339A
Well Known Member
Twelve Days, Eleven Nights – Part 1
by Deb Mills
Vacations are as varied as the activities they revolve around. Flying, driving, boating, water sports, socializing, barbeques, restaurants, amusement parks, bunking with friends, camping, hoteling, historic landmarks, scenic tours, dancing, parties, shopping, and live entertainment are standard leisure time faves. Whether you prefer to marvel at the natural beauty of God's creation or a popular tourist attraction, time constraints and logistics usually dictate that choices be made. Will you head for the coast, the mountains, the desert, or the bedazzling glitz of a destination like Vegas? While the average American holiday doesn't typically include all of the activities listed above, our most recent RV adventure was anything but average!
With myself and Paul "Rosie" Rosales reaching the half-century milestone in September, our spouses, Scott and Victoria, set about the task of planning a 50th Birthday Bash in our honor. The details had yet to be ironed out when they began strategizing back in February, but two things were certain--the shindig would be held in a hangar at the Boulder City Airport, and the Mills & Ziliks would be RVing to the Silver State together.
Early in the party-planning stage, Rosie and Tuppergal asked if we (and the Ziliks) would like to join them on a three-day primitive camping excursion on Lake Mohave. We would fly to the Boulder City Airport on Wednesday, where the RVs would be hangared until our flight home the following Monday. Paul and Victoria would make the four-hour drive with their Suburban and boat packed full of camping and party supplies. Following a stop at the airport to meet up with us and offload all but the camping and boating necessities, they/we would then make the one-hour drive to Cottonwood Cove for the boat launch.
Scott & I had planned to take a trip to the Northwest in June. Our two-fold mission was to stick a few more pins in our 339A Airport Landings Map and make a stop in Portland, Oregon to meet fellow RV builder Bruce Swayze and his wife Jamie. Just about the time we began firming up the details, Scott learned that he needed to be in Aruba on business during that same timeframe. While two weeks on a Caribbean island would certainly not be considered a hardship (even when it's work related), it did force us to put the Northwest tour on hold.
At some point, Rosie mentioned to Scott that he planned on flying to the Van's Homecoming at the end of August. Independence, Oregon, where the homecoming is now held, is just 61 miles (as the crow flies) from where Bruce & Jaime live. Since we probably wouldn't be making the LOE fly-in this year and had never been to the Van's event, we decided to work the homecoming, a mini Northwest tour, and a visit with the Swayzes into our travel plans.
This is when we began connecting the dots that would transform a three-day weekend in/around Vegas into twelve days and eleven nights of fun, fun, fun! If we left on the 27th, we could overnight with the Swayzes in Portland. Next day, after a bit of high altitude sightseeing, we'd fly 28 miles southwest to the Aurora State Airport and tour the Van's factory. A quick 20-minute hop and we'd be at the Independence State Airport for the homecoming festivities on the 28th and 29th. With the camping trip beginning on Wednesday, we'd head straight from Independence to Rosamond Skypark on Sunday to bunk at the “Dew Drop Inn” (aka Casa de Rosales) for a few days. While in SoCal, why not spend a day riding the coasters at Six Flags, Magic Mountain? On Wednesday, we'd be off to Boulder City and then Lake Mohave. Friday morning, back to Boulder City to pick up a rental car and drive 18 miles to Henderson where we'd stay at the Residence Inn Marriott for the remainder of our time in Nevada. It was doable.
Throw in a couple more scenic aerial tours (one of which was a 13-ship operation led by Mark "Dula" Dulaney), a bit of shopping for the ladies, the birthday bash, the Vegas strip, and Blue Man Group, and you've got one whopper of a vacation! If you substitute the word trip for the word ad, and delete all references to beer, this conveys the enormity of the Mills/Zilik expedition. OK ... a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the idea. This vacation was B I G! In fact, it was so big that it’ll take several posts just to summarize it.
Trip Journal:
Day 1/Thursday, August 27th (scroll down for subsequent posts)
It was 63 degrees on the ground when the Mills/Zilik flight departed Front Range Airport at 6:55 a.m. MDT. Our eventual destination for the day was Troutdale Airport in Portland, Oregon, with three scheduled landings in between.
Bright morning sun captured through Deb’s canopy screen shortly after takeoff.
Stop #1 - Landed at the Laramie Regional Airport. The FBO’s name/sign are appropriate to the Cowboy State. After topping off our tanks (and collecting our virtual map pin), we departed KLAR at 8:10 and headed for our next scheduled stop in Gooding, Idaho.
