It was snowing at our home Sunday morning when Norm drove me two hours south to Lebanon State Airport to begin "the rest of the flight". The further we went, the bluer the skies got. Seeing Larry and Dana (the FBO owners) was like seeing old friends again - I met them for the first time only two days before but I had immediately felt as though we'd known each other a long time. I was also delighted to meet Dean Billing, coordinator of the Ethanol-Free Premium Gas Coalition (www.e0pc.com)and one of the sponsors of this flight. He had driven over the Cascades from Sisters, OR to meet me and see me off.
By the time I was ready to leave Lebanon, the skies were considerably greyer and there were rain squalls in several directions, but it looked o.k. to the southwest, where I wanted to go. I took off and had barely gotten to altitude and out of the pattern when I ran into rain. Light at first - then heavier. Asolutely no point to flying in that - so I turned around and landed back at Lebanon State Airport. Six whole miles in that first "flight"!
We sat in the cozy FBO and talked and talked, and then Dana served up a great lunch to the 5 of us who had just dropped in. Bob Combs, who flies a Titan Tornado out of Sandy, flew in. He said the weather was clearing, and sure enough, it was. He wanted to fly down into California "with" me; I put the word with in quotes because he flies almost twice as fast as I do. He waits 15-20 minutes after I leave to take off, catches up and passes me, and then meets me at the next stop.
We took off and the weather was rain squalls to the southeast but clearing to the southwest. I flew 20 minutes to Daniels Field, the airstrip where Randy was putting together his Carrera. As I flew overhead at 3:30 p.m., I saw that one wing was on the ground. He obviously wasn't ready to fly.
I landed (and Bob landed soon after) and we helped Randy put the wing on and do a few other minor things. By 4:45 p.m. he was ready to test fly it. (The Carrera is a conglomeration of his old Carrera, a used Carrera that he purchased, and some new parts that he'd manufactured.) He took off and all seemed to be going well. He flew around and then came in for a landing. He was almost to the runway when suddenly the engine quit and he landed in a field on the other side of the runway fence. Gayle (his wife) and I hot footed it down there. Randy was o.k. - it apparently had died of fuel starvation.
Randy had cleaned out the gas tank of a lot of sludge/varnish - the residue of about 3-5 years of old gas. Apparently it wasn't cleaned out enough. So he told me to keep flying south - he'd clean it out and catch up with me tomorrow (Monday.) Bob had already left to visit a flying instructor who lived further south - he had told me to buzz the airstrip as I flew by, and he'd catch up with me.
So at 5:30 p.m. I was in the air, flying south. Buzzed Bob as I flew past Creswell airport, and then flew on to Roseburg (Oregon) Airport. Landed at 7:00 p.m. and Bob flew in at the same time. We were fortunate that a good friend, Dan Sprague, was eating dinner with his wife in their hangar at the airport; we taxied down and he put both our planes in his hangar for the night, then dropped us off at a restaurant for dinner. Another friend, Bruce Harrington (a Sonex pilot) met us and drove us back to the airport, where we spread our sleeping bags under our wings. Dan's hangar has a bathroom and a microwave, so it was great. Really cold, though.
The next morning (today, Monday) the ceiling was about 200 feet, so we took our time and went out to breakfast with Dan. By the time the ceiling lifted about 10:30 a.m.,I hadn't heard from Randy, so Bob and I continued to fly south.
There's quite a few low (4000-5000')mountains between Roseburg and Grants Pass, and although I could see their tops, I also saw clouds clustering. Beautiful white clouds - that looked pretty thick. Yet as I got closer, it became clear that they were widely dispursed and I never lost sight of the ground as I flew. I followed I-5 pretty religiously - flying at 7800' MSL (Mean Sea Level.) It was bitterly cold, even with my three layers of wool sweaters, ski jacket, flight suit, electric mittens with chemical handwarmers inside.
I wish I could have taken pictures of the white cotton clouds drifting below me over bright green fields and dark green evergreen forests. But it was so cold that the batteries in my camera quit working.
I was really glad to land in Grants Pass at noon, where another pilot friend, Joel Jacobson, took us to get gas. I finally reached Randy, who said he was still cleaning out the gunk from the gas tank, but was pretty sure he'd be able to take off and make it to Grants Pass later today. So Bob and I took off, heading to Montague Airport-Roher Field, near Yreka, CA. Bob told me that he would only fly a little ways with me, as he had to get back to Portland.
We followed the Applegate River through the Applegate Valley - farms and forest and then popped over some low mountains into the Ashland area. Still to cold for my camera to work. I began climbing since I knew I'd be going over the "foothills" of the Siskiou Mountains - the Siskiou Pass is about 4500'. I got to 8000' MSL and decided I didn't want to be any colder. The air was smooth as glass - absolutely glorious flying beneath a blue sky.
Bob radio'd good-by as I was passing Mt. Ashland (7000'.) I flew on for another 30 minutes and then dropped down into the Yreka Valley. 15 minutes more and I had descended to 4000' and was 10 miles out from Montague. I radio'd my position to the FBO and heard a cheery welcome from Dave Wells, the FBO owner, telling me the winds were completely calm. Dave and Christine are old friends from previous flights I've made there and I was really looking forward to seeing them again.
Then I heard another cheery voice - Paul Morton - who had e-mailed me a few days ago, saying he was a trike pilot at Montague and inviting me to spend the night with him and his wife Judy. Paul had taken time off work to "escort me in" so he was in the air looking for me.
There was plenty of time to refuel and continue on, but I wanted to find out what had happened to Randy. But I couldn't reach him by phone, so I decided to take Paul up on his offer to spend the night. I visited with Dave and Christine and then headed home with Paul, who lives just a few miles from the airport. (From his home, you can see the end of the runway.) He and Judy have a small "ranchette" with 4 goats, about 30 Icelandic sheep, adorable lambs, and 3 horses. I felt right at home and had a great time with them this evening, helping a little with the farm chores.
I finally reached Randy about 7:00 p.m. He had put the gas tank back in and test flown it again, but couldn't get it up to full rpms. So tomorrow he's going to take the gas tank out again, clean it with MEK to get into every crevice, and clean out the carbuerators. He is sure he'll be on his way by 1:00 p.m. Tuesday.
As for me, I'm going to continue heading south until Randy catches up. He carries more fuel than I, flies a little faster, and doesn't visit as much with folks at the airports he lands at - so once he's actually flying it he'll have little problem catching up. Tomorrow is supposed to be a repeat of today - virtually no wind and just a little warmer (YEAH!). So I'm going to head over the Siskious and take advantage of an invitation from Everett and Alice Collier to visit with them at Lake California Airport, in Cottonwood, just a little southeast of Redding, CA.
I'm not sure where I'll be tomorrow evening, but you can check it out on the SPOT tracker.
I'm really enjoying hearing from all of you who are following this blog - thanks for your e-mails of support and encouragement.