VA to WA in a Maule

[Flyhound]

Last October I flew from my home airport near Manassas, VA to our new home in Port Townsend, WA. My route was a dogleg through Albuquerque to visit my daughter so it totaled 2,658 miles and 30.1 hours on the Hobbs. It was my second major XC trip in 18 months since I originally bought the plane in WA and flew it to my home in VA. There is still a LOT to see in this country. I could make this trip a hundred more times and catch different sights on each continental crossing. What a great place to live and explore!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoKFN9RvBK4

 

[frfly172]

Nice,always enjoy long cross countries. Keep up the flying.

 

[FloridaPilot]

Last October I flew from my home airport near Manassas, VA to our new home in Port Townsend, WA. My route was a dogleg through Albuquerque to visit my daughter so it totaled 2,658 miles and 30.1 hours on the Hobbs. It was my second major XC trip in 18 months since I originally bought the plane in WA and flew it to my home in VA. There is still a LOT to see in this country. I could make this trip a hundred more times and catch different sights on each continental crossing. What a great place to live and explore!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoKFN9RvBK4

What did you like about Gastons?

 

[JasonM]

Great video! I have done a similar trip and look forward to doing it again. No better way to see our country.

 

[Flyhound]

I really wanted to stay at one of the cabins at Gastons, but they were fully booked. Besides, as the video explains, I arrived in that part of Arkansas well after dark. The grass runway at Gastons is not lit and deer feed there each evening. Despite the fact that they were fully booked, the kind folks at Gastons helped me find other lodging and even offered to pick me up at the big regional airport and drive me to another motel if I couldn't find any other way of commuting. That is service above and beyond what is expected. When I flew in Monday morning they were helpful with my tiedown (one of the poly ropes was sun-rotted and as I was fussing with the broken rope, someone came out with a fresh replacement). The food in the lodge restaurant was good and the service was fine. Just having a grass runway adjacent to the restaurant would have been enough to get my thumb's up, but the level of support they offered to an itinerant pilot is what pushed them over the top in my estimation.

 

[Silvaire]

Having done several trans-continental trips in an M7-235C many of those photos look familiar. Good job on the video too, just the right length. Despite how awe inspiring a trip like that is there are a lot of pilots who just don't realize that practically nobody wants to sit through a 45 minute YouTube video of their adventure.