My epic cross country flight in a humbling little airplane...

IK04

En-Route
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Copperas Cove, Texas
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LNXGUY
I should have started this thread when it first began, but I was pretty saturated with traveling, coordinating all the many things need to ferry my new (to me) airplane 1800 miles from Oregon to Texas. I'll also catch some FLAK for not posting photos. Attempting to take pictures in a bucking bronco ride of a 1400 pound airplane in mid-day moderate turbulence is not on my to do list, but I did experience some rare smooth air today on day three and got a hazy picture of Half Dome in Yosemite National Park.
I'll catch up my many adventures tomorrow and the next day to fill in all the many things that have happened in the ongoing journey...
I'm about half way home now.Yosemite.jpg
 
Some pics of the plane on the ground at one of your stops please! No bucking bronco turbulence to deal with on terra firma, so no excuses :D
 
Good luck on your journey,if you get a chance could you post your route?
 
If you had invited me to go with, I would have taken pictures regardless of turbulence. Just sayin’. Looks like a fun adventure, and a great plane to fill that classic Cessna taildragger shaped hole in your heart.
 
Today was supposed to be day three, but flown on day five. I'll chronicle all the details when I get home to catch everyone up on the rough beginnings of this trip.

I started in Blythe, CA and made it to El Paso, TX, via Marana, AZ and Deming, NM... Temps were in the 100's all day, but I got started early and experienced smooth air as far as the New Mexico border... I left Deming with a plan to skip El Paso and continue on to Wink, TX and RON at Odessa. By the time I got to the Texas border, I had had enough of the moderate turbulence and diverted to KELP for some well needed rest. I launched half a bottle of water all over the inside of the plane!

The most critical item in flying in the desert in a itty bitty airplane with an old C-85 is oil temperature! I was unable to climb once the temp got to near redline and the engine began making clanking noises, like worn rod bearings or clattering hydro lifters. I was able to make the engine happy by pulling the throttle back to three fingers and slowing down to 100 indicated. As a side benefit, my fuel consumption dropped to less than 5GPH!

At Marana, I parked next to that Cessna Cardinal RG that has the cool paint job with the bird head on the tail. I've seen pictures of it here on POA. I remembered to take a picture while the fuel guy was filling my tanks. Crummy picture of mostly his truck, but hey, it was hot (114f) and I was not in the mood to stand in the sun.

Once I arrived at Atlantic Aviation in El Paso, I remembered to get a few photos to prove I was actually there...

Oh yeah, the reason I call it a humbling little airplane is because my landings and takeoffs for the first two days were pretty scary and I hope nobody here was at one of those unnamed airports to witness them. :oops::oops::oops: It all came back to me today and my 7300 ft. DA departure from Deming was purty...

Enough yakking. Here's the pictures:

Marana.jpg Marana.


EL_Paso1.jpg El Paso.

EL_Paso2.jpg
El Paso + Mountains.
 
If you had invited me to go with, I would have taken pictures regardless of turbulence. Just sayin’. Looks like a fun adventure, and a great plane to fill that classic Cessna taildragger shaped hole in your heart.

Unfortunately, with full fuel and my moderately oversize butt in the airplane,there is only about 70 pounds of useful load left. my bags and laptop weigh half that!
 
I’ve made part of that trip with the 120 I used to have - Deming to ELP to ODO and then to the Dallas area. I always love going past the Guadalupe Pass. The area near Wink has experienced exponential growth since that flight... and definitely if you stop in the Midland area the folks at Wildcatter in Odessa treat my crew well every single week.
 
E11 (Andrews County) is 20 miles north of KODO. It has cheaper fuel and a cool, quiet terminal.
 
E11 (Andrews County) is 20 miles north of KODO. It has cheaper fuel and a cool, quiet terminal.
I’m out there every week and I’d pick ODO every time... ;) but yeah, there are other options.
c31b58af6c10e78798c6014cd6e7c0b7.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Just flew El Paso to Fredericksburg and back yesterday ... climbed very high to get out of the TB ... there's a gas road that passes E-W about 25 miles south of Guadalupe Peak where the mountains aren't as tall and mechanical TB will be a little less if winds aren't over 35 knots (they were yesterday).
 
