My Big Cross Country Tour

[wayne]

I have been planning on doing a flying trip out west to do some back country flying with my friend Bob for some years. Rentals are a bit pricey, so I was waiting until being in a partnership in a SR22 again. I bought into a LLC for a SR22 last year and started planning. We had some general dates.

I was trying to squeeze in a trip this year, as we had a 2+ week trip to Europe planned and a couple of more days for the college graduation for our youngest. I didn’t want to put it off another year, but it was going to be a bit of a squeeze for such a long flight.

COVID tossed those vacation days in the trash. It also messed with plans from others to join me out there at Vale with Bob. I was hoping a few of us could make it, but it ended up just me visiting Bob, which was quite a bit of fun. We had great weather for the backcountry flying.

With almost 3 weeks of vacation time cancelled due to COVID I now needed something to do as my employer is saying they will not allow us to carry over more than the usual one week of vacation time into the next year. This meant that the trip out west was going to be easier, at least in that I wasn’t trying to squeeze it into the minimal time to save on vacation days. I added time in Vale, started mid-week and allowed me to burn more time in the flight to get some landing in other states along the way; allowing me to be a geeky pilot. Even getting in a touch-and-go on the route adds time; maneuvering around for the landing and then climbing back up to altitude.

It also meant I could further extend the vacation with another location that I have wanted to visit for years, Rapid City, SD. I wanted to see Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Devil’s Tower and the Badlands. That made the new plan to fly out to Vale, OR and hit some “new” states along the way, do some backcountry flying with Bob and then meet my wife in Rapid City for a few days of sightseeing there and then I would fly my wife and I home.

I plotted my course. Making a stop in Miami, OK only added 13 nm to my first day, and got me a landing in Oklahoma. It also got me really cheap 100LL fuel, $2.91/gallon! That’s less than half the price of 100LL at my home airport.

Wednesday morning at my home airport:

Some weather avoided in Alabama shortly after departing:


I saw a few crop dusters on the way. At first I thought they were yellow cub, but then saw the pics and realized they are low wings, and crop dusters.

 

[wayne]

The first leg of the first day was 548 nm. This is one reason why speed is important. Many pilots will compare speeds by comparing the time over 100 nm. That is a very short distance in a plane. My first stop was five and a half times as far. I averaged 167 knots over that distance, including the climb, initial headwinds and maneuvering. I re-filled the tanks and bought 47 gallons of 100LL. As a comparison, a Cessna 172 would have taken about 5 hours in those conditions, versus the 3:15 it took me, and burned 40 gallons or so of fuel.

A couple of touch-and-goes ag ADT and HEQ and a stop at SNY for fuel and a late lunch only (plus another state) added only 4 nm to the straight line. Adding the ICT VOR to avoid MOA space added just 5 nm more. The only bad part was it was warming up, so a bit warm on the landings. The maneuvering for landings added more. FlightAware shows my flight was 19 nm longer than a direct route from MIO to SNY. With two touch-and-goes and the final landing, plus some headwinds, my average speed was only a little over 160 knots for this leg of the trip.

A side benefit of the stop in Sidney, NE (SNY) was getting to see the National Pony Express Monument.

 

[wayne]

The first day of flying out to Vale, OR ended with a stop in Rock Springs, WY. I had to deviate for some heavy rain just west of Sidney. This is another reason why speed is important, deviations take less time. I climbed up to 12,000’ for cooler air, but with the higher ground it was still bumpy, and there were significant headwinds, even lower. Headwinds are yet another reason why speed is important; the faster the plane the less of a percentage of loss.

The landing at Rock Springs was the highest altitude landing for me so far, at 6,764.6’. With the heat of the day, the ASOS was reporting the density altitude at 9,600’. I was definitely glad I was landing and not taking off in those conditions. The density altitude was much lower the next morning with the cooler morning temperature.

I got a pleasant surprise at Rock Springs. They had a B-17 and B-25 there selling rides. At the time it looked like they were just doing tours inside the planes, which gave me time to take a few pics.

My first day of traveling I covered 1315 nm (nautical miles); that’s 1,512 statute miles (as a car measures distances).

Departing SNY I had to deviate around some heavy precip. This is off the left wing.


