Summer 2013 Travel

tommylewis · Jul 16, 2013

The prelude to this series of trip reports is we are two old retired folks who spend the summer traveling in our RV. We are living our dream. I was not going to do another series of trip report until I visited with Troy during our stop in Canada, but now I will be trying to keep it up to date.

I am playing catch up by documenting our summer travels which started when we loaded up the RV 10 and left Texas on June 20 to fly to Cheyenne to spend a long weekend with our son and family before meeting two other couples in Idaho Falls on Tuesday, June 25. These 3 couples then flew into Johnson Creek on Wed, only to find the approach from the south from Landmark looking like this:

View of approach to Johnson Creek

So we elected to divert over to McCall for a couple hours and then flew into Johnson Creek.

Parked at Johnson Creek

As usual, we made the hike up to the warm spring, and since we were in a group, wore swimming suits for the required soak in the tub.

Visit to Warm Tub

This was our longest visit to Johnson Creek and required a second trip to McCall for food, only we found the valley socked in with low clouds except for the north 50 feet of the runway. Everyone was landing to the south just fine.

Approach to McCall

Another day we hiked up the hillside to view the airport only to find the trail washed out so we could not get all the way. This was the view as far as we could hike.

View of airport from the side hill

Another view of our RV 10

So we spent 10 days camping at Johnson Creek and in spite of some events, we had a wonderful visit. At one point we had three RV10s, an RV7a, and an RV8. I hope we can do it again.

TroyBranch · Jul 17, 2013

I have always looked forward to your write ups. As you know it is a lot of work and time to do. You set such a great example of how to make the best out of summer. See you guys Saturday.

ppilotmike · Jul 17, 2013

What happened to the pics?

I was looking forward to your write-up only to find the pics aren't showing up in the post.

TroyBranch · Jul 17, 2013

They are fine for me?

Mike S · Jul 17, 2013

tommylewis said:
we are two old retired folks who spend the summer traveling in our RV. We are living our dream.

Yep, I would say you certainly are living the dream.

Have a great time, and fly safe.

Neal@F14 · Jul 17, 2013

Pics loading fine for me too..... makes me wish I was back at JC again. My four days there in June was way too short of a visit!

tkatc · Jul 17, 2013

Johnson Creek is on my Bucket List!!

DanH · Jul 17, 2013

I'm not too sure about the wood piled around the bathtub. Looks a lot like how we scalded chickens when I was a kid

tommylewis · Jul 17, 2013

July 4 in Yelle Pine

If you ever spend the July 4th in Johnson Creek, you must go into Yellow Pine for the parade. This is truly small town America in action.

The grand Marshall

Miss Yellow Pine and her court

Shriners in training

A typical local and his dog

moll780 · Jul 18, 2013

where is this Johnson Creek?

tkatc said:
Johnson Creek is on my Bucket List!!

hydroguy2 · Jul 18, 2013

Idaho

http://www.airnav.com/airport/3U2

webcam

enjoy...although I've heard the whole Idaho backcountry has been getting too many folks these days

tommylewis · Jul 19, 2013

Flying to Canada

On July 6, three RVs flew out of Johnson Creek into Canada. Prior to leaving home we had signed up for eAPIS and had completed a manefest for the flight using the web access at Johnson Creek. This was the picture on takeoff to the north at about 100 feet.

We crossed the border south of Penticton and flew north up the lake.

This is the town of Kelowna where we cleared Canadian customs. Our rent house was just north of this location.

The Kelowna airport.

We then flew south to Penticton to pickup a rent van and left the airplanes on the ramp.

This is a beautiful area with lots of hiking and many wineries to sample. We had a great week exploring this area.

Louise Hose · Jul 19, 2013

I love this stuff, Tom. Keep 'em coming!

tommylewis · Jul 22, 2013

Visit to the Ocanagon Valley

Our visit to the Ocanagon Valley included a visit to some wineries. This picture was taken at the Mission Hills location.

We did a lot of hiking and since Dave & Wendy are avid bird watchers we saw more birds than the average group of old geezers. Since Bonnie likes water falls, we saw a lot of them also.

Sunset view from deck of rent house overlooking Ocanagon Lake.

Yet another water fall taken on a hike.

First time visiting this area of Canada and hopefully not the last.

tommylewis · Jul 22, 2013

Moving on for second week in Canada

On July 13, three RVs met up with Troy in Penticton and this was taken on takeoff to the south.