We flew over a lush little oasis in middle-of-nowhere Wyoming that is appropriately named Eden.
Stop #2 - Four hours after departing KFTG, we landed at Gooding Airport to collect an Idaho pin, fuel up, and eat lunch. The courtesy car was unavailable, so we took to the skies toward Nampa Municipal in search of food. As it turned out, the payoff for making an unscheduled stop was a very tasty lunch at the Runway Café.
Crossing over the Columbia River at the Dalles Bridge/Dam
Stop #4 - After landing at the picturesque Columbia Gorge Regional/Dalles Municipal Airport, we collected our Washington pin and enjoyed a cold drink at the Full Stop Café.
En route to Troutdale, we flew the Columbia River gorge at an altitude of about 1,000'. It was absolutely beautiful. Click here to see a short video clip.
At 3:17 PDT, we touched down at Troutdale where it was a toasty 98 degrees. Wheels up to wheels down for the first day of our journey came in at 9:20, with flight time at around 6:30. We had landed in four states and traveled 1,067 miles.
Changing landscapes …
Bruce Swayze picked us up, chauffeured us around a bit, and then took us to his home about 20 minutes from the airport. We sure did appreciate Bruce & Jamie’s graciousness in giving us a place to lay our heads for the night even though they already had a full house. They and their family welcomed us with open arms, fed us like kings, and treated us like royalty!
More to follow …
by Deb Mills
Vacations are as varied as the activities they revolve around. Flying, driving, boating, water sports, socializing, barbeques, restaurants, amusement parks, bunking with friends, camping, hoteling, historic landmarks, scenic tours, dancing, parties, shopping, and live entertainment are standard leisure time faves. Whether you prefer to marvel at the natural beauty of God's creation or a popular tourist attraction, time constraints and logistics usually dictate that choices be made. Will you head for the coast, the mountains, the desert, or the bedazzling glitz of a destination like Vegas? While the average American holiday doesn't typically include all of the activities listed above, our most recent RV adventure was anything but average!
With myself and Paul "Rosie" Rosales reaching the half-century milestone in September, our spouses, Scott and Victoria, set about the task of planning a 50th Birthday Bash in our honor. The details had yet to be ironed out when they began strategizing back in February, but two things were certain--the shindig would be held in a hangar at the Boulder City Airport, and the Mills & Ziliks would be RVing to the Silver State together.
Early in the party-planning stage, Rosie and Tuppergal asked if we (and the Ziliks) would like to join them on a three-day primitive camping excursion on Lake Mohave. We would fly to the Boulder City Airport on Wednesday, where the RVs would be hangared until our flight home the following Monday. Paul and Victoria would make the four-hour drive with their Suburban and boat packed full of camping and party supplies. Following a stop at the airport to meet up with us and offload all but the camping and boating necessities, they/we would then make the one-hour drive to Cottonwood Cove for the boat launch.
Scott & I had planned to take a trip to the Northwest in June. Our two-fold mission was to stick a few more pins in our 339A Airport Landings Map and make a stop in Portland, Oregon to meet fellow RV builder Bruce Swayze and his wife Jamie. Just about the time we began firming up the details, Scott learned that he needed to be in Aruba on business during that same timeframe. While two weeks on a Caribbean island would certainly not be considered a hardship (even when it's work related), it did force us to put the Northwest tour on hold.
At some point, Rosie mentioned to Scott that he planned on flying to the Van's Homecoming at the end of August. Independence, Oregon, where the homecoming is now held, is just 61 miles (as the crow flies) from where Bruce & Jaime live. Since we probably wouldn't be making the LOE fly-in this year and had never been to the Van's event, we decided to work the homecoming, a mini Northwest tour, and a visit with the Swayzes into our travel plans.
This is when we began connecting the dots that would transform a three-day weekend in/around Vegas into twelve days and eleven nights of fun, fun, fun! If we left on the 27th, we could overnight with the Swayzes in Portland. Next day, after a bit of high altitude sightseeing, we'd fly 28 miles southwest to the Aurora State Airport and tour the Van's factory. A quick 20-minute hop and we'd be at the Independence State Airport for the homecoming festivities on the 28th and 29th. With the camping trip beginning on Wednesday, we'd head straight from Independence to Rosamond Skypark on Sunday to bunk at the “Dew Drop Inn” (aka Casa de Rosales) for a few days. While in SoCal, why not spend a day riding the coasters at Six Flags, Magic Mountain? On Wednesday, we'd be off to Boulder City and then Lake Mohave. Friday morning, back to Boulder City to pick up a rental car and drive 18 miles to Henderson where we'd stay at the Residence Inn Marriott for the remainder of our time in Nevada. It was doable.
