The Rest of the Trip

Busy Resort and Vice President Cheney

Wes

We left Cody to fly by the Grand Tetons. Well, we had to have a potty stop at Jackson Hole so we landed there. Man it was busy. Rick and Judy got down pretty quick, but Becky and I had to orbit SE of the airport until they got some of the jet traffic in. When we landed, VP Cheney's plane was on the ramp.

Air Force Two

Judy

We had a great "rest of the trip." We unexpectedly landed at Jackson after we left you and it was a mad house!! Can you imagine the 3 of us (separately) mixed in with the Lears, Citations, etc? I'm sure it made the controller's day.

Wes

Leaving Jackson Hole, we flew North up the side of the Grand Tetons. What a sight. They were just beautiful. We were heading to Kalispell, MT for a look at Glacier National Park and stopped enroute at Helena, MT for fuel. Without a doubt, the controllers there were the friendliest of any on the whole trip. They had a great pilot's lounge that was available for any overnight transients. A room had a few bunk beds, kitchen, and all the amenities. It would be a great place to spend the night for anyone traveling through the area.

Judy

The flight over Yellowstone was brief but pretty. We flew over the falls but couldn't get to the Old Faithful area because of some rain showers. Then we stopped at Helena, Montana. The controllers there were super; chatty and very nice. Fuel was $2.15 or 2.25, we couldn't believe it. There was a pilot lounge/apartment that a dentist and his wife had put in. It had a kitchen, dining, living area and beds (also bathroom with shower). All they asked was that you change the sheets when you left! We loved it there! Met some nice folks too.

Next we went to Kalispell, just out of Glacier National Park. We rested that afternoon and ate at a great pizza place.

Wes

Coming in to Kalispell, we flew over the Flathead Reservoir. What a sight. It was a huge lake and very pretty. When we landed at Kalispell, there was a motel right at the end of the runway, with a gate. We got rooms facing the planes at the back of the hotel so all we had to do was to look out the window and we could see the planes tied down.

Glacier National Park/Cascades/Van's/ Barnstormer Inn (Day 5)

Wes

Judy went over to the FBO and was talking to one of the pilots who gave aerial tours. He told her which direction to fly up through Glacier. It was a great trip and only took about 1.5 hours. We flew over Lake McDonald and then turned south in the next valley to fly over the Hungry Horse Reservoir. Further South, we flew by what the locals call the China Wall. I think it is really the Lewis Overthrust. This was where the earth's crust broke and the east section came up over the west section. It was really pretty. You could see the layers of rock that were thrust up in the air. Many different layers and colors.

After landing back at Kalispell, and gassing up, we were almost ready to go when a tour plane, which was loaded to the gills, taxied out. The gear was bowed out from either weight, bad landings, or both. As it took off, we could see fuel streaming out of the right wing. We told the FBO and he called the plane which circled and landed. They had forgotten to secure the fuel cap. He fueled it back up and left with no apparent problem.

Glacier National Park

Judy

The next morning we flew over Glacier National Park It was spectacular; the mountains and valleys were breathtaking!! I talked to a guy at the FBO there who told me about this sightseeing route; it was the one they took their sight-seers on! We landed back at Kalispell, fueled up, ate continental breakfast at the motel, packed and took off again. We were back from our flight by 7:30 A.M.

Wes

After leaving Kalispell we were going to fly to Scappoose, OR for the next overnight. Since we wanted to try and land in as many states as possible, we stopped in Coeur d' Alene, ID. It was a really nice airport with reasonable fuel prices. Leaving Coeur d' Alene we flew over Grand Coulee Dam for a few photos, then headed for Mt. Rainier WA. The weather was fantastic the whole trip and this leg was no exception. Approaching from the northeast, we flew a 270 degree circle around Mt. Rainier for what we hope are some great pictures. On the south side we landed at Packwood airport. It was pretty short and had trees on both ends. Had a great sandwich and soup at the local watering hole and looked around for a while.

