I've always wanted to go to a contest at Borrego Springs, and when I learned that we'd have a USAAAT camp for three days before this spring's 5-category contest, I just had to go. Reinaldo has already written a great summary of the camp and contest; for me, the story I'll add is getting there (and getting home).
Home, for me, is about 1030 nm almost due north of Borrego in Spokane, WA. That's pretty much the North Coast of the USA. I have flown to the Paso Robles, CA contest just about every June for the past 10 years or so, and I've flown the 1300 nm annually to the U.S. Nationals, plus annual camps in Ashland, KS, so long trips are nothing new to me. What's always interesting is the weather. This trip was verrrrry interesting.
Out of Spokane on Sunday morning, April 4, I had a nice flight to Sun River, OR where I stopped for fuel. After warming up with coffee and a Snickers bar, I blasted off for Oroville, CA, where I knew fuel to be (relatively) inexpensive. Passing Klamath Falls, I probed the west side of Mt. Shasta (aka Interstate 5).
No go. Snow, fog, ice pellets, and moderate+ turbulence. I retreated and tried the east side of the big snow cone. Same, except severe turbulence. Glad to be flying a 10g airplane! Couldn't go over, couldn't go under, and in my best "don't do anything stupid" mode, I flew back to Klamath, checked into the MicroTel, watched the Calexico earthquake on TV in the lobby for a few minutes, then walked across the street to the Aftershock (no bleep!) bar and grill at the bowling alley.
Monday AM, gassed to the gills again, I left K-Falls in light snow and 26 degrees F, went VFR on top around the west side of Shasta (see photo; pretty hard to get lost...) and had a nice flight to Oroville, where as promised, the gas was relatively inexpensive. More coffee. Another Snickers bar. Past Bakersfield, I headed for Tehachapi Pass. Clouds nearly to the ground. Tops well above 14,000 feet and my electric jacket was on High, plus there's a reason they put all those wind turbines there, so I tried farther south toward Grapevine and the Gorman VOR. Very black underneath, too high to top, so back to Bakersfield. Approach suggested I might want Bakersfield Muni as there's a restaurant. He read my mind.
As I nursed a succulent cheesburger, the clouds were rising slowly over Tehachapi Pass, so at 3 PM I took off, flew through Tehachapi (photo), across whatever all those deserts are, took a serious beating at Banning (must be all those windmills)
and finally arrived at a sunny, warm, dead calm, and very empty Borrego Springs airport. The resort van came out to get me, and they have Sierra Nevada Pale Ale on tap. Not a bad day after all.
Insert Reinaldo's summary here....
The trip home was totally different. Took off, flew across the Salton Sea toward Las Vegas, north past Tonopah, landed at Battle Mountain, NV for gas, coffee, and Snickers bar, off again GPS direct for Felts Field, 5 hours total in the air, and I was home by 2:00 PM.
Can't resist a few words about the camp and contest. The mini-camp was great, Reinaldo, Malcolm, and I flew well and Mike Steveson is a great coach and critiquer. There were some sad times at the contest, but Gray Brandt, the Chapter 36 crew,
and a host of volunteers pulled it together and put on a great contest. As far as I could tell, they did absolutely everything right and with respect. I made some new friends, saw many old friends, and look forward to going back to Borrego again.
Doug
Home, for me, is about 1030 nm almost due north of Borrego in Spokane, WA. That's pretty much the North Coast of the USA. I have flown to the Paso Robles, CA contest just about every June for the past 10 years or so, and I've flown the 1300 nm annually to the U.S. Nationals, plus annual camps in Ashland, KS, so long trips are nothing new to me. What's always interesting is the weather. This trip was verrrrry interesting.
Out of Spokane on Sunday morning, April 4, I had a nice flight to Sun River, OR where I stopped for fuel. After warming up with coffee and a Snickers bar, I blasted off for Oroville, CA, where I knew fuel to be (relatively) inexpensive. Passing Klamath Falls, I probed the west side of Mt. Shasta (aka Interstate 5).
No go. Snow, fog, ice pellets, and moderate+ turbulence. I retreated and tried the east side of the big snow cone. Same, except severe turbulence. Glad to be flying a 10g airplane! Couldn't go over, couldn't go under, and in my best "don't do anything stupid" mode, I flew back to Klamath, checked into the MicroTel, watched the Calexico earthquake on TV in the lobby for a few minutes, then walked across the street to the Aftershock (no bleep!) bar and grill at the bowling alley.Monday AM, gassed to the gills again, I left K-Falls in light snow and 26 degrees F, went VFR on top around the west side of Shasta (see photo; pretty hard to get lost...) and had a nice flight to Oroville, where as promised, the gas was relatively inexpensive. More coffee. Another Snickers bar. Past Bakersfield, I headed for Tehachapi Pass. Clouds nearly to the ground. Tops well above 14,000 feet and my electric jacket was on High, plus there's a reason they put all those wind turbines there, so I tried farther south toward Grapevine and the Gorman VOR. Very black underneath, too high to top, so back to Bakersfield. Approach suggested I might want Bakersfield Muni as there's a restaurant. He read my mind.
As I nursed a succulent cheesburger, the clouds were rising slowly over Tehachapi Pass, so at 3 PM I took off, flew through Tehachapi (photo), across whatever all those deserts are, took a serious beating at Banning (must be all those windmills)
and finally arrived at a sunny, warm, dead calm, and very empty Borrego Springs airport. The resort van came out to get me, and they have Sierra Nevada Pale Ale on tap. Not a bad day after all.Insert Reinaldo's summary here....
The trip home was totally different. Took off, flew across the Salton Sea toward Las Vegas, north past Tonopah, landed at Battle Mountain, NV for gas, coffee, and Snickers bar, off again GPS direct for Felts Field, 5 hours total in the air, and I was home by 2:00 PM.
Can't resist a few words about the camp and contest. The mini-camp was great, Reinaldo, Malcolm, and I flew well and Mike Steveson is a great coach and critiquer. There were some sad times at the contest, but Gray Brandt, the Chapter 36 crew,
and a host of volunteers pulled it together and put on a great contest. As far as I could tell, they did absolutely everything right and with respect. I made some new friends, saw many old friends, and look forward to going back to Borrego again.Doug
Posts
Great article, it would be nice to see more things like this in the magazine as we all can relate to the cross country to and from events. Thanks
ReplyDelete