Arty's Ultimate Ultralight Adventure

This morning I had a major decision to make - wait for Randy to "catch up" with me in Yreka, CA or head over the Siskiou Mountains by myself. Of all the terrain I've ever flown over, the Siskious scare me the most. (I've made 6 flights over them, terrified each time.) After leaving the Yreka Valley there is almost no place to land until you get to Dunsmuir Airport 15 miles south. And once you leave Dunsmuir - there is about 45 miles of forested mountains ending at Lake Shasta and absolutely no place to land except the freeway. Having another person fly with me is purely psychological comfort - the other pilot wouldn't be able to land to help out if I went down.

Instead of focusing on my fear, as I've foolishly done in the past, I focused on what I was looking forward to - meeting Everett and Alice Collier, soon-to-be-new-friends who had invited me to drop in on them at their home at Lake California Airpark south of Redding, CA. The weather was perfect for flying - high clouds and calm air. Paul Morton went on-line and told me that I'd have a nice 17 mph tailwind @ 6000' MSL. 6000'!? Way too low! I planned to climb to 8500 or 9000' - the higher I am the safer I feel.

I didn't take off until 10:00 a.m., trying to give the air temp a little time to warm up. I climbed rapidly to 8500' and WOW! I had a 35 mph tailwind! Another 500' and my GPS was showing 101 mph over the ground and my air speed indicator was showing 53 mph! The air was really calm and I realized that I'd cover the 60+ miles through no-man's land in 40+ minutes. (Sorry gals, "no-woman's land" just doesn't have the same ring.) Suddenly I began to enjoy myself and I took at bunch of pictures. It WAS slightly warmer than yesterday (which isn't saying much) and my camera didn't freeze up on me.

I scooted over Lake Shasta with such great comfort that I took over 20 pics of the Lake.

I enjoyed Everett and Alice's hospitality greatly, and then headed on to Corning, where Brian and Carol Carpenter have Rainbow Aviation, a full-service Light Sport FBO. Brian gave me my check ride for my Light Sport Pilot license, and I couldn't resist dropping in on him and Carol. Our visit was much too brief, but I wanted to try and get to Lodi, where Daniel Kelley from Camarillo was waiting. He had flown up in his Carrera, wanting to fly with me and Randy to Casa Grande, AZ. He'd been hanging out at Lodi since Sunday waiting for us.

Flying over the fields, orchards, vineyards, pastures and rice paddies of central California is breathtaking. I was grinning from ear to ear as I flew @ 500-1000' AGL. I HAVE learned to grin with my lips tightly compressed so I don't choke on bugs. It was very hazy, so the pictures aren't as sharp as I'd like them.

Anyway, I put the pedal to the metal and flew hard - 70 mph, which in my open cockpit Drifter really pushes me back in my seat. But instead of a tailwind I had a 6-10 mph headwind, and I could see that I wouldn't get to Lodi before dark. So I landed at Winters-Davis-University Airport. I couldn't put up my tent at the airport - the University cops roust you out. So someone offered me a lift into town and I'm actually at a motel for the night.

Update on Randy: he's still at home, but positive that he will be able to fly out tomorrow. He spent all day today trying to get the old-gas varnish out of his aluminum tank. He's convinced that he's finally got it licked and that it's super clean. When he starts writing, he'll tell you in great detail everything he went through to clean it. Even MEK wasn't enough!