GRAND COULEE DAM

Judy

We then headed west, flew over Grand Coulee Dam and over to Mt. Ranier, Mt. St. Helens and viewed Mt. Adams and Mt. Hood from a distance. The sky was perfectly clear and we were taking pictures like crazy! From there we went to Packwood, just south of Mt. Ranier, and Oh My Gosh!!!!!!!!!! It was a tiny little airport in the bottom of a great big deep valley, all nestled in some giant evergreens! It was interesting getting in to that one. It is a beautiful little town. We had a great lunch there and walked around a little.

MT RANIER

Wes

From Packwood, we left for Scappoose. When we got there, Judy really hit a home run when she found the Barnstormer Inn Bed and Breakfast, just off the airport, which was really pretty reasonable. Rick and Sue stayed in the Wright (Orville and Wilbur?) Room and Becky and I stayed in the Wrong (Way Corrigan?) Room.

Before we checked in to the Barnstormer Inn though, we left for Vans at Aurora. We flew West of Hillsboro and when we got to Aurora, it was one busy son of a gun. I can't tell you the number of planes that were approaching or in the pattern. Rick got in on the first try, but it was so bad that Judy and I orbited West of the airport until things calmed down. In addition to all the planes, they had a retract with a gear problem and were trying to get him down. He landed with no problems, thank goodness.

We had a good tour of Vans. I just cannot believe what they are doing with the kits. They have really come a long way. We saw a couple of the machines that were punching out the parts. They were doing the seat ribs. I couldn't believe it. All the holes for the rivets AND the nutplates were already punched. All that was left was the bending and fluting. They said that the new builders didn't need any jigs for the wings or fuselage to build them anymore. Just take them out of the box and cleco them together. What a deal. We flew back to Scappoose for the overnight at the Barnstormers Inn.

VANS

Judy

From there we headed to Scappoose Airport. We landed there and got fuel, then flew over to Aurora to see Van's new facility. We got a brief tour before they closed for the day. Getting into that airport was an absolute nightmare! We then went back to Scappoose and stayed at a wonderful bed and breakfast right off the field! It was high on the "cute" scale. We had a giant breakfast the next morning and headed for McMinnville.

OREGON COAST

Spruce Goose and Tillamook (Day 6)

Wes

Next morning, we decided to head south. We had heard that the Spruce Goose had been moved to McMinnville, which is just south of Portland. It is the corporate headquarters for Evergreen. They have airport related services contracts world wide and are a huge company. They are the ones who bought the Spruce Goose and built the Museum to house it. Although exhibit construction is still in progress, it was very impressive. They had all the Goose together except for the control surfaces which were still on the floor awaiting installation. Since it was not complete, we couldn't go in the Goose but it was pretty impressive from the outside. Again, Judy found us some very reasonable accommodations.

After we toured the Goose, we stopped at the Flight Service Station on the field for a tour and weather briefing. They were very accommodating and we looked at what the weather was going to do. We wanted to fly down the Oregon and California coast the next day but things were not looking so good, so, we decided to fly over to Tillamook that afternoon. What would have been a 2 hour drive through the mountains, was about 20 minutes in the RV, what a machine. We landed at Tillamook and toured the Naval Museum there. It was an old Blimp base and they have the huge hanger, with displays. After a late lunch, we decided to fly back to McMinnville and spend the night.

Tillamook Blimp Hangar

Judy

At McMinnville, we saw the Spruce Goose and museum at its beautiful new facility. We then flew over to Tillamook to see the giant blimp hangar that now houses a naval museum. It was neat to see and fun to fly into, as it sits back in a little bay just off the ocean. It was cold as everything there!! When we left there we flew down to Pacific City and Rick tried to land but the winds were too turbulent off the ocean, so we just looked and then flew back to McMinnville.

