Diana
Final Approach
In a previous thread, I had asked about St. Francis, KS, and had a chance to check it out last week. A friend of mine who also has a Cessna 172 decided to ride along with me this time since she lives in both MO, and in Denver and wanted to run to Colorado for a few days. Tom couldn’t go since he’s so busy flight instructing 
but it was rather refreshing to take another female pilot on a cross-country flight. 
Barb never wanders around airports and visits when she makes the flight by herself, so this was quite a departure for her.
It took 6.5 hours flight time (dang head winds) to get to Fort Morgan, CO. Our stop in Salina was less than positive, so I think I’ll not use that as a regular stop on my trips back and forth to Denver. The guys at Ft. Morgan were wonderful and one of them may stop by the farm as he ferries a cropduster to the boot heel of Missouri in a few days.
St. Francis was delightful! They have a nice little FBO, very friendly and helpful people If I would have had my parachute with me, I could have had an acro ride in a Stearman (next time!). The walk into town was only a few blocks and a campground is next to the airport. The owner said that I could camp under the wing on the airport grounds if I wanted (might be more fun than staying at the Dusty Farmer Motel). They have 3 grass runways and one paved runway. Short final to the paved strip puts you low and slow right over the steeple of a church. It would be a lot of fun to be at St. Francis when they have their annual Stearman fly-in…it sounds like a blast!
In order to test some software, I had an acro ride in a Pitts S-2B in Boulder, CO with an accomplished pilot. He was very interested in the software that I was beta-testing and worked hard to help me collect the data I needed. Believe it or not, he could read the number of satellites on the satellite page of my Garmin 296 as we flew along inverted. I was too busy hanging on. Afterwards he let me fly the Pitts, which was a blast.
Hammerheads sure are easier in a Pitts than in a Citabria. It had been 17 days since I’d done any aerobatics and it was wonderful to feel and fly acro again. BTW, John remembers meeting Chip at a contest in Nebraska last year, and he said that Chip flew well.
I had the pleasure of meeting Frank Cason, and we had fun bumming around local airports as well as wandering along the creek in Boulder. Below is a photo of Frank and a Cherokee he was drawn to. Mari was out of town while I was in Denver, darn it.
The flight home was shorter…only 5.5 hours and we checked out some new airports. Goodland has a cozy little restaurant on the field with homemade pies and other homemade pastries. The restaurant owner gave us (for free) a huge pile of fresh cinnamon rolls to take with us in the airplane as a bonus…she liked the idea of women flying cross-country. The Goodland FBO was full of friendly helpful people and they gave us each a little sack of candy as a token for stopping by. Great Bend was a pleasure, and had good service as well.
Actually I made several new friends on this trip, and am looking forward to checking out some of the other airports on the route. Barb had never actually stopped like that on her trips back and forth to Colorado, and she really liked the leisurely pace of enjoying the journey and the people and places along the way. It wasn’t just about getting to the destination… it was also about the journey.
Denver was nice, but there’s no place like home. The honeysuckle vines are in full bloom and the south breeze fills the house with that lovely intoxicating aroma. It’s green and lush, and teaming with life here.
but it was rather refreshing to take another female pilot on a cross-country flight. Barb never wanders around airports and visits when she makes the flight by herself, so this was quite a departure for her. It took 6.5 hours flight time (dang head winds) to get to Fort Morgan, CO. Our stop in Salina was less than positive, so I think I’ll not use that as a regular stop on my trips back and forth to Denver. The guys at Ft. Morgan were wonderful and one of them may stop by the farm as he ferries a cropduster to the boot heel of Missouri in a few days.
St. Francis was delightful! They have a nice little FBO, very friendly and helpful people If I would have had my parachute with me, I could have had an acro ride in a Stearman (next time!). The walk into town was only a few blocks and a campground is next to the airport. The owner said that I could camp under the wing on the airport grounds if I wanted (might be more fun than staying at the Dusty Farmer Motel). They have 3 grass runways and one paved runway. Short final to the paved strip puts you low and slow right over the steeple of a church. It would be a lot of fun to be at St. Francis when they have their annual Stearman fly-in…it sounds like a blast!
In order to test some software, I had an acro ride in a Pitts S-2B in Boulder, CO with an accomplished pilot. He was very interested in the software that I was beta-testing and worked hard to help me collect the data I needed. Believe it or not, he could read the number of satellites on the satellite page of my Garmin 296 as we flew along inverted. I was too busy hanging on. Afterwards he let me fly the Pitts, which was a blast.
Hammerheads sure are easier in a Pitts than in a Citabria. It had been 17 days since I’d done any aerobatics and it was wonderful to feel and fly acro again. BTW, John remembers meeting Chip at a contest in Nebraska last year, and he said that Chip flew well.I had the pleasure of meeting Frank Cason, and we had fun bumming around local airports as well as wandering along the creek in Boulder.
Below is a photo of Frank and a Cherokee he was drawn to. Mari was out of town while I was in Denver, darn it.The flight home was shorter…only 5.5 hours and we checked out some new airports. Goodland has a cozy little restaurant on the field with homemade pies and other homemade pastries. The restaurant owner gave us (for free) a huge pile of fresh cinnamon rolls to take with us in the airplane as a bonus…she liked the idea of women flying cross-country. The Goodland FBO was full of friendly helpful people and they gave us each a little sack of candy as a token for stopping by. Great Bend was a pleasure, and had good service as well.
Actually I made several new friends on this trip, and am looking forward to checking out some of the other airports on the route. Barb had never actually stopped like that on her trips back and forth to Colorado, and she really liked the leisurely pace of enjoying the journey and the people and places along the way. It wasn’t just about getting to the destination… it was also about the journey.
Denver was nice, but there’s no place like home. The honeysuckle vines are in full bloom and the south breeze fills the house with that lovely intoxicating aroma. It’s green and lush, and teaming with life here.
Attachments
Last edited:
