John and Leslie's big adventure

J

JOhnH

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Ok, this may not be such a big adventure to many or you, but it will be a big adventure to us.

Leslie and I are embarking on a two week flying trip from eastern Florida to Phoenix Arizona tomorrow in our Cessna 172 sans autopilot. We expect 14+ kts headwinds to start. Then I expect winds to reverse to give us headwinds on the way home too.

We have a conference to attend in PHX starting Thursday. Then on Monday we will either head home, or try to make it to Catalina Island before returning.

We have planned as much as we can. We have an emergency kit, an emergency radio and an aerox oxygen system, just in case.

As I said in an earlier post, we are transporting a dozen cactus plants back to Arizona. We have removed the rear seat for more room. Our A&P has signed off on a modified W&B.

We will probably file a flight plan this time for the local news in case of any problems.

I'll try to post daily updates of our adventure.

If for some reason you don't hear from me for a few days, at least we died doing what we love.
 
Good luck on your adventure , have a fun time.
 
Best wishes to you both, John. But do you think it's safe to have cacti behind your heads?
 
nddons said:
Best wishes to you both, John. But do you think it's safe to have cacti behind your heads?
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Probably not. But I love to fly and Leslie may love flying even more than I do. How much luckier could I be. And she is bound and determined to take the cacti to AZ. Who am I to say "No, I am afraid".

The cacti will be secured inside large plastic containers and restrained by nylon netting, secured with eyelets our A&P installed. If those cacti come visit us up front, we have bigger problems than a few thorn pricks.
 
JOhnH said:
Probably not. But I love to fly and Leslie may love flying even more than I do. How much luckier could I be. And she is bound and determined to take the cacti to AZ. Who am I to say "No, I am afraid".

The cacti will be secured inside large plastic containers and restrained by nylon netting, secured with eyelets our A&P installed. If those cacti come visit us up front, we have bigger problems than a few thorn pricks.
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Ok, I'll ask. Why are you returning cacti to Arizona? Do they have a shortage? :D
 
Sounds like a great trip!

Here's hoping its the first of many!

We look forward to the reports.
 
nddons said:
Ok, I'll ask. Why are you returning cacti to Arizona? Do they have a shortage? :D
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Actually, they do. Or more precisely, last time we were there we heard they were endangered. That was about 13 years ago and we bought a package of seeds at the botanical gardens. The package said they should be returned to their home when they get about 6 inches tall. One of ours is about 18 inches, but they don't do well here in Florida when they get any size to them. They need to be planted in the ground but they would die in the winter. Leslie has been planning on this trip ever since we bought our plane. I'm not sure if she is using the cacti as an excuse to fly there, or if she is using the conference as an excuse to take the cacti back, but she is super excited about flying her cacti back to AZ. Who am I to question that?

We loaded her up this morning. The cacti are covered and secured and netted. We are about 250 pounds under gross with full fuel. We will be leaving shortly but only going as far as Pensacola today. Will plan to get an earlier start tomorrow and make a couple of longer legs then. We plan to arrive at GEU on Monday or Tuesday. Looks like we will have strong headwinds the whole way. Otherwise the weather is beautiful.
 
Nice, have a fun trip. If you get to Catalina tell Leslie not to worry about the edge, it will not jump up and smite you lol. Just aim for the numbers like always and land. It's no big deal in a 172, but there is an illusion caused by the hump in the runway that makes it appear as if you're going to run out, you're not so don't stand on the brakes because there is a speed bump about 1/3rd of the way up the runway that has collapsed the nose gear on a variety of 182s that landed long then stood on the brakes thinking they were going to go off the far end. If you land on the numbers, you'll make the first turnoff without using the brakes, if you pass the first turnoff, hold the yoke back and get off the brakes until after the speed bump.

Once on Catalina, you want to do the last Inland Tour of the day, that's when the Bison are up by the road, you can combine this with your ride in and out of Avalon by buying the tour ticket and riding it in reverse. Catalina Adventure Tours (310-510-0409 IIRC) is pretty amenable to this stuff since Jeff the owner is a pilot as well. You also want to take the first glass bottom boat tour in the morning since the light is best then, as the day wears on the boat's shadow is more and more in its viewing field, you want to be on the Sea View for the tour since it's the shallowest draft and (should be, I did) operates right next to the shore over the shallow rocks where all the life is.
 
That does sound like a lot of fun! Well prepared and an interesting destination. Would love to do a trip like that one of these days. The wife would do it, just need a destination. Maybe the Ford museum (Greenfield Village?).