How many hours did you have in this plane before this trip?

ZERO. Had to learn how to land it on the third try (remember the part about it being humbling?). I've got the landings down and the high DA takeoffs are fun.

Next, I'll learn how to fly it below 55 MPH without landing....

EDIT: I have 22.6 hours in it now!
 
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It's day seven and I am home recuperating from the flight. I made it to Gatesville and landed at 1410 CDT.

The early morning takeoff from El Paso went well and the air temp was much cooler than any of the previous days! I climbed to 6500 MSL quickly to get to my final altitude before the oil temperature became an issue. It never did. The air temp was in the high 70s to mid 80s throughout the first leg. Who would guess that all the Texas flights would be so much easier due to cooler temps!

The smooth air was a welcome relief. I enjoyed a slight tailwind and 100+ knot groundspeeds until just past Guadalupe peak; then it was variable wind direction, puffy clouds and their associated turbulence... I did remember to take a photo of Guadalupe peak and El Capitan, but the windshield was so dirty from Texas bugs that it spoiled the view.
It's good enough for this audience, though, huh? :p

The ride from there to Odessa was not much fun and bumpy, but I was glad to be that far along my route before noon, when it gets real bad...

Inbound to Odessa-Schlemeyer airport, I learned an important thing to remember in the future: My N-number is a tongue twister and not a single controller got it right until I repeated it three times... I'll have to say it veeeery slow.

The landing at Schlemeyer on RWY 20 with a 60 degree crosswind was an absolute greaser! I could not tell when the wheels touched and I didn't touch the brakes! After gassing up for the last leg and eating a disgusting sugar ball shaped like a cookie, I headed out and got my clearance for the Midland Class C and blasted off. 7,300 ft DA.

Other than an occasional gas processing plant and some towns I never heard of, the first hour of the last leg was "A whole buncha nuthin!" Once I began hearing familiar airport names on 122.8, I knew I was almost home. The published ASOS at KGTO has not worked since the eighties, so I had to guess at the landing direction and it was nice to see a big wind sock from a mile on downwind to let me know I needed to use the other runway!

After another smooth landing (the little airplane must like Texas, because my flying skills haven't improved that much!), I tied the little bugger down as a Bonanza owning rancher hollered that he like my "little taildragger." After a short chat about my epic journey, he offered to give me a ride all the way to the Killeen-Fort Hood airport to get my car and drive home!
Awesome dude (for a Bonanza driver)! :devil::popcorn:

Here's the photos of the day. My next post will chronicle the first three days of this epic adventure.

Guadalupe_Peak.jpg Guadalupe mountains.

At_Gatesville.jpg
On the ground in Gatesville.
 
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Here's the beginning of the story:

If anyone was traveling last week, you know that DFW was shut down for a while due to power failures. That was Monday, the planned first day of my epic journey to fetch my airplane and fly it home before the annual expired...

No problem, I'll get a flight connecting through Houston on that other airline and leave Tuesday early morning and get to Portland in time to prepare the airplane for the trip, pay for parking and put gas in it. If there is time, I'll take it around the pattern to get a head start on becoming familiar with the 140, an airplane model I haven't flown since 1987...

Monday night as I was finishing up my final preparations for the trip, I got a text from United Airlines stating that my flight was canceled and rebooked for the following day, Wednesday. Houston was closed due to massive flooding and tornadoes! Crap. There's no way I can delay another day and be back by Friday! I quickly called and canceled that flight and shifted back to American out of DFW. Of course, by now there were no seats available until Wednesday, unless I wanted to leave a 1947 hrs. and arrive in Portland after midnight. I opted to take that flight in order to have a decent chance to get an early start on the journey and leave the same day!

Before I could go to bed on what is now day two, I remembered to call and change my hotel and rental car reservations... All done; nighty night.