I will not duplicate what was discussed on this thread.

http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=101874

This is another picture from flight showing a slide area that destroyed a mining town in 1902. Not sure if Troy got the year right, but was an interesting sight.

Flight into High River showing Dave off our right side over fields of crops.

tommylewis · Jul 22, 2013

Banff

We stayed in the Banff area from July 6 till 13 with the Sutter's and Moore's. We had a very nice three bedroom condo in Canmore and naturally our first day was spent visiting Lake Louise.

Many years ago Martin & Claudia had hiked up to the tea house at Lake Louise so of course we had to make that hike. After having lunch at the tea house, we felt compelled to climb the Bee Hive Mountain which was no small feat for us old farts. This is a picture taken from the top of Bee Hive looking down at where the first photo was taken.

On the way down the other side to the lake shore, this was Dave & Wendy, Tom & Bonnie and Martin and Claudia down the path.

So we saw some beautiful country on our 7 hour 9 mile hike and climb. I do not want to know the vertical climb and descent. I was told repeatedly that it was all down hill from here only to find another hill to climb.

Vlad · Jul 23, 2013

Tom please continue posting your annual sagas. You and Bonnie add special spice to VAF Travel Section. When I was building your adventures were great motivation. Keep telling your stories and stop using the words "we are old retired folks" you are not

tommylewis · Jul 23, 2013

More sights

I just gotta share a couple more of our hundreds of pictures. When we first got to Lake Morraine, it was cloudy and dreary. We took a hike for a couple miles and when we came back the sun was out and the lake was stunning.

Lake Morraine

We drove a couple hours north to the Columbia Ice Fields and took this tour out on the ice.

My point of sharing these is to point out that these RVs can allow you to see some beautiful country. Keep pounding those rivets.

tommylewis · Jul 23, 2013

Leaving Canada

Last Saturday, July 20, we flew out of High River, just south of Calgary, cleared US Customs in Great Falls, and then headed for Cheyenne, WY, to visit our son and family. The SPOT tracking link in my signature block below shows our route last Sat.

Flying south out of High River

Wyoming terrain

As we left Great Falls, isolated Thunderstorms started to pop up across SE Wyoming. Fortunately, there was still a 40 mile gap we used to reach Cheyenne.

Thunderstorms enroute to Cheyenne

On final for rw 9 at Cheyenne over the Frontier Days grounds

Frontier Days is a western celebration that we are enjoying with our granddaughter this week.

marchudson · Jul 24, 2013

Tommy

The picture of lake Morraine is absolutely beautiful. I can only imagine what it looked like in person. Nice shot.

tommylewis · Jul 24, 2013

Frontier Days Activities

Thanks Marc.

Since Bonnie and I were raised in rural South Dakota, we enjoy a western celebration, especially when we can share it with a Granddaughter.

Monday morning was a free pancake breakfast where the batter is mixed in the white cement mixer truck, the pancakes are flipped out of the chuck wagon onto platters so 7000 could eat free ham and pancakes.

Monday night was bull riding rodeo. The bulls won 25 rides and the cowboys won 15 rides with 3 cowboys winning twice. Exciting! We think we have a rough ride on some flights.

Tuesday morning was a parade with the WY Governor and First Lady leading the parade on horses. We wondered how many state governors and First Ladies can ride a horse. There were a lot of horses in this parade. Three street sweepers follow the large number of horses.

And a lot of horse drawn wagons.

Everyday at noon there is a 3 hour rodeo. Tuesday noon we took Emma to the rodeo. This is a picture of bronc riding. There was also bull riding and the bulls won 21 rides and the cowboys won 4. It was 80 deg, stands in the shade, and a lite wind blowing. Great!

So I am caught up. We are off to Oshkosh on Thursday or Friday.

tommylewis · Jul 29, 2013

Oshkosh

On Friday we stopped at LaMars, Iowa for lunch and to wait for a line of rain to move past OSH. When it was slow to move we decided to spend the night. It was a very pleasant place to stop. Did you know it is the ice cream capital of the world as designated by the Iowa legislators? We used the courtesy car to get some great ice cream. On Sat Bonnie flew us into OSH. We are parked in row 307 for the week.

tommylewis · Aug 3, 2013

More Oshkosh

Because of the HOT previous Oshkoshs, we brought some shade with us to this years celebration. This is a Sportbrella. It is big enough for 2 chairs and a cooler. But it is 4 feet long and therefore you need an RV 10 to haul it.

I assume someone posted this picture of the new RV area at the museum but I have not seen it so here it is.

