Sad Trip without an RV-10

This is different kind of trip report. I could’ve written a book here, but instead I want to share my experience and beg for your response.

I ordered my first kit in the summer of 2013 (a full 3 years ago) with the #1 mission to be the family’s magic carpet for vacations. Since that time, I’ve made steady progress on the construction. This isn’t the fastest build out there, but it should be finished before the kids start high school.

So this past week we had our summer vacation in Florida with a stopover at Mammoth Caves in Kentucky. I left work last Friday with the hopes of rest, relaxation and an opportunity to explore this great country with my wife and two kids. Hint…this is where the story turns ugly.

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It was 16 hours by car from Indiana. There were 1,103 miles each way that can be covered in about 6.5 hours by air in the RV10. Needless to say, my wife got tired of hearing “we’d already be there by now if you’d only help rivet more often”. That’s my version of every pilots favorite “we’d be there by now if we had flown”.

We’ve done the drive before straight through, but in most cases it requires an overnight stay somewhere. That’s typically another calendar day (each way) wasted and another $150 for hotel and meals (each way).
When I woke up Saturday morning (July 2nd), I promise I was calm. The car loading went very smooth because my wife had planned extremely well in the days leading up to departure. But then we got on the highway with every other knucklehead on holiday.

Why can’t people realize that the left lane is for PASSING, not parking? Please do me a favor and check your 6 at least occasionally to see if fifty people are behind you blinking their headlights and honking their horns. I’m not a leadfoot, but can easily be persuaded in order to get away from stupid. This continued all the way to Florida.

Atlanta is a mess. Two traffic jams and we’ve lost another hour the day. In 100 degree temps. I haven’t made it through that city once, no matter the time of day, without getting slowed down.

And what’s with the billboards along I-75 through Florida? Families are constantly faced with images of strippers and abortion.

The last thing about Florida I noticed was that during the roundtrip, I didn’t see a single car pulled over on I-75 southbound to Orlando (the happiest place on Earth). The northbound lanes however were ruthless. Was that the state trying to squeeze every single penny out of the exiting tourists that they can or was it my imagination?

Now being from Indiana some might say I’m used to a slower pace, but people seriously need to be more courteous to each other. There is an attitude of “me first and too bad for you” for far too many in this country. When you walk through a theme-park with a narrow aisle way and have 10 people abreast it’s going to cause problems. If the guy who pressed the button for the elevator gets squeezed out because everybody else rushed to the opened doors first, you’re being rude. When you’re on the beach and shake out your towel in the wind and the sand flies into your neighbors face, maybe think about an apology. And if by chance you happen to be exiting a theater shoulder to shoulder with 1,000 of your closest friends (who don’t shower) understand that you can’t cut, you’re not that special.

Vacation was not restful. There was very little relaxation. The experiences were great and I had a wonderful time with my family, but the process of getting around was just awful.

So how will the airplane change our life?

I can’t answer that yet since I’m still in the dreaming phase, but that’s where you can help in the next few weeks.

First, help me with some additional motivation. Please write up a trip report for any upcoming flying you do…I’m thinking Oshkosh here. I’ll devour the details with earnest (much appreciation Ed Kranz and Dan Horton today). Things like how you load it, what you take, performance, routing, special nuances that our RV’s enjoy. While trying to keep this from sounding snooty, I’d love to hear how you escape the horrors I’ve experienced while driving. How did the RV help you stay on top of “flyover country”? We are blessed with opportunity. How are you using it?

Second, I can’t help but think about the upcoming Oshkosh and how we are/can be different. After being around large crowds in Orlando and the way people were behaving, I know the pilot community is different. I know the people on this forum are different. So think about maybe giving up your seat on the people movers to a less mobile generation (older and younger). Or waiting your turn to hear about the latest electronic gizmo. It’s going to be hot and cramped for everybody. Just be polite. RV’s will have a huge presence this year and we are all ambassadors.

I know. That's 10 minutes you'll never get back. But look at it from my perspective, I had to make the drive.

Off to the shop. What is that Rosie says?