Day 2.5 was spent updating my planned stops and making some changes to include a stopover in Eugene for lunch with a family member who is there temporarily for work. All went well getting to Portland and I was able to watch a full movie on the plane. Walking the mile and a half from the gates to the baggage area, it was apparent that I was no longer on Earth, but in an alternate reality, where Life-Saver colored hair and nose rings are the standard uniform of the local freak population.

Unfortunately, two other flights arrived at the same time from some freak-friendly country and I had to endure a 40 minute wait for my bag to appear on the carousel. Standing there among all the special people, I realized the rental car counter was closing in five minutes, since it is one am. I grabbed my bag and hustled to the counter and made it before he closed up for the night. All the upgrade SUV's were taken and the only cars left were minvans and a Nissan Versa, which is Latin for "Cracker Box." With the airbag warning light flashing, I was finally off to enjoy a restful night in my cleverly chosen motel near the Troutdale airport!

As I pulled up to the motel, I could surmise that the proximity of the railroad tracks and the completely destroyed "driveway" leading to the parking lot foreshadowed the quality of my stay. I checked in and repositioned the cracker box to the back side of the motel, where my room and the railroad tracks were. After humping my stuff up the stairs to the second floor, I opened the door to my room and was blasted by the stench of cigarette smoke. I am extremely sensitive to cigarette smoke and I would have left and found another place to sleep, except it was after 2 am and I was exhausted. I made the decision to check out in the morning early and never come back to that [shirt]hole. That meant I was committed to leaving for Eugene as soon as I could get the plane ready.

As day three began, I couldn't get to the shower fast enough to get the smoke smell off of me. I grabbed a breakfast at McDonald's and went straight to the airport.
After preflight and a fuel top off, I was ready to go. Almost. I forgot I still had to return the rental car. The fuel guy assured me that he would take care of the car and have them come get it. Awesome. That saved me an hour and I cranked up the plane and taxied out for a touch and go or two, followed by a departure.

That was the idea, anyway... The first attempt at a landing became a float and a go-around. The second was sort of a wheel landing, minus the landing and when tower asked if I wanted to try again, I said nope, I'm outta here...

The journey had officially begun and I would figure out how to land this thing at my first stop, Creswell, Oregon. That's enough for now, I'll continue tomorrow with the rest of the story. Stay tuned!
 
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Thanks for posting your trip here. I, too, flew almost the very same route both ways in a 1946 Cessna 140. My journey was between Vacaville, CA and Ft. Worth, TX (then to/from Ohio). I went through Tehachapi and El Cajon passes then Banning and had a stop at Gila Bend, AZ. Otherwise, we seem to have hit all the same places. On my trip west from Wink to El Paso I ran out of daylight at the Guadalupe pass and was on the verge of being IMC in VFR conditions before the stars saved me. No A/I and my T&B rattled like a can of marbles. I had no instrument rating. Then I discovered the VOR frequency for El Paso had changed from the publication date on my 15 year-old sectional ( :oops: :rolleyes:), so I needed to go through all the freqs. one digit at a time until I found a signal that pointed west. Was relieved to finally spot the double white beacon for Biggs AFB. Landed on the longest, darkest recently blacktopped unpainted runway I've ever seen and had to taxi the whole way to the FBO in the glow of my nav lights (no paint, no landing or taxi lights either). Your chronicle brought back these long forgotten memories. My trip/s were in 1971 and 1972 when I was based at Travis AFB and flew my plane out there for the last six months of my Air Force service as an aircraft mechanic. Thanks, again, for posting, especially the pic of Guadalupe. I remember seeing the Indian caves up there before I learned that's what they were. That was a long west-bound leg against the wind.
 
