The Grand Adventure

Great job, Kent, and what a great trip. You should do the full write-up and send it in to Pilot Getaways or another aviation magazine. You really showed what the beauty and fun of GA is all about. I loved reading your updates!
 
Kent;

I really enjoyed following your journey and like many can hardly wait to read your write up.
Thank yuo very much for sharing it with us all

John
 
It's been wonderful to follow this Kent! Almost want to become unemployed so I can do something like this. Looking forward to the wrap up and pics.

Best,

Dave
 
The Grand Adventure, Days 5-10

After arriving in Sunriver, I discovered that I only had my Uncle's home number, not his cell. Oops! But, I shouldn't have worried. He came to the airport to visit his plane for a bit, and I ran into him there. :)

The next day, we started flying relatives around the area. Sunday (day 5), he took my sister's fiancé while I took his (my pilot uncle's) son - My cousin Ian.

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Departing Sunriver

One of the neater nearby terrain features is Paulina Peak, which is actually the highest point of Newberry Volcano. There are a pair of lakes in the caldera, Paulina Lake and East Lake. We headed in that direction first.

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The entire week, the winds were out of the south at about 10-15 knots, giving some nice upslope lift along the south side of Paulina Peak. With all the pax I took flying, that was the first part of the tour: Take off, head for the south face, get some upslope lift, and pop over the top just east of Paulina Peak for a sudden beautiful view of the caldera and its two lakes.

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This first flight was a fairly long one. After Paulina, I called up my uncle on 122.85. His Mooney Ovation was just a tad (45 knots or so!) faster than the 182, so he was long gone from Paulina and had headed over to Mount Bachelor. We both pointed toward the Three Sisters. Coming down from Paulina Peak are a lot of lava flows and cinder cones. Even though they are several thousand years old, they have not been covered and remain free of any vegetation.

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Some of the flows were even used for training Apollo astronauts in preparation for walking around on the moon. We also saw some sort of odd drilling rig on the way back down, and after reading further it appears to be exploratory drilling to determine the feasability of a geothermal power plant.

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After touring the Sisters for a bit, the two planes found each other and we pointed northbound for some air-to-air photography. Finally, 50nm from Sunriver, we turned back around and headed home. Lake Billy Chinook was obviously quite low, with lots of exposed rock and sand between where the trees ended and the water began.

The next day, I took my cousin Glenn flying and his wife Sailaja went with my uncle in the Mooney. There had been a thunderstorm overnight, and it ignited some new fires. The atmospheric conditions (Probably a combination of light winds and a temperature inversion) led to the smoke just kind of sitting around in the entire area, so flight visibility was only 5 miles or so. It was a different and very interesting experience, but even with the reduced vis it was pretty - Just a different kind of pretty.

After a few non-flying days (pout), on Friday the 22nd, day 10, I took my mom up for a flight. We did both the Paulina Peak tour and then went to Bend (home of Columbia and Epic) so I could fuel up. I'd had a loose window latch that I kept tightening up on this trip (and the parts had been ordered by the shop at the home drome) and I noticed it had departed the aircraft after I was done fueling.

First thought: Oh hell, I'm gonna have to do a fair amount of flying with the window open before I'll find another Cessna window latch. Second thought: I sure hope the latch doesn't get sucked into the prop of a brand-new Columbia! :eek:

So, I went into the FBO and Cherie the line girl gave me a ride down the taxiway on their tug. We didn't find the latch. She called a helicopter that was in the pattern on the radio and asked them to look for it.

They found it. :goofy: The head A&P in their shop even put it back on for free. I was also in need of some more charts, specifically the IFR area charts. They didn't have them, but one of the CFI's photocopied his Jepp area chart for SFO for me. Excellent service all around!

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Departing Bend

A quick 10-minute hop back to Sunriver, and I was ready for the adventure to continue the next day...

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Great pics and write up about Pauline and the surrounding area, Kent... MORE!! WE WANT MORE!
 