Keep poundin' them rivets because it's ALL WORTH IT!!!! Rosie

Tim---I certainly know the feeling. things do get in the way. Kids, illness, recovery, business, more illness related stuff. You are not alone in this, all of us have had setbacks. Some more than others.
Keep the dream alive. I have a client that has been working on his RV6 for more than 10 years--closer 15. My close friend Lee Logan told to to do something each day that made progress on the project. LOL, mine has been veiled in moving the business forward to create the $$$ to do it, AND buy back the time so I can devote the energy to the business, AND my 7. Small steps, become giant leaps.
Tom

I'm about to drive 13 hours to Oshkosh next week. I tried running down the driveway with just a partially built empennage kit but no luck with flight this year.
Does that help?

A couple of years ago my wife and i drove to Oshkosh. About 12 or 13 hours of driving, with a stopover in Minneapolis to visit the HIGHLY over-rated mall there. Miss it if you have the chance.

Last year I rode along in a buddy's RV-7a. Couple of hours. I think we spent less time flying BOTH ways than my wife and I spent stopping for gas, potty and meals.

This year I'm flying there in my own RV-12... unless, of course, the trip gets rained out like every single trip I have tried to take since I brought the thing home last fall. Say what you will, the car or pickup will get us anywhere we want to go in any kind of weather, with 100.0% reliability over the past 20 years or so. So far I'm batting .000 for anything farther than a hamburger run in the 12, if you don't count the initial trip home. Even that one I was only able to make because I had an experienced ATP/CFI/CFII pro in the seat next to me; I don't think I would have even attempted flying in that weather by myself.

I'm sure my luck will improve, but I finally fully understand that old saying - "Time to spare? Go by air." So, keep pounding and squeezing rivets!! You'll love the end result... but pay attention to all those times you're driving down the road in truly miserable weather, so you won't feel as bad while you're still ground-bound.

And if I do manage to make the flight -- I'll write it up here. I promise!

I've made only short cross-country trips in my RV-8 but I've made dozens of very long trips in my Mooney, most between Denver and points along the California coast. The Mooney can make it nonstop to any place in CA in 4.5 hours or less. Even though it's not an RV, I hope Doug will accept this short story that I think will help keep you motivated.

Up until two years ago, I had not made a road trip since right after graduating college. I flew everywhere. But then my luck changed. We were flying the Mooney from Denver to San Luis Obispo to attend my sister's wedding. About 20 minutes into the flight, right over the Continental Divide, my oil pressure dropped to zero. I had to turn around and go back. Fortunately it was only a faulty sensor, but my wife wouldn't get back in the plane that day, so we ended up driving.

It was severe clear VFR the entire way. I clenched the wheel and gritted my teeth in anger as the endless driving hours went by... all 20 of them. Instead of arriving at 11am, we arrived at 2am the next morning. Instead of feeling refreshed and invigorated after another successful flight, I felt stressed out and utterly exhausted (my wife's driving during the final 6 hours of the trip was definitely a contributing factor... thank God she's not a pilot).

Once flying trips like these become commonplace in your RV-10, and you find yourself utterly relaxed as you look down on the traffic jams and squalor below, your RV grin will become a permanent fixture on your face.

As to your comments about our society today... it has decayed to a pathetic level. I'm 52 years old and I can't believe the decline I've seen in my lifetime. My wife and I no longer attend events where there will be crowds if we can avoid it (OSH being a notable exception for reasons everyone here understands). It seems that a majority of people in the general public are impolite, inconsiderate, crude and downright stupid. It's just no fun dealing with the general public any more.

Keep at it

It took me and a partner seven years and 6000 hours to complete a full IFR RV-6.

I then got my IFR rating in it.

I then started traveling in it with my wife (who likes to fly). Now we roam the eastern United States to visit family and go on vacations. We bought a home in Port Charlotte FL this year and have been down three times from our home in Ohio so far this year in the airplane. I absolutely dread having to drive anywhere long distance. If the airplane is not dispatch-ready at all times, I get depressed.

As I have become more experienced and comfortable with planning and executing IFR flights, I am finally getting the utility from the airplane that I always dreamed about.

Make no mistake: You have to really, really want it, and be prepared to invest a significant amount of time and money to stay safe. And of course, you still can't fly in ice, so in the winter, flying long cross countries on a schedule is questionable. There is stress involved in flying cross country. All the responsibility for planning and execution is on my shoulders. I am never really relaxed until I am home again.