Was asked to ferry a 140 from Killeen TX to Evergreen WA back in the early '70s. Its owner had been killed in a helicopter mid-air at Ft. Hood and his widow needed the airplane back home in Washington. Positively could not find an altitude that yielded any satisfactory groundspeed. I remember finally getting down to a few hundred AGL, flying parallel to Interstate 10 and watching the big trucks keep up and some cars slowly leave me behind. Yes, all those west-bound legs were long. Route similar to OP's but in reverse. Sad trip, but breathtakingly beautiful.
 
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Positively could not find an altitude that yielded any satisfactory groundspeed. I remember finally getting down to a few hundred AGL, flying parallel to Interstate 10 and watching the big trucks keep up and some cars slowly leave me behind.
Heh, I guess it wasn't my imagination. I left El Paso and followed a pipeline to Deming where I picked up the highway. Trucks would pass me on the straight-a-ways then I'd cut across the desert and intercept them after the next bend in the road all the way to Lordsburg, like we were playing tag. Route I-10 was being built, then, west of Phoenix and it was like having a paved emergency runway right below me all the way to Blythe and on to Bermuda Dunes. Of course, I dropped to 50 ft. and rocked my wings at the construction crews as I flew by. :) You're ready for bed after a day of bouncing along in one of those. You're right about the scenery.
 
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Yeah, trying to find my way in the dark with only a VOR would not have been an option. I have only a COM radio and a transponder. I do have an awesome handheld radio with COM, VOR/ILS capability, but it is for emergency use (I hope!)

Flightplan.jpg

This is from SkyVector. My actual fuel burn was much less, due to reducing power to keep the oil temperature below redline. I'll have the totals from the fuel receipts in the next installment. The little airplane is pretty fast for a 140, mostly due to the cruise prop it has installed. I was never much slower than the planned 95 kts. GS and usually faster!

More to come...
 
My actual fuel burn was much less, due to reducing power to keep the oil temperature below redline.
What engine?
 
Oh, I used to love El Paso. Actually, just like the Red Parrot next to the Flying J truck stop, didn't get to see any of the rest of it.
 
OK, I left off when I was enroute to my first stop. The original plan was to go to Ashland, OR for my first fuel stop and then go for a 3 hour leg to Columbia, CA, where my sister will pick me up for my first RON. Since my future Son-In-Law is working in the Eugene area for a few more weeks, I wanted to stop by and have lunch with him, assuming I survived the first actual landing in the unfamiliar little airplane. Don't try this at home, kids...

The landing was survivable and I cruised right up to the self-serve 100LL.. The rainy weather that was forecast for the Portland area never materialized, but the skies were pretty gray shortly after I arrived at Creswell and after learning there was no fuel available, I parked the plane and left for Eugene for a quick lunch.

Things started unraveling pretty quick at this point in the journey. Without full tanks, I would have to make one more fuel stop and that would cut into my arrival time in California. I had hoped to arrive in Columbia by 2 pm so that I could have lunch with my sister. That wasn't going to happen and I would be pushing darkness and exhaustion if I didn't get a quick lunch and hustle my way down the route! That's when the torrential rain began and lunch ended up taking over an hour.

After returning to the airport, it was obvious that the airplane needed to be tied down to avoid being blown away by the frisky wind and I enjoyed some conversation with the folks at https://takewingaviation.com/ After scrutinizing the weather on the planning computer, it was determined that I could indeed make it to my new first fuel stop in Grant's Pass and get to my ultimate destination for day 2, now day 3. Despite the clearing weather, the extra fuel stop and the impending darkness convinced me that I was by now too tired to make the flight and bagged it for the day. Indeed, the sun was up for hours after we went to the house, but it was just too late to try it safely...

After going right back to downtown Eugene for some weird pizza at a weird pizza joint full of weird people, I re-planned day 4 and got some sleep.

Now two full days behind schedule, it was important to get in some mileage and try to have a chance to make it home by maybe Saturday! We stopped at a little cafe in Creswell and enjoyed a huge plate of eggs, hash browns and link sausages. I could barely eat, due to the yucky feeling left over from the stinky room in Troutdale and a little nervous anticipation. I was half way through my allotted time to get this mission done and I had only flown 100 miles!

