Stephen's Big Adventure

Flight Planning at the Scappoose Clubhouse

I flew up on Southwest, Friday evening, and based on the forecast planned to leave Saturday and fly home to New Mexico that day.  Well, the forecast was for early morning stratus and fog, burning off mid-morning but the burn off did not occur. Weather from east of the Cascades to home was dandy.

 Saturday wasn't bad at Scappoose.  The warm and dry clubhouse was open for a fly-in potluck lunch.  No one actually flew in but the food and local club members were there and they delighted in the "new meat" and regaled us with magic tricks and stories.  On the clubhouse wall is a picture of the RV-6 Mike Seager built, which is now based at my home airport in Carlsbad, NM. If I remember correctly, the ceiling got up to about 1,100 feet, late in the day.

Saturday Scapoose Weather Did Not Deter the Locals

The locals told us to "fly the gorge," and I'm sure that would have worked dandy for a local.  Stephen and I actually took off once after a hole opened up but we were not comfortable at all with what we saw, and landed immediately.

Checking the Weather With the Help of Sam (Samantha) the Dog

Stephen's friends, John and Nancy were most hospitable, despite their inconvenient distance from the Scappoose airport. They patiently picked us up and fed us and supplied beds again.

Sunday was even grimmer.  We went to the airport, but now it was raining and dreary and cold and the clubhouse was locked up, so there was no shelter.  We retreated by around midday.  Now the weather was not that great, even in New Mexico.  This was the weekend of LOE in Santa Theresa and there were tornado watches out.

Monday is the day.  Now there is an upper level trough over the western US causing unsettled weather along the whole route, but it looks like we will be able to get out.  At this point we just want to get somewhere else, and get out of John and Nancy's way.

Cascades From the East

The weather is unsettled indeed, but we are able to get out amid the multiple layers of clouds. We started out between broken layers and picked our way.  There were showers in places and in places the layers merged and we had to get down underneath.  Not real relaxing flying, but the decisions kept us awake, and it was way scenic.

We had some trouble getting into our planned first stop of Elko, Nevada, but finally got in by following the freeway in from the east.

In Elko, we stayed at Stockman's Casino, walking distance from the airport but with a free shuttle also.  Very reasonable room rate of around $40.

We ate at the Casino also and by happenstance, I made the waitress's day or maybe her week.  She was a woman of a certain age, that found my dining choice to be highly amusing. So much so that every time she walked by she was seized by paroxyms of laughter.  I heard her back in the kitchen relating the story and laughter back there too.  Stephen's choice of a dinner salad, got no such response.

The magical funny menu ---- cup of split pea soup and potato salad.  Use this information judiciously!

Elko Ramp

 

Tuesday looks like another day of "unsettled weather" with the upper level trough persisting, but it does look like we will make it home today.  Indeed, it turned out that way as we had changeable and multiple cloud layers, with showers and wind to near El Paso, Texas.

Out of Elko, we flew very straight down one basin of the basin and range country for over 150 miles.  This worked out very well as it wasn't a good day to cross ridges and the weather was worse over the high mountains of Utah, to our east. Even where we were there were plenty of snow showers and snow covered ground in places.

Snow Canyon, North of Saint George, Utah

Stephen, Navigates Us Through SW Utah's Color Country

The Pariah River is the First Major Tributary in Grand Canyon

After Page Arizona, ceilings were no longer a problem but surface winds were kicking up. The picture of Monument Valley, above, is quite different than the impression one would get from the John Ford movies.  We had a combination of rain showers and blowing dust, at this point.  A good ole western mud storm.

At our fuel stop of Saint John's, Arizona, Stephen did a real nice job of landing in a southwest wind gusting to a consistent 37 knots.  I don't think even Mike Seager covered that, up in Oregon.

Saint John's has legendary low fuel prices, and we found them most accommodating.   We used one of the "colorful" cop courtesy cars to go to a real nice lunch at Corky's.  Real green chile even.

Not much to say after this.  Stephen landed at El Paso, Texas to pick up his vehicle and I ferried the plane on over to Carlsbad. Smooth, no weather, and great tailwinds, at this point.  I'm sure Stephen will enjoy his plane.

CNM

Stephen's GPS Trace of the Trip

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