Wintertime Flying Activity in the West?

[Joe Dubner]

I am _so_ bored with the lack of flying activities around here.  Anyone know of any decent fly-ins in the western US this month?  Canard-specific is not necessary and I don't expect an Arlington-class event but would like something better than the typical EAA chapter bad pancake breakfast.  Something in CA, AZ, or even NM would suit me just fine.

Thanks,
Joe

[flyingwaldo]

Joe,
Our closest event in California seems to be a show at Mather Air Base in March.  I too have been looking for warm and/or aviation event destinations but they don't plan much fly-in-wise that I've found in the cold, and nothing is coming up besides Florida.....
We have been nurturing a NorCal Canard group that has had some success this fall:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/norcal_ez
We have had several fly outs of two or more and are hoping to improve that this spring.  We made Shelter Cove one day for a great lunch.  That is one of our most spectacular airports where you can fly in and eat/stay/golf on the coast.  I've forgotten your home base but from Idaho Falls its a 3.5 hour flight and would be a great weekend for you and your lovely GIB.
We have been pretty quiet over the holidays but should be picking up soon.  We'd also be very interested in semi-day trip/maybe weekend jaunts up your way if you can "show us the way!"

[Joe Dubner]

Thanks for the pointer to Mather in March -- I didn't know about that one.  I don't think I can wait that long :-)  Anyway,  I'm looking to put together a small string of events over a 7-14 day period to make the trip from Lewiston, ID (5-6 hours flying time each way) worthwhile.

I did join the NorCal Canard group -- thanks for the pointer to it.

And if you feel like flying up this way, I hope you'll contact me as there's always room in the hangar for a transient and accommodations at the "Hotel Harriet".  But I recommend NOT this time of year: starting in April would be best.  And if you go to Jackpot in July and plan to go to Arlington a couple of days later, this would be a good place to spend the time.

Thanks again,
Joe

[easyrider]

Don't forget Canards de Mayo at Columbia in May 2nd 3rd & 4th
Easyrider

[Joe Dubner]

Anyone know of any decent fly-ins in the western US this month?

Answering my own question here: no :-).  But tomorrow (Thursday) I'm flying south for a sweep through the southwest visiting EZ friends along the way.  First stop: KIYK (Inyokern,  CA) to visit the Spencers (Gary and Char of N51EZ and "Timed Event" fame).  Planning to depart KLWS (Lewiston, ID) around 0900 Pacific (1700Z) with 4+30 enroute.  Saturday morning it's on to Lancaster, CA and from there, who knows?  I do know that I'm in no hurry to return to wintertime up north :-)

If you would like to see how well an APRS tracker installation can work (either in real time or afterward), go to http://www.mail2600.com/cgi-bin/ui.cgi?call=K7JD-7.  Click on Locate or the first Get Track button to get the aircraft's current position or  most recent track.  You can also see other tracks on 2007-12-25, 2007-12-29, 2008-01-13, and 2008-01-22 by proper manipulation of the user interface.

KIYK WX forecast: Sunny. Highs 53 to 62.  Ah, it's gonna be great!

--
Joe

[flyingwaldo]

Joe,
Your track quit at the Oregon/Washington border?

[flyingwaldo]

Never mind........

[easyrider]

Joe
Are you coming by Columbia?
Easyrider

[Joe Dubner]

Joe,
Your track quit at the Oregon/Washington border????

Wouldn't ya just know it: the system had been working well for month and ten minutes after I leave town it crumps :-(

The MySQL database somehow corrupted and I'm trying to restore data from a backup server (in my hangar).  Alas, I'm on a borrowed PC far from home so it's a difficult process but it's mostly fixed.  The complete track from ID to Inyokern on Feb 14 is now present as well as the next day's fly out to Kernville, CA and yesterday's (Feb 16) flight to KWJF (Lancaster) -- I think.

Hope to fly locally tomorrow and it should be working in real time by then.

Alternate server: http://k7jd.dyndns.org:81/cgi-bin/ui.cgi?call=K7JD-7
(in case this happens again)

Don, we're not able to go by Columbia as we're headed for AZ next but we'll be there in May for Cinco d'Mayo.

--
Joe

[Joe Dubner]

My "blond ballast" (Harriet) and I arrived home from a swing through the Southwest yesterday and it was great!  Even the rain and overcast up here in northern Idaho can't wipe the grin (or the tan <g>) off my face.  

Some interesting statistics (well, interesting to me anyway <g>): the O-235 Long-EZ covered 2806 NM in 18.6 hours of Hobbs time.  If that arithmetic doesn't pass the "sanity check" it's because we experienced >50K tailwinds on two occasions.  The GPS showed 244 MPH groundspeed at 15,500 MSL when headed south to Inyokern, CA and 245 MPH later when headed east to Phoenix.  Fortunately, "pay back" was only a 20K headwind on the way home.  I started out with about 25 gallons of mogas and put another 64 gallons of 100 LL in the tanks while on the road for some excellent overall economy.

Among the highlights of the trip were:

* 4-wheeling in the desert near Inyokern, CA while visiting Gary and Char Spencer (of R.A.C.E. a.k.a. "Timed Event" fame).

* Flying out to lunch at the Voyager Cafe in Mojave, CA and dinner at Rosamond Airpark while based in Lancaster, CA.  

* Watching the F-16s in the traffic pattern at Tucson with Gary Hertzler and the Phoenix Saturday morning breakfast flyout gang.

* Staying in the "Marc Zeitlin room" at Bill and Marilyn Siebold's fabulous place in Bisbee, AZ.  My Long-EZ got to spend the night in their attached hangar too.

* Overnighting in a VW camper in Jim Price's heated hangar at Sunrise Skypark (ID40) near Nampa, ID before flying the last leg over Hell's Canyon to Lewiston, ID.  And once again, the Long-EZ spent the night in a hangar.

Not a bad "escape" from the winter.  I was touched by what Harriet said while "debugging" in the hangar after arriving home: "I really love this airplane".  Me too.  Time for some maintenance and other chores but We'll be ready for Columbia (CA) in May.