Sequoia National Park and Judge Pat (Day 7)

Wes

The next morning, we decided to head South. There was weather all over the place, and it looked like we might be socked in for a while if we didn't get going. We flew to Redding CA and that leg proved to be the worst weather we would fly through for the entire trip, and it wasn't that bad. We had to dodge a few rain showers. The weather was east along the Sierra Nevada and west along the coast. We flew in the San Joaquin Valley all the way down to Porterville, CA. We wanted to see the giant trees in Sequoia National Park. When we landed, we found the ramp hand was the nephew of a friend of Judy's. Judy knew his uncle when they lived around McKinney, Texas. He has built an RV-6 and is living about 30 or so miles north, close to Visalia, CA. Visalia is a larger airport and closer to the national park, so we flew up there for the overnight. Judy's friend's nephew met us at the airport. We stayed next to the Visalia Airport at the Holiday Inn. Judy's friend Pat, a retired judge, took us out for a very good supper at a local Mexican food restaurant. As a matter of fact, it was so good, we ate there again the next night. The Sequoias' were just beautiful, and we saw other great scenery East of Fresno and, all in all, had a good time.

Judy

We were next planning to fly down the Oregon and California coast, but the weather was not cooperating, so we headed south for Redding. Redding was very busy with firefighting tankers and helicopters and getting in was a little interesting.

Porterville was our next stop and I discovered that the "line boy" was a relative, of sorts, of a friend of mine who moved there from the Dallas area a couple of years ago. He has an RV6 and advised me some, on mine. I called him, and he took us to dinner and told us all about the area. The next morning we rented a car and drove through Sequoia National Park. It was really pretty, the trees large, and the air cool!

Flagstaff/Sedona/Grand Canyon/Judy Leaves (Day 8)

Wes

The next morning, we had a leisurely breakfast and took off for Flagstaff and Sedona. We left to the south and flew over Techachapi and then to the General Fox NDB to miss all the restricted areas. From there it was direct to Barstow for a potty stop.

We flew south of Edwards AFB and all got pictures of that. The runway there is somewhere around 14,000 ft. From Barstow we stopped at Sedona for lunch. As we left Barstow, Judy decided to go on to Winslow and then try to make Lubbock. We really hated to see her go since they were forecasting isolated thunderstorms in the area. She promised us she would turn around and come back to Flagstaff if it got bad.

USS Sedona

Lunch at Sedona was nice and we got some great pictures of the Red Rocks; beautiful sight. After lunch we flew over to Flagstaff for the overnight. We rented a car and the car rental place helped us secure a very reasonable room at the AmeriSuites($50.00). We decided to drive up to Grand Canyon before dark. Absolutely beautiful. I know this sounds repetitive, but I really don't have the words to describe it. Along the way we stopped at another air museum just south of the Grand Canyon. They had General McArthur's Connie there. We were late and couldn't get a tour but I think it would be worth the trip back sometime.

Grand Canyon of the Colorado at Dusk

After viewing the Grand Canyon, we stopped in Tusayan, which is the town just south of Grand Canyon, and watched the Omni presentation of Grand Canyon. The photography and music was just wonderful. After a burger and fries at Burger King, we got back to the motel about 10:30 p.m.

Judy

The next morning (Friday) we took off to the south to go through Tehachapi Pass and east to Flagstaff. I left the flight over Sedona and landed at Winslow for fuel; boy is that place deserted!!! I got home around 4:45, 3 hours and 15 minutes later with my fuel gauges still showing half tanks. It was a great trip.

Judy Stocks

Back Home! (Day 9)

Wes

We left Flagstaff after a continental breakfast at the AmeriSuites and headed for Socorro, NM. On the way we flew over the Meteor Crater and got some pictures.

After gassing up in Socorro, we detoured around the restricted areas at White Sands then some MOAs, after which we were able to turn toward Lubbock and Winters. We landed about 4:30. It was a bit bumpy coming in, but nobody bounced their head off the canopy so I guess it could be called light to moderate turbulence.

The only problem we had in about 5,000 miles and 34 hours was a balky starter bendix on Judy's airplane (we lubed it). Other than that, all the planes ran great. Without a doubt, it was the best vacation Becky and I have ever taken. The sights we saw and the good times we had will be cherished for a long long time. It is still unbelievable to me that we saw that many sights, and traveled that far in just 9 days.

Wes&Becky Hays

All photos on this page by Wes Hays unless otherwise noted.

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