At the same time this is off the right wing.


I saw these striped areas in farm land. Not sure what this is.

My plane parked at Rock Springs with the B-17 and B-25 in the background.

 

[wayne]

The next day I flew over to Logan, UT to get a landing in Utah and then to Jackpot, NV to get a landing in Nevada; both touch-and-goes. Then on to my final destination, Vale, OR.

Bob was waiting at the airport for me, with a handheld radio. He had been following my flight on FlightAware, so knew when to get there. Total distance traveled, 1776 nm; 2,024 sm.

I had a great time with Bob and some of his friends in Vale. I’d met Carole previously at a get together in North Carolina at another pilot-friend’s house.

We did two days of back-country flying, which is totally new to me. I’ve only landed on paved runways, concrete or asphalt. We also flew closer over terrain than I am used to flying. Not too close, but the only time in cruise I’m anywhere near terrain is the Appalachians and that’s usually more than 2,000’ over the terrain, often a lot more. We also spent time flying where the terrain was higher than us in multiple directions at once. That’s very different for someone flying mostly in the southeast to mid-west.

Departing Rock Springs.


I wasn't to surprised to see snow, but was surprised to see it below me in July.


Looks like a large dry lake bed.


This type of thing baffles me. Lots of water and nothing growing around it.




Craters and crop circles.


Someone spent some time on this one.

 

[wayne]

Friday was back-country airports in Idaho, our first landing was on a dirt runway at Sulphur Creek. They have breakfast there, reservations only. We brought them ice cream in a cooler. Several other planes were there for breakfast or staying in their cabins, including a beautiful Cessna 195.

After breakfast and some pics we flew on to Big Creek. Living in Atlanta I am still surprised to see snow in July. There wasn’t much, but we only went up to 9,500’ and we cleared the mountains that still had snow on them. The turf runway at Big Creek is between a mountain and ridgeback. On our downwind leg we could not see the runway as the ridgeback was between us and the runway.

Most of the back-country runways were one-way in and the opposite way out. Right after we landed at Big Creek, someone landed downhill. As Bob said, “Just to show they could.” They were in a Carbon Cub, so a very low stall speed and short landing distance; increased landing distance that time due to the down slope.

The lodge at Big Creek was beautiful. A new log cabin lodge with soaring ceilings and a huge central fireplace. They also offer breakfast, but we had just eaten.

On the way home we refueled for the next day. I got to see something I hadn’t seen in years, a manual credit card swipe with paper. No magnetic reader, no chip reader, but paper with a slide to make an imprint of the card.

Bob and I having breakfast at the Sulfur Creek lodge.


Sulfur Creek airport.


Beautiful Cessna 195 at Sulfur Creek.


Me and Bob's plane.


Two other airports we saw on the way to Big Creek.


Coming up on Big Creek.


Planes at Big Creek.


Big Creek below as we depart from it.

 

[rtk11]

Looks like you're making good use of your time flying around. I envy you as I would love to have the time to do that. Sadly vacation with the family was heavily curtailed due to the the pandemic. So sad that my family isn't interested to fly with me, so travel via our own plane isn't in the plans. I'll follow your thread and vacation vicariously through you!

 

[wayne]

On Saturday we headed a little further south in Oregon to a little town named Rome. Now I’ve been to Rome, Italy, Rome, GA and now Rome, OR. Rome, OR is by far the smallest of the three. We landed on a dirt runway there and pulled up near the road to park. A couple of people in the restaurant/convenience store asked if we landed on the road. When we told them no, on the runway they asked where that is. They had no idea it was just a few hundred yards from where they were.

After breakfast we flew to Owyhee and I got to see the Owyhee Hilton. The runway needs to be re-graded, but the BLM won’t allow anyone to fix the road into there, so a grader can’t make it there. It’s a neat strip with water at both ends and not far off one of the sides.

After our stop there we flew by the dam and a dry lake bed that Bob has landed on before. We didn’t land this time as there wasn’t a second plane with us and it’s a long walk out of there if you have a problem. We did have a problem, but a minor one once started, the alternator went out. The alternator was 25 years old, so Bob got all of his money worth out of that one.

Bob's plane parked by the road in front of Rome Station.




