Bucket list O

A1Topgun

A1Topgun

Cleared for Takeoff
Joined
Sep 6, 2015
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1,429
Location
Central Maine
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Display name:
Ron
Always wanted to take off and fly around the lower 48 states. Land at least once in every state.
Took off yesterday headed to Florida, stopped in Westerly, Rhode Island. Dooney Aviation was a great FBO. Check off RI. Flew west and down the Hudson Exclusion, not the best visibility, but we were the only airplane in the corridor. Landed at Cross Keys, NJ. Another great FBO. Drove us a few miles down the road so we could buy some sandwiches. Check off NJ. Back in the air made an RNAV approach and landing at Delaware Airpark. Check off Delaware. On to 2W6 and a B&B in Hollywood, MD. Check off MD.
 
Not many left.....

We are slowly working on knocking out the lower 48. The plan is to head to ABQ this year for the balloon fest and fill in a few SW states. I flew around Hawaii a few years ago, it was a blast. Now to plan for Alaska, well, someday.
 
A1Topgun said:
Always wanted to take off and fly around the lower 48 states. Land at least once in every state.
Took off yesterday headed to Florida, stopped in Westerly, Rhode Island. Dooney Aviation was a great FBO. Check off RI. Flew west and down the Hudson Exclusion, not the best visibility, but we were the only airplane in the corridor. Landed at Cross Keys, NJ. Another great FBO. Drove us a few miles down the road so we could buy some sandwiches. Check off NJ. Back in the air made an RNAV approach and landing at Delaware Airpark. Check off Delaware. On to 2W6 and a B&B in Hollywood, MD. Check off MD.
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Westerly is about 20 min away and they are a good group. glad you had a good experience.
 
Landed at First Flight on Tuesday. 11G17, but Orville and Wilber did go there for the winds. Elbows and *******s all over the cockpit to keep lined up on final. The trees on both sides of the runway did a good job of aligning the wind down the runway and a nice flare to landing.
On to KLBT, nice new terminal in Lumberton, NC and cheap 100LL. Camped on ramp with airplane.
Thursday continued down to Florida with landing at 28J. No 100LL available as all the Fun&Sun transient traffic had sucked them dry. The airport manager said they would have a delivery that morning. No problem, we will be visiting family for a few days.
 
I love reading about other people's journeys. It seems to me that while your "destination" is the lower 48 states, it will really be the memories you will have accumulated over the years it took to "arrive" at your destination that you will be most fond of. It won't just be the landings that many may think help you define and accomplish your bucket list either. It will be the amazing sights and countless experiences you amass along the way. It will be the turbulence you endured over Montana, the sunset you saw from the air in Kansas, the golden and reassuring voice you heard from the Boston Center controller, and the B-2 stealth bomber you saw off you left wingtip traveling through Missouri. Your bucket list is awesome! I hope that when you complete it, you will realize how blessed and fortunate you will be, to have been able to truly experience all that it took to accomplish!
 
A1Topgun said:
Took off yesterday headed to Florida, stopped in Westerly, Rhode Island. Dooney Aviation was a great FBO. Check off RI.
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Yep, folks at Dooney are awesome. When in RI (wife's homeland) our go-to place after landing is http://champlins.com. Get a lobster roll and a beer upstairs at the bar in the back and watch the insane mix of commercial and pleasure boat traffic.

Envious of your trip - keep posting
 
Is this literal cross country adventure going on right now? Need lots of pics and updates!
 
62CB15EF-6839-422C-9F57-E74AF7C3D520.jpeg 055B0967-47E5-423A-88AF-286B37F80E27.jpeg Posting photos is a bit difficult because the First Officer is usually the photographer and she is using her cell phone. Then need to transfer to iPad that I am using for web browsing, more difficult than my home desktop. But, here goes:
Reporting “The Clock” on the Hudson corridor and on the ramp at KFFA.
 
Crossing the Mississippi.

D3AABF18-C253-4C0F-98EE-51E7C9076689.jpeg Left Palatka, FL on Saturday the 17th to try to get ahead of some crappy weather forecast to stick around through next week. Plan was to make it to Minden, LA, but because of the noon IFR departure and a thunder storm as we pulled up the the pump at Headlands, AL, we only made it to Philadelphia, MS. Sunday we launched for Minden, LA and BBQ for lunch. Unfortunately, an upset stomach after lunch prevented the second leg and we ended up doing the FBO hobo in the pilot lounge Sunday night. At least I can check off AL, MS, and LA.
Monday morning we took off for Carlsbad, NM with a fuel stop in Grandbury, TX. A couple of nights here in Carlsbad and a day in the caverns (Awesome) and we will head over to Phoenix for several days.
 