We flew out of OSH this morning to visit Mom in Miller, SD. We will spend a couple days this week fishing with my brother before continuing our journey west.

stamper · Aug 3, 2013

wyoming travel

tommy great post. was wondering if you ever make it back up to Wyoming near Jackson Hole if you could stop by with your 10 so I can take a look at it. I am building a 10; just starting got the top almost on and ordering the finish kit next month. It would be great to get some advice from you on the build. Thanks bruce

tommylewis · Aug 3, 2013

sorry

Sorry our plans do not include a stop in your area. Good luck with the build.

tommylewis · Aug 7, 2013

Fishing report from South Dakota

We had a great time fishing for walleyes in the Missouri River at Pierre. Bonnie caught the biggest and the most with these 2 samples of the 9 we caught on the last day. Must have been the VAF hat as good luck charm.

67BBECF8-C2D9-44B8-AC3D-A68C1EFA0B12-1156-0000030807A47FC9.jpg

Another VAF hat sighting.

Heading west on Friday. Keep pounding those rivets.

tommylewis · Aug 10, 2013

South Dakota to West Yellowstone

We left Mom's house in SD Friday morning and overflew my brother's condo on the river, then overflew Sturgis to see all the camping rigs as pictured by another RVer that attended that event and then on to Gillette to fill up with some cheap gas. We had expected isolated rain showers and they were starting to develop as we left Gillette. We were successful in dodging the showers and made it to Cody where we intended to over fly the park by way of the east entrance. This is the picture out the front as we passed the east entrance.

So we naturally did a 180 and flew to the south via this canyon. This canyon is SW of Cody.

This route had some higher country but the ceilings were much better and we ended up at the pass east of Jackson. So we did get to see the Teetons.

The West Yellowstone airport never looked so good.

So we were early enough to take one of our favorite hikes to view Grand Prismatic Spring.

On Sat we drove over to Yellowstone Falls. The weather was beautiful and the canyon colorful as it had rained some Friday night.

Since we are only staying here 2 nights we rented a cabin instead of camping in the pilot campground at the airport. Our SPOT track below shows our extended route to dodge the weather. We are flying out of WYS Sunday morning.

scard · Aug 10, 2013

Thanks Tom.

I'll say it again. When I grow up, I want to be just like Tom and Bonnie, RV nomads during the summer. Never a failure or trouble, only success and good times. Tom, make sure the story keeps playing out just like that

.

aerhed · Aug 10, 2013

I was in the same place at the same time Friday. I went se over togwotee and back out over union pass between the fire TFR's. I beat that rain by half an hour.

tommylewis · Aug 13, 2013

West Yellowstone to Orcas Island

Thanks Scott. We had a few offers by folks to adopt them. Our reply is sorry the RV10 is packed full.

On Sunday morning, we checked the weather for our flight to Orcas Island and found lots of rain over the San Juan Islands with high ceilings and low ceilings over Seattle. Since the TAFs indicated an improvement by afternoon we targeted an arrival at 1pm and took off. We were expecting to fly VFR on top over Seattle and to find the donut hole over the Islands.

This route took us over some rugged Idaho country. This is a picture approaching Salmon Idaho. You can see the band of smoke ahead.

Here is the GRT view of the view of Salmon

As we continued NW, the smoke got very thick. We climbed to 12.5k and were just skimming the top of the smoke.

We had coordinated meeting up with Martin & Claudia at Ellensburg WA. They had left Colorado early Sunday morning, had also encountered smoke near Boise. We talked on 122.75.

This was the view approaching Stampede Pass east of Seattle at 8.5k.

Once through the pass we turned NW toward the islands VFR on top. This is Martin & Claudia in their RV 7a.

As expected as we approached the San Juan Islands the low overcast disappeared and the islands were looking good.

View of East Sound airport as we entered downwind for landing. We are spending 2 weeks enjoying the beautiful August weather here.

We have rented a 4 bedroom house and a van. The first week our son and family are here and Dave and Wendy are here for the second week. It is lovely here in the islands.

tommylewis · Aug 15, 2013

Sights from Orcas Island

We are really enjoying the cool temperatures here on Orcas Island. We have a rent house on the west shore with beach access. This is the view from our deck.

We hiked to Obstruction Pass State Park one day and this was the view through Madrona trees of East Sound.

Last night we went on a whale watch boat. The J Pod of Orca Whales was 37 miles west when we found them. It was just amazing to watch. There were at least 20 Orcas to watch.

One of the view scrolled in so is a little grainy.