Pillars of Rome. Neat limestone formations outside of Rome, OR.




Owyhee airport


Here I am at the "Owyhee Hilton".


Bob and his plane at Owyhee.


Cabins on the Lake Owyhee. No roads, so all the material to build them came in on boat.


The Vale airport, in Vale, OR.

 

[wayne]

The next day I headed out in the morning. Fortunately Bob has a powered tow device as my SR22 was parked on gravel; only option at Vale. There was some concrete there, but a crop dusting outfit uses that. We used the powered tow to move the plane to a small concrete pad for start-up and run-up. We checked and made sure there were no stones on the pad so they wouldn’t get pulled up into the prop and damage it.

I flew down to Burley, ID to get fuel. That also got me a landing in Idaho. They had a good full service price, so I went there, figuring I’d hit the bathroom and file for the next leg while they fueled up the plane. I had to call someone to come out and fuel the plane. If I had known that I would have gone to another airport and done self-serve. I’ve wondered about using all the land around an airport for farming. Not sure if the 100LL is an issue with the lead in it. At Burley they have crops growing on the airport.

From there I flew on to Rapid City. My wife flew to Rapid City commercial from Atlanta that morning. She was supposed to get there at 1:06 pm and was arriving at 12:30 pm. Often commercial flights get in early and I needed to unload, get the window shades in, refuel and other things, so we got the car at the commercial side instead of the general aviation side. Her second flight got off late for a late connection for one other person, so I ended up waiting a little bit. I was originally thinking I would get there closer to 1 pm, but good tailwinds and getting started at Vale on time, if not early, got me there earlier. If I hadn’t been delayed at Burley I probably would have picked up the rental car as I would have been there more than an hour ahead of my wife.




The P210 in the background has "Rolls Royce Turbine" on its cowl. I thought I heard a turboprop, just didn't know where it was at first.


Crazy Horse monument from the air. I spotted this from quite a ways off.


Mount Rushmore from the air.


Cropped to zoom in.

 

[wayne]

We checked in at the hotel and got a late lunch at Murphy’s Pub and Grill. If you are in Rapid City, go there. The food and drinks are great.

We then drove over to Devil’s Tower. It’s a bit of a drive, about 1:40, but worth it. It’s an easy driver, mostly on I-90. We had great weather, with mostly blue skies for the pics. A bit warm, but not bad. We loved seeing Devil’s Tower up close and the hike/walk around it. This was the hottest day we had during our stay.

There's a place to pull off before you get to the park for a good pic from some distance.


Here we are early in the walk around Devil's Tower. Enough people to get someone to take a pic of us, but not many people.






In one of the crevasses is an old wooden ladder built in there to climb up.

 

[wayne]

Our first full day we started with Mount Rushmore. Cloudy skies, but cool temps and not very many people. It was great. The Presidential trail gets one closer to Mount Rushmore, plus the Sculpture’s Studio is on it. On the right side of the trail (as you face Mount Rushmore) there are a lot of steps. The sign said 250 steps. The altitude at the base is about 5,200’, so that can be a bit of a work-out for some people. The steps between the Visitors Center and the Sculpture’s Studio are rock and not entirely even. After that they are composite decking material and very even. Hand rails are there for both sections. On the left (as you face Mount Rushmore) the path is concrete and flat or at least smooth. Wheelchairs and strollers can easily go on that portion, or if you would have trouble with all those steps at 5,200’. There is also a small amount of parking by the Sculpture’s Studio for those that would have trouble with the steps.

The only fee is parking. It’s $10 for private vehicles, and only $5 if 62 or older.

After we were there the skies cleared up quite a bit so we got more pics on our way out. The crowd had noticeably increases since we arrived. On the way out there was a place to stop to take a pic of Washington’s profile. I hadn’t seen a picture of that view before. We didn’t stop though.

We thoroughly enjoyed Mount Rushmore, the Sculpture’s Studio and the Visitor’s Center. Lots of information about Mount Rushmore in the Visitor’s Center. I made sure to wear a red, white and blue shirt that day for the pics. I brought it with me just for the pics at Mount Rushmore.

