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Coast to coast and back
Something I have dreamed of doing since I was kid, was to fly myself across the country. Being recently laid off, with a decent severance package, I now had the time. I also have my Brother-in-law, and his family visiting for 2 months. With no job to go to, and 3 kids under 3 years old in my house, I was going nuts. Thus, I set off for what I intended to be a 2 week trip in 0RF, with no firm place to go, except to visit First Flight Airport / Wright Brothers Memorial, located on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Everything else was up in the air, no pun intended. I'd go where the weather allowed, and stop when I wanted, and just relax along the way.
12/1/08 - Left San Jose, CA (KRHV) with stops at Lancaster, CA (KWJF) for lunch, and Kingman, AZ (KIGM) for fuel. Thought about stopping for the night in Winslow, AZ, but I could see Navajo Mountain all the way from Kingman, AZ, and decided to head across the Grand Canyon, and go to Page, AZ (KPGA) instead. This flight was beautiful. The air was clear and smooth, and the sky was gorgeous as the sun was setting. When we were in Page in October, I heard that a couple of the guys had skipped the group dinner to go eat at an Italian place, so I decided to find that place for myself. The place is named Pinciotti's, and it was awesome food. The Lasagna and Pasta Fagioli are highly recommended. They can do groups up to 50-60 people, so maybe we can go there during the fly-in next year.
12/2/08 - Local flight down Lake Powell and Monument Valley. Winds with turbulence didn't allow any low level flying. Found Rainbow Bridge at last. Picture attached.
12/3/08 - Left Page late morning and arrived at Dalhart, TX (KDHT), with a lunch stop at Double Eagle II in Albuquerque (KAEG).
12/4/08 - Left Dalhart late due to low ceilings and frost. Wanted to go through Tulsa, and see the guys at Airtime. My autopilot wouldn't hold a course, and just wants to make left circles, and wanted to see if they knew what the issue was. Snow in Tulsa forced me to go south of Oklahoma City. Stopped at Pauls, Valley, OK (KPVJ) with a wicked crosswind. One go around needed then the best x-wind landing I have ever made. Flew on to Pine Bluff, AR (KPBF).
12/5/08 - Departed Pine Bluff late, due to frost and people who wanted to look over the CT. Stopped at Winchester, TN (KBGF), and overnighted at Burlington, NC (KBUY). Saw 170 kt. ground speed in Tenessee and North Carolina. See pic below, and notice the speed on the 496. Stayed at the Best Western in Burlington, which has a restaurant called the Chop House Grill. The food there was phenomenal.
12/6/08 - Morning flight to KFFA (First Flight Airport). Visited the Wright Brothers Memorial, and saw the displays, etc. Afternoon flight to Myrtle Beach, SC (KCRE). Stayed at Myrtle Beach for an extra day for rest, laundry, oil change, and scenery.
12/8/08 - Myrtle Beach to KHKS in Jackson, MS, with stops at Swainsboro, GA (KSBO), and Eufala, AL (KEUF). Awesome people at KEUF and a great airport restaurant. Wanted to get to the Gulf Coast, but weather was not looking great for that, and the forecast looked like I would be grounded for a few days. Chose Jackson, MS, as it was a decent sized town, so I would have things to do. Hangared 0RF while there, and saw severe thunderstorms, flash flood warnings, tornado warnings, lot's of rain, and a day of snow. Also saw many overweight people, as everywhere in Jackson seemed to have a buffet, for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
12/11/08 - Departed Jackson at last with plans to make it to Deming, NM. Winds and a high EGT reading didn't allow me to get to Deming, and I ended up in Carlsbad, NM (KCNM). Stops at Vicksburg, MS (KVKS) to check on the EGT, Henderson, TX (KRFI) to stretch the legs, and Sweetwater, TX (KSWW) for fuel. Think I have an EGT probe going bad. It's also loose, and can bounce from -93 degrees to 1,500 degrees. Coming across Texas, I saw on the 496, that George W was home at Crawford, and then was leaving Waco on Air Force 1. His nickname heard on guard is "Cowboy".
12/12/08 - Trepidly decided to depart Carlsbad, with high winds forecasted aloft, of 70 kts. +. Forecasts were for Carlsbad to get windy, and I wanted to get out before it did. They had seen 80 mph winds on the ground earlier in the week. Got up a few thousand feet, and saw my flight bag and charts floating off the seat and floor in the turbulence. Decided to head back to Carlsbad, rather than try to get past the mountains near El Paso, TX. Ended up stuck in Carlsbad for the weekend with no car, as the only car rental place was closed for the weekend.
12/15/08 - Gladly departed Carlsbad, made the turn around El Paso, and finally made it to Deming, NM, where I stopped for fuel. Between Deming and Tucson, AZ, I kept low to stay out of the higher winds aloft. It was fairly bumpy, but safe enough. I got past the mountains near Tucson, and ithe air settled down, so I pressed on for Yuma, AZ, which was my last choice. I wanted to make it to Laughlin / Bullhead City, as the forecasts were looking like I would be stuck again due to weather, and at least I could eat and sleep for cheap in Laughlin. The Phoenix area was seeing heavy rain, and Vegas was getting snow. In between wasn't looking good, so I headed for Yuma (KNYL) where no one had hangar space.
12/18/08 - Weather finally improved enough to get me out of Yuma. Flew through the high desert of California looking at all of the fresh snow in the Twentynine Palms and Palm Springs area. It was cold, and I had stiiff headwinds as well. While I was at Yuma, I had a flat tire on the left main, which we filled with air. It held air for 2 days without a problem. I landed at Lancaster, CA (KWJF), where there was 4 inches of snow on the ground, and had lunch. Afterwards, as I was getting fuel, the tire was going flat again. I filled it with air, and it was holding, so I decided to make the last flight for home. As I reached take off speed, the plane started to pull to the right, but lifted off without any issue. I decided to continue the flight, and face landing with a flat at my home field, which turned out to go fine. I put it down on the right main, and held the left off as long as I could. It was indeed flat, but I had enough control to be able to get it off the runway and taxi it to my parking space. I needed the help of a couple of guys to muscle it into the space where it could be tied down, but we got it done. New tube should arrive by Tuesday. No damage to the wheel pant.
Overall, it was an enjoyable trip. Wish I wasn't delayed as much, and that I would of had warmer weather, but I'm not complaining. I achieved a lifelong dream of mine. 0RF ran like a champ, with the only issues being the autopilot, EGT probe, and the tire.
Total of 53.6 hours of flying with 233.4 gallons of fuel burn. 4.36 gallons per hour is what I calculate. Actually slightly lower, as I lost 3.5 gallons when the tire went flat.
Total of 323.6 hours on 0RF now.
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Originally Posted by DonBo 