But I wouldn't change a thing. The freedom we have is unbelievable.

LeRoy Johnston
RV-6A Esperanza 1060 hours

Tim,

Glad you enjoyed my trip writeup and video. I've got another one coming out (hopefully by the end of the week) for our trip to Door County, WI over the 4th of July.

We haven't done a ton of traveling (yet) but what we've already noticed is that the more planning you do ahead of time, the more smoothly the trip goes. Weird, right?

This last trip to Door County, it was severe VFR the entire time, so weather was almost no concern. I am working on my instrument rating, and I'm hopeful that will up the chances of getting weathered in (or out) while still maintaining the margins of safety that I won't fly without.

Also, on this last trip, we didn't have dedicated ground transportation... other than a shared crew car that was available sometimes, and some free bikes. Having a rental car dropped off at the airport for you when you get there would go a long ways to reduce headaches during your trip.

On the RV10, loading is pretty simple. If it fits, you can take it! I've got it pretty good with a wife that's small, and a toddler that's even smaller. With those two and me (also not huge) we run out of volume before we hit gross weight. Also, with the empty CG on my plane where it is, even with the wife and kid in the back seat, and around 95 lbs in the baggage compartment (shoved to the ceiling), we were only about 2/3s of the way to the aft CG limit... empty or full fuel. And we were a few hundred lbs under gross. Also our packing will improve as we learn how to "Tetris" things in better, and we replace some of our bulky heavy things (like pillows, luggage, sleeping bags, etc) with lighter weight "camping style" things.

But so far, my favorite part is that the plane allows us to do spur of the moment trips. We didn't decide that we were going to spend the 4th of July weekend in Door County until Thursday, and we left Friday afternoon. All that we needed were a few hours of planning, some decent weather, and away you go!

TFeeney said:

It was 16 hours by car from Indiana. There were 1,103 miles each way that can be covered in about 6.5 hours by air in the RV10.

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Sorry, i dont mean to make you feel any worse but not sure about 6.5 hours. I usually flight plan 165 knots so ETE shows 4:44 with today's calm winds for KLAF to KCOI. You would probably need to carry extra fuel, which i do. Still, i plan 1 hour for each fuel stop so 5:44.

Me too...

..I am definitely looking forward to finishing my 10 and taking the family flying with it. It's so hard to free up the time to work on it, but I am steadily making progress. I should finish it before I die. If I die before, well, technically I finished.

jchang10 said:

Sorry, i dont mean to make you feel any worse but not sure about 6.5 hours. I usually flight plan 165 knots so ETE shows 4:44 with today's calm winds for KLAF to KCOI.

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AAARRRGGGGHHHH!
The flight planning app still had my default Cessna speeds.
That's just painful!

So basically my wife needed to start pounding more rivets before we even made it out of Indiana. Gotta love these machines.

You are a lucky man

You are a lucky man and you need to count your blessings from time to time.
Just because you are building an airplane does not mean you deserve an unlimited amount of time to devote to your favorite hobby.
It sounds like you have a nice family and are blessed with good health and friends.

Everyone has a life that gets in the way of building when instead it should enhances your
building experience.
Put things in perspective:
My wife and I were expecting our second child during the build of our RV8, when found out about a severe birth defect late in her pregnancy. It is a long and sad story and later that year we laid that baby boy to rest.

Life takes strange turns and by all accounts your life is pretty good.
Enjoy the process and don't loose the support of your family and friends along the way. When you do get there and finally take the RV-10 up with your family
you'll be the hero with a big grin when you hear " are we there yet?" on the intercom.

You asked for trip reports...what I'd offer is a view that the trip most important is the one you're on, building the plane. I started my project in 1999, yes 1999 and it's still not done, although it's going to the airport on the 23rd. It WILL fly soon. Most of us do not have as much time to build as we think we do, especially as young parents.

In the almost 17 years since I drove my first rivet, I've raised my daughter and son, sent them through school, moved three times, gotten fired once, started a business and have gotten to enjoy two granddaughters. Some of this was unforeseen and certainly unplanned, but that's life. the most important thing is to enjoy your life while you're building the plane and to find a little time most days to keep the project moving. Relax and enjoy THIS trip!