Throw in a couple more scenic aerial tours (one of which was a 13-ship operation led by Mark "Dula" Dulaney), a bit of shopping for the ladies, the birthday bash, the Vegas strip, and Blue Man Group, and you've got one whopper of a vacation! If you substitute the word trip for the word ad, and delete all references to beer, this conveys the enormity of the Mills/Zilik expedition. OK ... a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the idea. This vacation was B I G! In fact, it was so big that it’ll take several posts just to summarize it.
Trip Journal:
Day 1/Thursday, August 27th (scroll down for subsequent posts)
It was 63 degrees on the ground when the Mills/Zilik flight departed Front Range Airport at 6:55 a.m. MDT. Our eventual destination for the day was Troutdale Airport in Portland, Oregon, with three scheduled landings in between.
![img8484cropped.jpg](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fimg171.imageshack.us%2Fimg171%2F7286%2Fimg8484cropped.jpg&hash=4c5b3ea8df5ba32dcdbc44c408620418)
Bright morning sun captured through Deb’s canopy screen shortly after takeoff.
![img8486cropped.jpg](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fimg171.imageshack.us%2Fimg171%2F9373%2Fimg8486cropped.jpg&hash=673bc776012672335df5ce1f076f8ea1)
Stop #1 - Landed at the Laramie Regional Airport. The FBO’s name/sign are appropriate to the Cowboy State. After topping off our tanks (and collecting our virtual map pin), we departed KLAR at 8:10 and headed for our next scheduled stop in Gooding, Idaho.
![img8513cropped.jpg](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fimg21.imageshack.us%2Fimg21%2F9018%2Fimg8513cropped.jpg&hash=3f88ccdb03ec8f2f3df7ccf5ae3ddeee)
We flew over a lush little oasis in middle-of-nowhere Wyoming that is appropriately named Eden.
![img8536cropped.jpg](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fimg24.imageshack.us%2Fimg24%2F6676%2Fimg8536cropped.jpg&hash=f9782e95b32b939644e765589a8c746d)
Stop #2 - Four hours after departing KFTG, we landed at Gooding Airport to collect an Idaho pin, fuel up, and eat lunch. The courtesy car was unavailable, so we took to the skies toward Nampa Municipal in search of food. As it turned out, the payoff for making an unscheduled stop was a very tasty lunch at the Runway Café.
Crossing over the Columbia River at the Dalles Bridge/Dam
![img8614cropped.jpg](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fimg401.imageshack.us%2Fimg401%2F6176%2Fimg8614cropped.jpg&hash=933eae6b293d27ea470d5019f6b56386)
Stop #4 - After landing at the picturesque Columbia Gorge Regional/Dalles Municipal Airport, we collected our Washington pin and enjoyed a cold drink at the Full Stop Café.
![img8628cropped.jpg](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fimg338.imageshack.us%2Fimg338%2F5410%2Fimg8628cropped.jpg&hash=d750154cc0a598ee7362bfad838affa8)
En route to Troutdale, we flew the Columbia River gorge at an altitude of about 1,000'. It was absolutely beautiful. Click here to see a short video clip.
![img8671cropped.jpg](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fimg401.imageshack.us%2Fimg401%2F8062%2Fimg8671cropped.jpg&hash=a4c87afa2b2daae34120993b7443e62f)
At 3:17 PDT, we touched down at Troutdale where it was a toasty 98 degrees. Wheels up to wheels down for the first day of our journey came in at 9:20, with flight time at around 6:30. We had landed in four states and traveled 1,067 miles.
Changing landscapes …
![img8495cropped.jpg](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fimg22.imageshack.us%2Fimg22%2F8533%2Fimg8495cropped.jpg&hash=a4e854c27f1fccc9d6a28a05345d56d8)
![img8541cropped.jpg](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fimg24.imageshack.us%2Fimg24%2F5554%2Fimg8541cropped.jpg&hash=9205cff33d1850de7fba562ca5393d69)
![img8595cropped.jpg](/proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fimg170.imageshack.us%2Fimg170%2F3290%2Fimg8595cropped.jpg&hash=8896258c33c0b3a9ebe64230c2c0f7dd)
Bruce Swayze picked us up, chauffeured us around a bit, and then took us to his home about 20 minutes from the airport. We sure did appreciate Bruce & Jamie’s graciousness in giving us a place to lay our heads for the night even though they already had a full house. They and their family welcomed us with open arms, fed us like kings, and treated us like royalty!
More to follow …
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