During our visit back in WI last week, our godson Declan took his first steps while we were over for our niece Tierney's birthday party. Michelle and I were lucky enough to be there and I was able to get some video on my camera. I haven't posted video here yet, so this will be a good opportunity to test it out. Hopefully there is a video of Declan walking below.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
N951CC flight to Lancaster Fox Field (KWJF)
Michelle and I had planned on flying to Bakersfield yesterday for her to change her name at the social security office, but due to bad visibility from the nearby Clover fire in the Kennedy Meadows area (visibilities creating IMC in many locations and in some mountain passes), we had to drive there. We didn't have any plans for today, but the visibility was much better today and since we couldn't fly yesterday, we decided to fly to Big Bear for lunch since we've not yet made it all the way there. The weather was good, the TFRs along the route were avoidable (rocket launch to 27,000 ft and fires), and the winds and turbulence wasn't forcasted until 1pm.
It was a great day for flying, there was no wind at the airport and there was no turbulence on climbout; cruising at 8,500 ft was smooth. Unfortunatly the Edwards restricted airspace was active (it isn't usually on weekends) so we had to make a large diversion to fly around. Then, Michelle started to not feel so good.
It took us longer to get to the airport and airborne than expected since we hadn't actually planned on flying today. She hadn't eaten anything all day and flying to Big Bear would put lunch around 1pm and that means we'd be in the turbulence coming home. So again, we didn't make it to Big Bear and decided to divert and eat in Lancaster instead.
Not getting to Big Bear didn't bother me much, I really don't want to rush in there. They are located very high at almost 7,000 ft and the density altitude was already at 10,000 ft when I got my pre-flight. The approach into the area is over mountains that will produce lots of turbulence, so I'd rather delay the flight to another day instead of push an uncomfortable flight into terrible one. Michelle still is not sure how much she likes her new headset. She said it's comfortable with the exception that it pinches along her ears. Here's another mugshot of us, you can see Michelle's new headset as well.
It was a great day for flying, there was no wind at the airport and there was no turbulence on climbout; cruising at 8,500 ft was smooth. Unfortunatly the Edwards restricted airspace was active (it isn't usually on weekends) so we had to make a large diversion to fly around. Then, Michelle started to not feel so good.
It took us longer to get to the airport and airborne than expected since we hadn't actually planned on flying today. She hadn't eaten anything all day and flying to Big Bear would put lunch around 1pm and that means we'd be in the turbulence coming home. So again, we didn't make it to Big Bear and decided to divert and eat in Lancaster instead.
Not getting to Big Bear didn't bother me much, I really don't want to rush in there. They are located very high at almost 7,000 ft and the density altitude was already at 10,000 ft when I got my pre-flight. The approach into the area is over mountains that will produce lots of turbulence, so I'd rather delay the flight to another day instead of push an uncomfortable flight into terrible one. Michelle still is not sure how much she likes her new headset. She said it's comfortable with the exception that it pinches along her ears. Here's another mugshot of us, you can see Michelle's new headset as well.
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Flight to Mojave KMHV for lunch
Yesterday we planned on going to Big Bear Lake (L35) for lunch, we've never been there before, but it's a short flight to a mountain strip with an on airport restaurant. It's a resort area and supposed to be a very scenic flight. After checking the weather, getting a flight briefing, and filing a flight plan, we got out to Inyokern (KIYK) and it was strong and gusty winds that were not reported or forecasted. Knowing how screwed up the weather gets around here, we cancelled figuring it would just get worse and the forecast was already null and void. It turned out that it was only windy for 2 hours and then it calmed down, but we were already back home for the day; our plan was to go today instead.
Today I did the same thing, got the weather, did the briefing, and filed the flight plan. We got out to the airport and taxied over to the fuel pump since I needed more fuel for the trip. My luck again, the fuel pump was out of service. Determined not to give up, I called a few airports enroute and got a hold of a person at the Mojave airport. They said they did have fuel and their pump was up and working. Mojave is only a 30 minute flight from Inyokern and I had plenty of fuel to get there with reserve. Once we got there, we realized how late it was getting and that we wouldn't be able to eat until 1 or 2 at Big Bear, so we decided to just eat at Mojave and go to Big Bear another day.