I climbed out after a slightly wobbly takeoff and took advantage of the cool Pacific Northwest air to go as fast as possible to make up as much time as possible. That turned out to be the saving grace for the day...

The landing in Grant's Pass was the best so far, but I must have had my feet a little heavy on the brakes because it was screechy. One of the local College kids running the FBO came out to help me refuel. After a quick pee and a sip of water, I blasted off for the longest leg of the trip. I was pretty surprised at how fast the plane flew and enjoyed a good groundspeed through the Cascade Mountains and on to California. I tuned the com radio to as many CTAF and tower frequencies as I could, just to hear the chatter of student pilots and the usual bad radio calls by poorly trained stick wigglers. Yep, I heard ATITAPA and "Last call" on that one leg. My expected fuel burn of 5 to 5.5 Gallons per hour wasn't working out, based on my fuel gauges and my destination was going to be really close to my reserve, due to the flight being over three hours at that point.

As I approached Nevada County airport, I was happy to know that after more than 2.5 hours my bladder was holding up well and I was gonna make it to my.... Holy CRAP! Oil pressure!

My 30-minute systems check revealed that my oil pressure was way down under the minimum red paint stripe on the gauge. I turned toward Nevada County and set up a straight in for runway 25, but I had no idea what the wind direction was, so I overflew the runway, looking for a wind sock. I never found one and began a climb to set up for a crosswind and a landing. When I added power, the oil pressure went right back up to high normal, so I abandoned the landing and determined to press on for just 30 or so more minutes...

That was a bad decision... As soon as I leveled off, the oil pressure dropped right below the red line again. I immediately turned toward Auburn and set up for a straight in descent to the runway. There was other traffic approaching and I made a 360 degree turn to space my arrival. When the traffic on downwind failed to make his base and final calls, I had to make a decision to cut him off to get on the ground and headed straight toward the numbers. As I got close I could see him on the runway, taxiing off. That landing was so screwed up, I gave up and went around- hoping the engine would survive the ensuing pattern. It did. I made another screechy landing and pulled up to the fuel pumps.

After refueling, I couldn't see anything that looked like an FBO. I went in search of Aeroshell happiness and instead found a flight school. The gal at the desk said to go see Jimmy next door; he's the mechanic. Jimmy had oil and sold me two quarts. They both went in the engine! Jimmy just had to mention he had heard me "skippin' down the runway" on my first landing attempt. Thanks Jimmy...

To keep this short, I'll say that my takeoff from Auburn was horrific, due to forgetting to set the trim to the takeoff position and except for the part where I thought I was going to stall and roll into the drainage ditch, it was a bitchin' STOL takeoff...

Glad to be alive and in a climb, I pressed on to my destination, landed safely, refueled, tied down and went home with my sister- totally exhausted and wondering what made me think this was a good idea... [End of day 4]

Tomorrow: Day 5 and 6 (good ones!)

The_view.jpg
 
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This is sounding a lot like my trip bringing my Starduster home, bad landings, oil leaks, still a wonderful adventure.
 
This is sounding a lot like my trip bringing my Starduster home, bad landings, oil leaks, still a wonderful adventure.

Starting to sound like the "Lean Forward" trip with the alternator problems:eek::confused:
 
For the conclusion of my Out-Of-Sequence story, this picks up after post #36 and before post #14, Day 4:

The overnight stay at my sister's house was the first real rest I had gotten, but the next morning I arose early and felt terrible... My sister had found some nice Irish oatmeal for breakfast and I could not eat a bit of it... I was worried that I was getting sick from all the heat and flying and nerves and near death experiences...

I decided to suck it up and after a little rest, I was ready to go. I Loaded my stuff, paid for parking and a bottle of water, and blasted off for the desert!

