Arty's Ultimate Ultralight Adventure

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

P.S. Go to Sunday's post, even if you're already read it. I've added some great photos!

The wind is howling outside and I’m sitting at the kitchen table at Jeannie & Rob Allen’s home in Nampa, ID. Randy is in the family room, on his computer. Rob and Jeannie are at work, so we have the entire day to relax, catch up on laundry and computer stuff, and get ready to leave tomorrow.

Yesterday morning we were in Wendover, NV/UT, in the gorgeous Rainbow Casino. We had agreed to meet at 10:30 a.m. – back to our late morning starts. We’d already gotten gas and just needed to find oil (we were both out of two-cycle oil,) and then we’d be off. What we hadn’t figured on was not being able to find oil – anywhere! People obviously don’t come to Wendover to play with their snowmobiles or boats or ATVs, and they don’t have lawns that need mowing or trees that need to be chain-sawed. People come here for two reasons – to gamble, or to work. (If there’s more to Wendover than that, I apologize to all you Wendoverans.)

After almost 45 minutes of making phone calls to search out two-cycle oil, we were beginning to get a little concerned. FINALLY we found a Shell gas station that had 4 quarts of Penzoil. By the time we got it, got to the airport, and did everything to get ready, it was almost 3:00 p.m. I called Rob Allen in Nampa to tell him we were on our way, and we were planning to be there in time for a late dinner. “It’s 3:00 p.m!” he said incredulously. “You’ll never make it here today.” “Good-by, Rob,” I said…thinking to myself, “Oh ye of little faith!”

We had two legs planned: the first to Wells, NV – about 110 miles, and the second to the Caldwell Airport, ID (which is right next to Nampa, ID where our friends Rob and Jeannie live, along with other Top Fun Flyers – the local LSA/ultralight club.) The second leg would be longer – over 150 miles, with airports but none with gas, so I filled my gas cans to the brim and carried along an extra 6 gallons in case I needed to land and transfer fuel. Randy had no such concerns, with his 20 gal. tank.

On the leg from Wendover to Wells we were flying over the Nevada high desert – brown and dry. Elevations are above 5000’ and the desert floor is sand/dirt and sagebrush. Austere and uninviting.

Then a hill will flash a glimpse of red and ochre and become momentarily intriguing. There are two “mountain” ranges between Wendover and Wells. . (I’m used to the Cascades, so anything that rises less than 6000’ above ground level is a “hill”.)

I got bumped around pretty well going through the passes – at one point getting bounced up to 10,500’ before I could fight my way back down to the legal limit of 10,000’. The sky was a blanket of light grey. I encountered one wind shear – one moment I’m flying fairly straight and level, the next moment my right wing in pointing straight down and my body is almost parallel with the earth! I yanked her back to almost straight and level before I had time to be terrified.

We were flying due west from Wendover to Wells with a slight (10-15 mph) headwind. Then we turned the corner from Wells, flying north – and got a wonderful tailwind. I was seeing 85 mph over the ground and Randy reported 106! For a while it was bumpy, and then it smoothed out. I’m not sure when we crossed the state line into Idaho, but soon I saw the great chasm that leads to the Snake River. (I could have set up my Anywhere Map to show state lines, but didn’t,) Soon the land leveled out, dropped in elevation, and we were back to green irrigated fields as we flew toward the Snake.

I LOVE this part of the route, and have flown it 4 or 5 times before, so I was a grinning fool as I flew. In some ways it reminds me of northern Texas – except that the land parcels are no where as big as in Texas (well, DUH! Nothing is…right?) And in Texas all the parcels were picture-perfect rectangles, while here in Idaho they are more individualistic and idiosyncratic.

I really appreciated having my Anywhere Map during this leg. Lots of restricted areas to wend my way through. I flew along composing an ode to my Anywhere Map.

How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count The Ways (With major apologies to Elizabth Barrett Browning and all of my blog readers!)

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee for showing Restricted Areas and MOAs
For purple dots springing up, showing hamlets and towns
For airspace numbers telling me to go up or down.
For slender lines showing roads and junctions
For flashing signals warning me of obstacles
And for the anticipation of so many more elements that I haven’t tried yet and can only guess!
Yes, indeed, I love thee and gladly forego my previous hiker’s GPS!

Two days after we left Sun n Fun – where I received the Anywhere Map – I told Randy that he could have it the next day to fool around with. Well, he hasn’t flown with it yet! I’ve become too attached to it.

Anyway – back to the flight.

The Snake River is truly wonderful, and even though I picked up a headwind again as soon as I turned west to follow it, it was still great flying. Smooth and steady – safe and scenic. We had abandoned following the road as soon as we saw the fields, and now I was just paralleling the Snake as it wended its way west. (All those “w”s – sometimes alliteration is such fun!)

This was the longest leg of the entire trip – I was in the air for 3 hours and 20 minutes! I felt a fierce exaltation as I saw Caldwell Airport in front of me. It hit me that 1) I was nearly home; and 2) that in a few more days I’d be able to say I’d flown my Drifter from Oregon to Florida and back!

We were given a royal welcome when we touched down (actually, Randy landed about 20 minutes before I did.) Russ Sperry and his girlfriend Jackie Prescott, Rob Allen, Jim Howard, and Steve Clements were there for high fives. All good friends from previous flights. We examined the planes, put them in Rob’s hangar, and then went out to the Golden Corral for a great buffet dinner, where Jeannie, Skye and Jesse Allen, and Jan Clements met us.

Around the table from right to left: Russ Sperry, Jackie Prescott; Jan & Steve Clements; Randy; Jesse, Rob and Jeannie Allen; me; Skye Allen; Jim Howard.

Then it was back to the hangar to do more plane looking and hangar flying. We didn’t get to the Allen’s until almost mid-night – so you KNOW why I didn’t blog last night!
As we went into the house through the garage, I remembered from previous visits that this is Not Your Usual Garage

Jeannie’s a firefighter, and this is her practice dummy.

This morning Randy said “It’s too windy to fly” and so we’re not!