The fuel was only $4.99 at Mojave so I made sure to top the tanks off. Last time I fueled at Inyokern, it was $5.19 and I was told this next batch coming in would be in the $5.60 range. I put in 63 gallons so the savings was almost $40! Well, it will be a few weeks before we get to Big Bear since we'll be in the Midwest for the next two weekends.
Here is our track for this flight.
Today I did the same thing, got the weather, did the briefing, and filed the flight plan. We got out to the airport and taxied over to the fuel pump since I needed more fuel for the trip. My luck again, the fuel pump was out of service. Determined not to give up, I called a few airports enroute and got a hold of a person at the Mojave airport. They said they did have fuel and their pump was up and working. Mojave is only a 30 minute flight from Inyokern and I had plenty of fuel to get there with reserve. Once we got there, we realized how late it was getting and that we wouldn't be able to eat until 1 or 2 at Big Bear, so we decided to just eat at Mojave and go to Big Bear another day.
The fuel was only $4.99 at Mojave so I made sure to top the tanks off. Last time I fueled at Inyokern, it was $5.19 and I was told this next batch coming in would be in the $5.60 range. I put in 63 gallons so the savings was almost $40! Well, it will be a few weeks before we get to Big Bear since we'll be in the Midwest for the next two weekends.
Here is our track for this flight.
And here is N951CC and Michelle in front of the Mojave air and space port tower and restaurant.
Friday, June 6, 2008
Hiking Owen's Peak
Originally, Michelle and I were thinking about flying to the Grand Canyon to go camping for the weekend. I only looked at a few ideas before I saw the forecast for strong winds. We cancelled the trip because of the winds and hiked Owen's Peak instead. We'll probably still do the Grand Canyon trip since it seemed very welcoming. They are dog friendly and allow dogs at the campground an on the trails. They only prohibit dogs below the rim of the canyon, but they have a kennel to drop your dogs off for a few hours if you want to hike down.
I decided to bring my GPS this time to track our hike and get a final decision on how long of a hike it is. The GPS worked well, but I don't think we have an answer yet. Every time it lost track for a few feet it started a new track and it would sometimes had re-initialize errors, so the track isn't completely accurate. The entire trip down is accurate, but that track starts before we get to the top so there is some overlap. With this GPS data, I'm putting the trail at 5.4 miles, but the sign says 4.4 miles.
This is an extremely difficult trail to follow. The trail seems to split in several places and seems to disappear in others. If you get off the track, you'll be hiking some pretty nasty terrain, trust me, I know... I did find a wrecked airplane up there on one of my excursions though! I was hoping the GPS track could be somehow useful to other hikers for their first time up. I'm not really sure what to do with the track to make it useful though. If I ever figure out a good way to present the info, I'll be sure to post it.
I took a lot of pictures of the flowers this time, the complete set of pictures from this hike are in my photo album here.
We also came across a snake that we haven't yet identified. Emmett our stupid German Shorthair walked right over him and when I stopped when I saw it, he came back and stepped right over it again. The snake never moved so I thought it might have been dead, but as I walked by, it was flicking it's tongue out and it's eyes were open.
The trip took us 6 hours this time, which is longer than normal. The hike seemed harder than normal too with more loose sandy trail needing extra caution. Even the dogs had a hard time, both of them wore their pads down pretty badly, but Maverick our Weimaraner tore two of his pads, one looks like a torn blister, the other is slit pretty deep. He hasn't had good luck hiking lately, last time he cut his ear really badly jumping through a barbed wire fence.
The ruling has come back that this snake was a Pacific Gopher snake, which a rattlesnake look alike, but is not poisonous.
Since we didn't get out flying today, we'll probably head somewhere tomorrow, but maybe just for a day trip.
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