Then we went off to see Crazy Horse. Unfortunately they have not had the funding to hire enough people. Very little seems to have been done since they finished the face in the 90’s. They are working on it, it’s just not as noticeable. There is a nice museum and grounds at the base.

We got lunch in Custer, then on to the Needles Highway. Very scenic. We stopped often to take pics. There are a few narrow tunnels. They are one lane tunnels and traffic has to take turns.

That took the entire day. We spent a little time resting up before dinner and then checked out Art Alley on our way to dinner. This is a section of 7th Street, which is an alley, with graffiti art work. The artists have to get permission first. If you’re in Rapid City, check it out.

I brought my red-white-and-blue shirt just for this.


This picture is from the Presidential Trail, and earlier than the one above. It was overcast early in the morning and the clouds broke after we walked the trail.


Quite a bit cloudier in the morning. War Eagle!


Up closer on the Presidential Trail.


A neat view of Washington between a couple of rocks. They had a short spur off the trail so everyone could see this.


The sky was so much more blue later in the morning.


This is the goal for the Crazy Horse monument.


Unfortunately they haven't made significant changes since the 90's.


Then driving Needles Highway, including some narrow one lane tunnels.

 

[wayne]

More pics from Needles Highway. There was beautiful scenery everywhere. We stopped often to look and take pictures.






Then our walk thru Artist Alley later that evening before dinner.

 

[wayne]

Our final day in Rapid City we drove out to the Badlands. It had rained that night and a little in the morning. The first part was on Sage Creek Rd, which is a dirt/gravel road. That part has more wild life on it, or is supposed to. We saw several bison, but only one at a time. A few pronghorn deer, a ram, and some goats. Our rental vehicle got very muddy due to the rain.

Then we drove on to highway 240. That part is more geologic scenery. It is very picturesque. We loved seeing the different colored layers of rock. We did not drive all the way to the Visitor’s Center as it was closed. We turned off early and headed to I-90.

Once at I-90 we headed west to Wall, SD. We had to get to Wall Drug Store, just to get there and take some selfies. Like the Kardashians it’s famous for being famous. We got a set of South Dakota salt-and-pepper shakers, one of our favorite knickknacks to pick up on trips, and a big Wall Drug Store bumper sticker. No, that won’t go on either of our cars.

That was a shorter day, so we walked to a park near our hotel and saw the two sections of Berlin Wall in Rapid City and read the plaques about it. Then walked around to decide on a dinner location later and see more of the president statues they have in Rapid City. Remember the Murphy’s Pub and Grill recommendation? Yeah, we decided to go back there. As I said earlier, it’s good.

 

[wayne]

We saw the wild life on Sage Creek Road, which is a gravel dirt road. It had rained the night before and a little in the morning. It got the rental vehicle very muddy.

Highway 240 was paved, and we saw more of the geological scenery. The colors were fantastic.

 

[wayne]

Then off to Wall Drug Store.



And the Berlin Wall pieces in a park near our hotel in Rapid City.




There are lots of presidents statues in Rapid City.

 

[wayne]

Finally we flew home. The winds unfortunately had shifted from tailwinds straight home to a mix, plus thunderstorms were in the way. I had to pick a new route, and even that got disrupted by smaller storms and a hot MOA; Military Operating Area.

We zig-zagged around some smaller storms, but then the MOA was in our way. I wanted to go down the west side of it, but the storms were rolling in on that side, so we had to go due east over the north side of it. Straight into headwinds. Ugh.

After we turned back south again our speed picked back up. As we got further south we picked up some tailwinds. More and more tailwinds as we got further south, running around big storms in our original path. When we turned east around the south end of the storms the winds shifted with us and at times we were getting 35+ knot tailwinds. Woo hoo! It’s a blast to see ground speeds over 200 knots in a plane with a normally aspirated engine. We saw a high of 208 knots for a couple of stretches.

We stopped in Springfield, MO, refueled and grabbed a crew car to get some lunch. Unfortunately it was hot and muggy on the ground and the runway closest to the FBO and current winds was closed for maintenance work. That meant long taxis to the FBO after landing and back again to take-off after lunch. Or at least it seemed like a long time in the hot and muggy weather.

The people at Midwest Premier were great. The 100LL price was good, even excellent for an airport in Class C airspace. They have 3 crew cars, so it’s a good place to stop.