Sunset from the boat.

Having a great time.

EdH · Aug 15, 2013

Guessing you might have sailed past the beach of our rental...

That was indeed a spectacular sunset, I didn't think we would get one last night after the late afternoon weather, but it delivered right at the end of the day.

We're back in Friday Harbor today, hopefully off to Oregon tomorrow for a couple of days.

Jaypratt · Aug 17, 2013

Tom and Bonny

Tom and Bonny,

You two are my shining stars, And inspiration. Please keep posting and reminding why I am working. !!! To follow in your wing wake. And wondering path.

Thank You

TroyBranch · Aug 21, 2013

Saw your planes on the ground at Orcas Island on Monday evening when we flew over. I now understand why you love it out there. It is a beautiful place.

We were not so lucky with the whale watching tour. Ended up just off the shore of Victoria in Canadian waters before we caught with them. Only had a few minutes of actual time with them, it more lake 5 hours of wave watching

tommylewis · Aug 24, 2013

End of visit

Yes Ed I do believe we were watching the same sunset. Nice view.

Troy, we have found that the aluminum whale watching boats are better because they are faster and therefore can get out to the whales when they are far out. There is one on Orcas Island at the harbor north of the East Sound airport.

The first week our son and family were with us and Dave and Wendy with Wendy's sister joined us for the second week.

Just another sunset picture.

Another VAF hat sighting on the ferry to Friday Harbor.

Seaplanes at Friday Harbor when we left.

Another picture from Obstruction Pass north up East Sound today on our hike.

A group picture of this last weeks crew on our last night.

So we have had 2 great weeks of cool weather, three Chamber Music Festival concerts, hiking, whale watch boat rides, kayak boat rides, and wonderful sunsets and views from our rent house. We do really enjoy this part of the NW in August.

Tomorrow, Sunday, we fly south to Oregon for 8 days.

tommylewis · Aug 30, 2013

Next leg

Last Sunday three RVs flew south. This is a picture of the islands as we left.

The Olympia Penesala mountains as we flew south.

A look at Mount Rainier.

Three RVs parked waiting for our return.

Martin and Claudia at a Sunday evening dinner at the Helvetia Tavern they first visited on a Van's Homecoming in the early 90s. They introduced us to this pub a few years later.

We are on the Oregon coast enjoying the cool temps and great hiking.

Martin Sutter · Aug 30, 2013

We were initroduced to the Helvetia by the locals during our first visit to the Van's homecoming in 1991. Back then the the homecoming was held at Sunset Airpark where Van lives near Hillsboro. Helvetia Tavern is a neat pub just north of town in the beautiful Oregon country side known for it's delicious monster hamburgers and good local beers. It got it's name from the locale it is situated in. Helvetia is the latin name for Switzerland and was given to this area by the many Swiss that settled there. We have returned to the tavern almost every year since then during our annual visits to the north west and have spent many fun hours with RV people from all over there.

Martin Sutter
Building and flying RV's since 1988
EAA Technical Councelor

NavyIBNFE · Sep 1, 2013

Awesome!

Great pictures and stories-

I especially love the ones from WA. I am a born and raised Washingtonian and love the NW. Lived in FL for the last 5 years and finally got orders to Naval Air Station Whidbey Island last spring. I fly on P-3s just South of Orcas Islands and see a bunch of RV traffic on sunny days.

If you're ever up North in Canada check out Comox- amazing scenery.

Looking forward to the next installation of pictures and stories!

tommylewis · Sep 1, 2013

Week on Oregon coast

We have had a nice week on the Oregon coast in a rent house in Pacific City. We had a rainy day on Thursday so we drove to McMinville to the Evergreen Museum. This is a picture of Tom & Bonnie in the pilot seats of the Spruce Goose.

This is a picture of the Oregon coast.

On Monday the three RVs are splitting up and going our separate ways. It has been a great time traveling together.

panhandler1956 · Sep 2, 2013

tkatc said:
Johnson Creek is on my Bucket List!!

Me too! Every time I see pictures of this place or watch one of the great videos of it, I just can't wait to get out there!

tommylewis · Sep 3, 2013

Sun River trip

Monday we flew out of Hillsboro just as weather was approaching from the west.

Cascades from the west.

Cascades from the east.

We flew down to Sun River to spend 4 days and to celebrate our 46th wedding anniversary. While we have flown in to Sun River for lunch we have never spent a night here. A very nice high end resort.

A great sunset tonight.