Pirep on carlsbad please. That’s my first planned fuel stop when I fly east to Nashville
 
Timbeck2 said:
Pirep on carlsbad please. That’s my first planned fuel stop when I fly east to Nashville
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Expecting high winds over the next couple of days. (Currently 10 - 15) Self serve fuel is on east corner by terminal bldg. Chandler FBO is great and has a courtesy car to drive into town.
 
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E0433BAC-E6D6-4772-B000-AAFCDCC45129.jpeg 36276839-FC01-4BDE-9625-559CF10CBD2F.jpeg 04/22 onward to Phoenix to visit family for a few days. Nasty headwinds enroute ( up to 30 knots @ 10,000), planned 3.1 hour flight took 3.8 hours. Vectored right over KPHX, big jets above and below.
 
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luvflyin said:
You’re moving right along. Where do you plan on for your Oregon/Washington stops?
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Have not planned that far ahead yet. A few years back a student bought a C-182 in Kent, WA and I went with him to help him fly it back to ME. So, may not make it all the way to WA.
 
07AAEF86-AFC6-4D59-8827-FBECAE9DD858.jpeg Tuesday we left Phoenix and flew to Elko, NV with a pit stop at St. George, UT. A good deal of the flight to KSGU was IFR, but it cleared as we went over the Grand Canyon.
Flight to KEKO was in and out of clouds most of the way. Still a lot of snow on the high peaks of NV.
 
We spent a day in Elko to decompress and do a little sightseeing. Cheap hotel room ($49) at the Gold Country hotel.

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I still had OR, ND, and WV to complete my bucket list. I found an airport in the SE corner of OR, McDermitt State, 026U that I might use for my Oregon landing.
On the trip there I was turned over to "Cowboy" controller, he was controlling the F16s and F35s in the MOA. Landed at 26U, checked off Oregon.

McDermitt_OR.JPG

Back in the air with Cowboy controller we had the chance to see a couple of F35s and a F16 that came below 13,000'. On to Ashley, ND, another airport near the boarder. Turned out it is a local crop duster field. Had lunch with Leland and Gloria and fueled up. He was not set up for credit cards and I had to pay cash. Check off North Dakota. Took off and headed to Prairie du Chien, WI to spend the night.

KPDC.jpg

More to come . . .
 
Morgan3820 said:
How do you thing a NA Arrow would have fared on this trip?
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Probably could have done it. Some low altitude through the NY corridor and down to KFFA. 6,500 to NC and 9,500 to FL. heading west through the gulf states 6,500. The rest of the trip was mostly at 9,000 to 11,500. Some 13,500 (30 minute) over the high terrain of NV going to Elko. 13,500 again over the Rockies in WY then back to 11,500. Winds aloft heading east were great and didn't need to go over 11,500 to get GS of 170 - 185 Kts.
It is all a matter of getting up to altitude over the mountains.
 
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A1Topgun said:
Probably could have done it. Some low altitude through the NY corridor and down to KFFA. 6,500 to NC and 9,500 to FL. heading west through the gulf states 6,500. The rest of the trip was mostly at 9,000 to 11,500. Some 13,500 (30 minute) over the high terrain of NV going to Elko. 13,500 again over the Rockies in WY then back to 11,500. Winds aloft heading east were great and didn't need to go over 11,500 to get GS of 170 - 185 Kts.
It is all a matter of getting up to altitude over the mountains.
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How many days did your trip take you to complete?
 
Forgot to mention the flight from Ashley, ND to Buffalo, WY. Good tailwinds going east over the Rockies and over the southern end of the Wind River range and landed in Buffalo, WY. FBO was friendly, recommended a nice motel and offered the crew car for the night. We took a walk along the Rail Trail and stopped by the Occidental Hotel for their Thursday "Jam" night.

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"78" was a good year for Ford Broncos. Note vanity plate "KBYG1" on crew car. And it drove like a 78 Bronco.
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Thursday night Country Jam at the Occidental hotel.
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After spending the night at KPDC (We did the FBO hobo in the conference room) we decided to head home. High pressure building over Ohio and up into New England would give good tailwinds. A quick turn fuel stop at KRWN, Arens, IN and off to West Virginia, the last state to check off. After crossing the Ohio River we landed at 4G7, Fairmont, WV. I must say this was the most unfriendly airport we stopped at and I'll just leave it at that.

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The flight back home estimated at 4:00, and one hour into the flight the First Officer says " Isn't that suppose to show 5"?"

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Fortunately, it was VFR all the way home and I didn't need to declare an emergency.
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But you get used to having Auto fly the airplane and now I had to do three hours hand flying with some really good updrafts and down drafts over the mountains of VT & NH.
Made it home safely and the airplane is scheduled for annual with the vacuum pump already on order.
 
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