all. I can only think an Alaska and a Bahamas trip could possibly compare.
 
So early on Wed, Sept 6th, we headed for Page, AZ KPGA. IMG_1016.jpg Once there we secured a rental car and took everything out of the plane to make it as light as possible. Then we headed for L41, Marble Canyon, just a few short miles from PageIMG_0705.jpg. Along the way we did a lap around horseshoe bend IMG_0693.jpg before landing at the airport. The runway surface was incredibly rough, but we got down and parked just fineIMG_0707.jpg. Back in Page we did the obligatory (lower) Antelope canyon tour, which was pretty cool too. IMG_0755.jpg The next day we headed out for my bucket list item: Monument Valley. I know lot's of pilots here have done it and it was well worth it. IMG_0793.jpg IMG_0796.jpg. Here was my 'money shot': IMG_0806.jpg After breakfast at Goulding's Trading Post, we headed back past Navajo Mountain to Page. Tomorrow was going to be the Grand Canyon and another bucket list destination, Sedona.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Yep. Just don't tell @timwinters. :rofl:
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Been there, done that. The recent thread about Lamberts showing the clientele, well let's just say that hit uncomfortably close to home so I avoid that part of Missouri. We're back home and fortunately the great circle route and the WX took us well north of Lamberts. :)
 
77R looks like she's MonumentRamp.jpg enjoying her view of Monument Valley. Early the next morning we departed Page - with Navajo Mountain and the butte in the distanceDepartPge.jpg . We headed for the Grand Canyon and climbing to 11.5 to meet the corridor requirement DeptPage.jpg while enroute to Sedona. When we got there we had a decision to make: we were very high due to the surrounding terrain. . Looking around, there was smoke from a wildfire that made the view a little less appetizingIMG_0967.jpg. As we circled a Lance arrived and within short order announced his go around. I attributed that to the runways infamous flat top, carrier-like landing picture. Finally we decided we had to go for it, so down we went.IMG_0973.jpg This was my view on a high crosswind for left downwind. IMG_0976.jpg Below the Lance was going around. The smell of burnt pine wasn't unpleasant :cool:. The FBO folks were great and we rented a car cheap and easy for $10 or 15 bucks an hour and went into town for lunch at Cafe Jose. As we left Sedona, with density altitude around 6k, IMG_0991.jpg we both agreed we were glad we'd made the decision to land. From Sedona we headed east 40 nauticals so we could see the meteor crater at Winslow. From 4000' AGL it didn't look as impressive as I'd thought it would, but still very cool. That's one better seen on the ground perhapsIMG_1005.jpg. Over 300 Nms flightseeing - not bad.
 

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The next morning was our last in Page, we were headed for Durango to complete our trip. As we departed IMG_1016.jpgwe were treated IMG_1018.jpg IMG_1014.jpgwith a great view of Rainbow Bridge IMG_1025.jpg and the north side of Navajo Mtn up close and personal. IMG_1032.jpg
We chose La Plata because of the safety of it's huge runway and full FBO services. True enough a rental was waiting for us as we tied downIMG_1044.jpg. There's a fire TFR here too, but this one is an intentional burn IMG_1036.jpg and signs on the road say 'don't call 911, we know". Sorry about the crappy pic. Coming home from La Mesa Verde we had confirmation this was a great trip. Can't say I've ever seen a double IMG_1070.jpg. Anyway I'm done. I hope you remember this thread when you wonder what you can do with a 150 or 172 type airplane VFR. With planning, attention to weather, W&B, and time of day this is just one example of what's possible.
 

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Wow! Tonka is a beauty! And super nice pictures!
 
iflyvfr said:
I hope you remember this thread when you wonder what you can do with a 150 or 172 type airplane VFR. With planning, attention to weather, W&B, and time of day this is just one example of what's possible.
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What? Surely you must be dead, since you aren't an ATP and didn't take your turbine twin known-icing BonanzaJet!

But seriously, thanks for an excellent counterpoint to some of the naysayers. GA is very useful 99.9% of the time, our equipment and ratings merely change the compromises that must be made to do so safely. Everyone is either compromising a little capability or a lot of money!
 
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