We climbed back up and headed home to Atlanta. We had more tailwinds all the way back, not in the forecast, but definitely appreciated. There were thunderstorms in the metro Atlanta area and I wanted to get on the ground before they got to our home airport. Some of them were red on the NEXRAD radar images and occasionally a bit of magenta. Yikes!

When we got there the FIS-B data was showing light rain on the airport, but it wasn’t there. XM showed it just south of the airport.


First a couple of pics for the VFR fliers.




Here we are going around the weather toward Springfield, MO; not our originally planned path. We are doing 197 knots ground speed. I should have gotten a pic when we were doing 208 knot GS, as we were doing that for several minutes.

 

[wayne]

Total round trip distance: 3,622 nm; 4,165 sm. That’s far more than I’ve driven this year, approaching double, due to COVID; no daily commute with us working from home. Normally I would have driven about that far at this point in the year. The flight timer in the Cirrus shows 21.7 hours, or an average ground speed of 166.9 knots.

It was a fun trip. I had a great time, and needed that break from work since our prior vacations got canceled and we're working from home everyday due to COVID; at least we are working and getting paid.


I hope you enjoyed this long post.

 

[WannFly]

thanks for sharing this awesome experience

 

[RyanB]

Awesome, Wayne!

 

[AKBill]

as @WannFly said thanks for sharing. You all sure know how to have fun....

 

[kath]

Fantastic!!
Yes, Rapid City is a great place to visit, so many unique things to see within a 50-mile radius...
Funny you should mention Sidney NE, I stopped through there just last week! Super friendly.

Trips like this make some "hours" feel more valuable than just time!...

 

[Rcmutz]

Nice. Wish I were living in Wayne’s World!

 

[NHWannabe]

Awesome pics and sounds like a great trip. Thanks for sharing all of your stops!

 

[denverpilot]

Great trip.

Not important but when you were in Sydney, NE was the guy behind the counter older, or perhaps you remember the name, Ed Nelson?

Just wondering how he’s doing. Former well known aerobatic guy, manages the airport. (Or did?)

Super nice guy. Been running into him up there since I was a pup but I know he’s ahead of me by quite a bit on Ye Olde Human Lifespan timeline so I think occasionally about if he’s still kicking around the airport up there.

 

[wayne]

Great trip.

Not important but when you were in Sydney, NE was the guy behind the counter older, or perhaps you remember the name, Ed Nelson?

Just wondering how he’s doing. Former well known aerobatic guy, manages the airport. (Or did?)

Super nice guy. Been running into him up there since I was a pup but I know he’s ahead of me by quite a bit on Ye Olde Human Lifespan timeline so I think occasionally about if he’s still kicking around the airport up there.

I didn't see him. It was a younger man that fueled the plane, brought me the crew car and took payment for the fuel. Only guy I saw working there while I was there.

 

[wayne]

Nice. Wish I were living in Wayne’s World!

Funny thing about "Wayne's World". I first heard "Wayne's World! Wayne's World!" from a co-worker about 30 years ago. I didn't have TV at the time, so didn't realize it was part of a Saturday Night Live skit. I thought he was totally nuts. He did the full air guitar head banging, "Wayne's World! Wayne's World!", so.....

I found out later what it was.

 

[Groundpounder]

Great write up, Wayne, sounds like that was a fun adventure!

 

[Jumpmaster]

Great picture of Wall Drug - haven’t been there in years. By the way, that’s the “new” Wall Drug. The original wasn’t so fancy.

 

[Unkljohn]

Nice trip, thanks for sharing.

 

[Rcmutz]

Funny thing about "Wayne's World". I first heard "Wayne's World! Wayne's World!" from a co-worker about 30 years ago. I didn't have TV at the time, so didn't realize it was part of a Saturday Night Live skit. I thought he was totally nuts. He did the full air guitar head banging, "Wayne's World! Wayne's World!", so.....

I found out later what it was.

For those of us who can’t make those type of XCs, we enjoy reading about them and live vicariously through those who do. Great adventure and write up!

 

[Southpaw]

Enjoyed the write up. Been through many of the same SD places. Back in the late 90's