TangoWhiskey said:
Great pics and write up about Pauline and the surrounding area, Kent... MORE!! WE WANT MORE!
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It's coming... I started writing Day 11 yesterday, but spent most of today coordinating picture exchange with Sheri. She took a boatload of great pics! :yes: So, there will be LOTS of pictures for days 11-16.
 
Wow, I just finished adding up my logbook.

Total for the trip:
63.9 total time, 54.6 XC (total minus the SF bay tour and the flying I did around sunriver), 3.5 dual received (mountain flying), 56.3 day/7.6 night, 0.6 actual, all PIC, all in my trusty friend N271G.

That leaves my logbook standing like this:
655.1 Flight time, plus 10.3 in the sim
646.3 ASEL, 6.9 AMEL, 1.5 ASES, 0.4 Glider
412.1 XC, 393.1 as PIC
488.4 day/166.7 night
130.5 instrument: 101.7 hood, 28.8 actual
248.6 dual received
613.6 PIC, 1.2 SIC

Note that the trip alone was nearly 10% of my total flight time (I was gonna say experience, but it's been WAY more than 10% of my experience!), all within 18 days! :goofy:

Now, I need to spend about another 15.2 writing it up. Next week there will be more, I swear! But I have something important to attend to for the next several days - More on that later. :yes:
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Now, I need to spend about another 15.2 writing it up. Next week there will be more, I swear! But I have something important to attend to for the next several days - More on that later. :yes:
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It truly was a "grand adventure", as this thread is titled. I look forward to reading the full write-up. Good luck on this "something important"... a new job, perhaps?! Eagerly awaiting... :fcross:
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Note that the trip alone was nearly 10% of my total flight time (I was gonna say experience, but it's been WAY more than 10% of my experience!), all within 18 days! :goofy:
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Very true. Every pilot should take the time to do a trip like this one. I know I had more condensed learning on mine than any other flying experience. Can't wait to do it again.
 
Danos said:
Every pilot should take the time to do a trip like this one. I know I had more condensed learning on mine than any other flying experience.
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Seconded. I learned a hell of a lot on my long trip taking N55ZC home, and that was only 34.2 total, 25.0 XC.
 
TangoWhiskey said:
It truly was a "grand adventure", as this thread is titled. I look forward to reading the full write-up. Good luck on this "something important"... a new job, perhaps?! Eagerly awaiting... :fcross:
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Not a new job, yet...

My commercial. :) I was spending most free moments last week studying for the written, then headed down to Ames for a long weekend with Tony and the 182RG. Passed my Comm-ASEL checkride yesterday. :yes: :goofy:
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Not a new job, yet...

My commercial. :) I was spending most free moments last week studying for the written, then headed down to Ames for a long weekend with Tony and the 182RG. Passed my Comm-ASEL checkride yesterday. :yes: :goofy:
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Outstanding!!!! Congrats.

I keep wasting time getting the single add-on. I had all sorts of momentum after the Comm-MEL, then pffffft. Cheers to you!!
 
Hokay, time to post the KML file.

It appears to start at 14Y, Todd Field in Long Prairie, MN which was my first fuel stop on my first day, and it goes the rest of the way around and back to C29.

Unfortunately, the altitude info seems to be missing or something. Not sure what's up with that.

But, here it is... Enjoy.

Okay, never mind. It's too big. :(

But, sendspace will have it for a couple of days here: http://www.sendspace.com/file/fqmkm0

I've only used Google Earth once before... Isn't there a way I can "play" this file? That's what would be really neat - Automatically relive the whole thing! :yes:
 
SkyHog said:
Sendspace sucks, here:
http://www.ridetheskies.com/WTripKML.kml
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Thanks! :yes:

BTW - claim the rest of the airports, mang!
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Hmmm, now where'd I put that round tuit...

I do still have a window open with a tab for every airport I need to claim. Hopefully they're all still unclaimed. ;)

I'll get that done after I get my "generic resume" finished which should have been a couple weeks ago. It's amazing how busy you get when you don't have a job. :eek:
 
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