Gary
 
JOhnH said:
Actually, they do. Or more precisely, last time we were there we heard they were endangered. That was about 13 years ago and we bought a package of seeds at the botanical gardens. The package said they should be returned to their home when they get about 6 inches tall. One of ours is about 18 inches, but they don't do well here in Florida when they get any size to them. They need to be planted in the ground but they would die in the winter. Leslie has been planning on this trip ever since we bought our plane. I'm not sure if she is using the cacti as an excuse to fly there, or if she is using the conference as an excuse to take the cacti back, but she is super excited about flying her cacti back to AZ. Who am I to question that?

We loaded her up this morning. The cacti are covered and secured and netted. We are about 250 pounds under gross with full fuel. We will be leaving shortly but only going as far as Pensacola today. Will plan to get an earlier start tomorrow and make a couple of longer legs then. We plan to arrive at GEU on Monday or Tuesday. Looks like we will have strong headwinds the whole way. Otherwise the weather is beautiful.
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Awesome. I'm very envious of your trip! Be safe.
 
Have a fun and safe trip! Sounds like one to remember!:D
 
We made it to Gulfport MS today. We only planned on Pensacola but that came up too soon so we pushed on. Everything was routine. The Million Air FBO was great. They arranged a room at the residence Inn and gave us a ride in their new Mercedes crew car. Had dinner and a few drinks at the Hilton across the parking lot and are now watching the World series planning tomorrow's leg and enjoying a small taste of the Glenlivet we brought. But just a taste because we want to get an early start tomorrow.
 
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Good idea not going to the casinos!! That eats up the gas money quick!!:D

JOhnH said:
We made it to Gulfport MS today. We only planned on Pensacola but that came up too soon so we pushed on. Everything was routine. The Million Air FBO was great. They arranged a room at the residence Inn and gave us a ride in their new Mercedes crew car. Had dinner and a few drinks at the Hilton across the parking lot and are now watching the World series planning tomorrow's leg and enjoying a small taste of the Glenlivet we brought. But just a taste because we want to get an early start tomorrow.
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We made it to san Angelo yesterday. If it wasn't for the winds and clouds the weather would have been perfect. Only problem was a hard start in GPT. We are not used to cold starts and after cranking for a while the battery drained some and she was turning over slowly and wouldn't fire and the starter seemed to be disengaging by itself. A&P on site thought it was the starter or clutch and he would have one by Tuesday. I asked him to hook up the. GPU instead. Then it started right up. Our fuel stop happened to be deserted with a SS pump. We crossed our fingers and it started up with no problem. This morning we are sitting in the FBO hoping the ceiling lifts here before KELP closes in this Afternoon.
I hope the winds don't reverse on the way home. A 20 kt tailwind would be nice going home.
 
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JOhnH said:
That was about 13 years ago and we bought a package of seeds at the botanical gardens. The package said they should be returned to their home when they get about 6 inches tall.
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I wonder how many people who purchased the seeds returned the cacti to their home. :D

Do you get an award for returning them from the furthest place. :goofy:

Have a good trip!
 
JOhnH said:
I hope the winds don't reverse on the way home. A 20 kt tailwind would be nice going home.
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You're new to flying aren't you?? :lol::lol::lol:
I once had a headwind going to Las Vegas and BACK!! :mad2:
Sounds like you guys are having a great trip, enjoy!!
 
Sounds like a great trip. Keep us posted.
 
JOhnH said:
We made it to san Angelo yesterday. If it wasn't for the winds and clouds the weather would have been perfect. Only problem was a hard start in GPT. We are not used to cold starts and after cranking for a while the battery drained some and she was turning over slowly and wouldn't fire and the starter seemed to be disengaging by itself. A&P on site thought it was the starter or clutch and he would have one by Tuesday. I asked him to hook up the. GPU instead. Then it started right up. Our fuel stop happened to be deserted with a SS pump. We crossed our fingers and it started up with no problem. This morning we are sitting in the FBO hoping the ceiling lifts here before KELP closes in this Afternoon.
I hope the winds don't reverse on the way home. A 20 kt tailwind would be nice going home.
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4 squirts of the primer on a cold morning...
 
We have been busy since making it to GEU and haven't had much free time to post. Leslie, the cacti and I made it here with no real problems except for the nice man on the radio patiently explaining to us what the "east transition" is. I think that would have been much easier for us to figure out in advance if we bought the paper TAC instead of using FF.

The people at the Desert Botanical Garden treated us like celebrities or heroes.
Maybe when we leave on Monday we will get to experience those 35 kt winds from behind us for a change.

I don't know what these pics will look like or if they will even post. All the good pics are on Leslie's camera.
Edit: I'm having trouble uploading pics so I will try again later.
 

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Glad you've made it that far! There was snow around Flagstaff earlier this week headed into Colorado.
 
Love threads like this. Thanks for sharing!

:popcorn:
 
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