This leg would be one I have flown many times before in another life, long ago. The early morning smooth air was a welcome relief and I soon forgot about my morning queasiness. Some of the familiar navaids had new names (Why must they do that?) so I had to check the digital map on my Nexus 7 tablet to assure myself where I was... I was trading off climb for speed as I impatiently watched the tallest of the Sierra Nevada Mountains slide by on my left side. This was where both my Stratux and my tablet GPS quit. Weird. I had to use my phone to follow my progress on the way to my turn point at Tehachapi. Once clear of the mountains, it's a big descent into the Antelope Valley and Fox Field.

Lots of firsts on this leg... I actually spoke to ATC and used my transponder! The high temps in the desert meant Density Altitude would become an issue starting now. Add a 17 knot wind gust and this landing would be sporty. At Fox Field, there was a 172 waiting at the hold short line and he got a front row view of my arrival. Let's just say that rudder alone was not enough to ensure a straight track and there was a little tire screech. Hey, it counted as a landing! Self serve gas, parking and adding another quart of oil was all done in the hot sun and I hadn't eaten since the day before... I took a short break for a sammich and an iced tea at the airport cafe, then made an unremarkable takeoff and climbed into the desert heat.

My original plan to make it to Buckeye AZ had to be changed to make the legs a little shorter in order to preserve the engine, due to the aforementioned high oil temperature, as well as to keep me from being cooked in the little airplane with NO AIR VENTS... I had to hold a window open to get some cool air in the cockpit. It worked really well! ;)

If you know any former Marines, you've probably hear the old saying "I'm not afraid of hell because I've been to Twenty nine Palms!" Yep. It's a little warm there... and desolate. Not a good place for the self-serve gas pump to reject two of your credit cards! I think it didn't like my tail number... Despite the low field elevation of 1888 feet, the DA there was over 5,000 feet. I got out of there as quickly as possible. Oh yeah- "NO POTABLE WATER."

The last leg of the day was now taking me to Blythe, CA. That was where I noticed my oil temp was at redline shortly after takeoff. I knew the field elevation at Blythe was only 400 feet, so I pulled the power back and set up a shallow descent and flew low-level all the way to the Colorado River. I had been to the Blythe airport before in a turbine helicopter, but never in a light plane, so I was surprised there was no self-serve 100LL. No biggie, I'd do it in the morning!

Since I changed my route after Lancaster, I had no reservation for a room, nor did I have a ride. I had called one of the motels nearby the airport and they said they had rooms, but no shuttle, so I would need to find an Uber... As I sat in the tiny FBO, the gentleman who runs it asked what my plan was. I told him I would look up an Uber and go to the motel that looked the least nasty in the pictures on Google Maps. He said "no way, just take my jeep" as he pointed out the window. I was confused because he was pointing at the golf cart used by the fuel guy. "No," he said, "take my jeep, I just spent [X] dollars on it, so it's good to go!" Wow. That's a huge load off my back and I tossed my stuff in his Cherokee (the car) and headed to the motel.

Upon arrival at the motel, it became obvious that it was not going to be a quiet, comfortable evening for me there, so sitting in the parking lot, I pulled out my phone and made a reservation at the Hampton Inn, way out on the edge of town. By this point in the adventure, Comfortable rest was a must. I'm not 20 any more (...or 40, or 50). The extra expense would be well worth it! A trip to McDonald's and a grocery store took care of dinner and I was free to get some quality rest.

So much for day five. Head up to post #14 to return to the time sequence and my day 6 flight to El Paso and post #23 for day 7 and my completion of the trip.

Would I do that again? Sure, in a bigger airplane. That week long adventure squeezed into a heated metal can was only done out of necessity. If I ever decide to take an itty bitty plane to OSH, for instance, I will ensure plenty of stops, several accompanying airplanes and a backup plan for maintenance.

Speaking of bigger airplane... The awesome 140 might be traded up for something more befitting my place in life (read: Butt size!)

I hope you enjoyed reading this chronicle of my adventurous flight across half of the country. We'll see what happens next! ;)
 
Congrats on the journey and many thanks for the tale! It sounded a lot like my LSRM-A’s trip delivering my Sportcruiser from Florida to California. Glad all ended well and without major incident!
 
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