Mike S · Sep 3, 2013

Congratulations!!

tommylewis said:
We flew down to Sun River to spend 4 days and to celebrate our 46th wedding anniversary.

Tom, and Bonnie, congrats on the anniversary

tommylewis · Sep 8, 2013

Lake Tahoe

Friday we flew out of Sun River heading for Minden. The weather that morning started out as marginal but by the time we had loaded our RV10 had changed with some blue sky showing. As we climbed on top this was the view south of Sun River.

As we flew south we had a great tailwind at 9500. We were LOP at 164 TAS at 11.6 ghp and a GS of 185 kt. Check out our panel.

As we flew south the clouds disappeared and Mt Shasta looked good in the distance.

As we approached Lake Tahoe the smoke was apparent. The airports were all reporting 10 miles. This is a picture with us east bound toward Minden over the eastern shore of Lake Tahoe.

A picture of the Minden Airport.

Fortunately the smoke has cleared by Sunday and the lake is beautiful as usual.

We are spending a week at Tahoe before going to the Reno Air Races next weekend.

Ironflight · Sep 9, 2013

tommylewis said:
We are spending a week at Tahoe before going to the Reno Air Races next weekend.

Well heck, we don't didn't know you were going to be in the neighborhood!! Louise is out here as well,and if you get bored up there in paradise, you could drop down the hill and check out our new airpark home (under construction) in Dayton (Carson). PM me for a phone number if you want to get together, and/or I hope we see at the races and the R3 BBQ!

Paul

tommylewis · Sep 10, 2013

Week in Tahoe

Thanks Paul for the invite. We had a nice visit to Paul and Louise's new house Monday afternoon. I believe we were the first Texas friends to visit the site. Here is a picture of the front of their house. It is going to be great.

We took a new hike in Grover Hot Springs state park which was about 20 min south of Minden.

Today we hiked the Rubicon trail which run from Bliss State park to Embrald Bay. This is one of my favorite hikes. This was a view out to the lake.

tommylewis · Sep 16, 2013

Reno Air Races

We spent the weekend at the Reno Air Races. We had not been here for 20 years so were looking forward to the races and were not disappointed. It was a very enjoyable weekend.

This was a missing man formation taken just prior to the pull-up.

The Patriats Aerobatic Team flew every day. They do a very good jet team show.

The Unlimited Air Race Sunday afternoon was quite a display of racing airplanes. Voodoo won the race.

While the Unlimited planes were very entertaining, I found the Sport Class races to be the most enjoyable to watch.

The Reno RV Rendezvous hangar party was well attended on Sat night. Thanks Dan for hosting.

We are moving on tomorrow as we start to head home.

tommylewis · Sep 19, 2013

Minden to Laughlin

On Monday morning we returned the rent car to the Minden airport and loaded up the RV10 to start our trip home. We flew from Minden to Laughlin Monday morning. The scenery was a major contrast to that seen during our travels in the NW.

This was the view down the valley to the SW of our route toward Bishop.

Terrain along the Ca/NV border.

Approaching the Colorado River south of Las Vegas.

Lake on Colorado River just north of Laughlin.

View of Bullhead/Laughlin airport on left side. Bullhead City is on the AZ side of the river and Laughlin and the casinos are on the NV side of the river.

A look to the west on short final.

The flight was just a little over 2 hours with variable winds for the first half turning to headwinds for the last half. Some bumps, as expected over the desert during the morning as it heats up. We spent two nights here.

tommylewis · Sep 19, 2013

Moving to Az

On Wed morning we loaded up the RV10 and flew to Glendale in the Phoenix area to visit Bonnie's brother for a few days. Upon loading we found a low nose tire so we added air before taking off.

The view toward the casinos on takeoff from Laughlin.

The view of the London Bridge at Lake Havasu City while flying over.

We are spend a couple days here before flying back to Texas.

tommylewis · Sep 24, 2013

Back to Texas

On Sat the weather to TX looked great so we loaded up the RV10 and headed home.

This was the view on takeoff to the north from Glendale.

The view of a lake to the east of Phoenix.

The desert across AZ was very green this year.

So our dream summer trip has come to a end with a successful flight home. I will try to put together a summary and post that in the next few days. Thanks to all VAF folks that have encouraged us in our adventure.

TroyBranch · Sep 24, 2013

Thanks for all your hard work posting. I enjoyed watching your travels very much. Glad to see it was a total success. I am sure it will not be long and you will start planning for next year. The group is always welcome back this way, we will have to make time for food at our house the next time through.

Summer 2013 Travel

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