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September 2015 Ottawa-Colorado RV-9A vacation

Lycosaurus

Lycosaurus

Well Known Member
For us, September is a great time to travel especially with regards to weather. This year we aimed for travelling towards Colorado and visit some sites along the way.

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CYRP - KANJ

CYRP - KANJ

First day was spent travelling to Sanderson Field (KANJ) for customs. We filed IFR allowing us to fly over a cloud layer and maintaining the flight following required by customs.

CYRP - KANJ

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Cool weather leaving Ottawa on a crisp September 14 morning.

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The folks at Sanderson field offered to lend us a car so we could go visit some local sites and have lunch. Tip of the hat to KANJ.

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We will have to make it a point to visit the Sault Ste. Marie Bushplane Museum at some point.

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KANJ - 83D

Same afternoon, we decided to head over to St. Ignace, which is right across from Mackinaw island. We had already been to Mackinaw a couple of years ago, and it is definitely a great vacation destination.

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At St. Ignace (83D) we were offered a crew car for the night. Wow, this trip is off to a great start :)

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83D - KRAP

Day 2 we we head for South Dakota with a stop just north of Minneapolis.

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Our fuel stop is KPNM Princeton Municipal airport. While un-attended, they also had a crew car available, but we decided to continue heading west. Some of the lowest fuel price was found here.

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KPNM to KRAP

Off from KPNM to Rapid City (KRAP).

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We arrive and meet another RV9 owner. Unfortunately, I don't recall his name.

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Not many planes on the field, but Les of L&D Aero Service tells us we can park there for free (unlike the other FBO on the field that takes your money for basically a free spot).

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So Les offers us a car for the night. Who are we to say no. Thank you very much Les and L&D Aero Service.

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There remains some confusion as to the correct spelling of an airplane shelter.

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KRAP to W43

This segment of our trip is for visiting Devils Tower and Mt. Rushmore. Some high winds were observed and the ride was bumpy. Nevertheless Shirley managed to take some decent photos.

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Onwards to KLMO

After to fuel stop at W43 near Devils Tower, we headed for Longmont Colorado.

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This time we needed a car rental, and went up Flagstaff for a great view of Boulder.

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While there are reptiles and wildlife to be cautious of, we only encountered this guy by the side of the road.

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I challenged Shirley to walk on the 'wild side'. She did well and remained dry.

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After Shirley's success, I was given the same challenge. Challenge accepted.

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Boulder and Estes Park visit

Boulder is a really nice town to visit. We also toured the university grounds.

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Shirley posing with one of her favorite poets, Robert Frost.

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This one is our first car rental of our trip.

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We also drove over to Estes park. Here we are told that this hotel (Stanley Hotel) was Stephen King's inspiration for the movie The Shining (he stayed there during a writers's block).

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KLMO - KBJC - KCOS

We plan heading over to Colorado Springs, but first a stopover in Boulder to visit a long time friend Luca. He moved from Montreal to Denver a good 25 years ago.

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Ready to leave Longmont

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Short hop to Rocky Mountain airport.

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Landmark Aviation treated us like kings.

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Our plane in good company.

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From the news, looks like Landmark got swallowed up by Signature :(

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Meeting up with our friend Luca.

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Colorado Springs here we come.

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Some trouble with the canopy latch. It was seized, and badly needed some lubrication. The Cutter Aviation FBO guys were great in hunting down some 3M penetrating fluid. I'll have to take it apart soon and clean it out. It has been 7 years!

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Touring form Colorado Springs

We visited the Manitou Cliff Dwelling just outside Colorado Springs. Touristy thing to do, but we actually found it quite interesting.

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We then ventured further into the mountains to visit a gold mine.

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We also visited the nearby town of Cripple Creek. Lot of casinos... seems to be the major source of income.

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Shirley panning for gold.

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Looks like we can afford the gas to fly back home afterall :)

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KCOS - KMCK - KOMA

Our next destination is Omaha to visit the Strategic Air and Space Museum.

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We stop for fuel at McCook Ben Nelson Airport.

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We are offered another crew car to go into town. Thank you very much Red Willow Aviation.

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... and eat Mexican.

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Arrival at Omaha (filed IFR but took a visual approach).

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TAC AIR handled our car and hotel reservations.

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Omaha

Booking through the FBOs gave us pretty good discounts on the hotels (typically about 30% or more) and most picked us up at the airport. We would save the car rental for the next day, so we had a full day's use.

This Holiday Inn had a water park.

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We picked up our rental car at the FBO the next day, as well as some change of clothing from the plane. We met a grade 7 and 8 group of students that were being given a tour of the FBO with their teachers. We offered for them to take turns sitting in the plane. Pretty sharp kids.

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Ashalnd, NEbraska

The Strategic Air and Space museum is located just outside Ahsland NE. First we decided to visit the small town and have brunch.

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even more...

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Don't know what this airplane is, but we found it when we sneaked to the back of the museum's parking lot.

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Not sure if this is the original paint job on this plane. The color looks really off.

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Let's get out of Dodge

Some severe weather was moving in, so we decided not to stay a 2nd night in Omaha. We ask for a south departure to get us clear of the menacing couds. As we were taxiing for takeoff, the controller is asking us further details of our destination. My inner voice is saying "get me outta here quick" as large raindrops are landing on the canopy and the horizon is not looking very good anymore.

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VFR departure to the south, and we get bounced around for a while as we are trying to out pace the storm. Good thing these airplanes are fast moving.

Pretty dark clouds looming off the left wing.

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I had purchased a Raspberry Pi before our departure and installed Stratux firmware. Came in very handy for metars and forecasts during our trip. In this case, it was very helpful in also visualizing the satellite weather on-the-go, even if a little delayed. That weather system lingered over Omaha for the next couple of days.

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Better weather out east.

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Landing at KBMI for refueling, we were again served like kings and queens by the local small FBO (Synergy). These guys and gals were really amazing, laying a carpet for Shirley to step on (I kid you not). After fueling up for $100, Brianna at the counter asks us if we would like a hotel reservation, and do we wish to borrow the crew car for the night. Wow!

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Car for the night.

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KBMI to KUSE and back to Carp CYRP

Next morning we were preparing to depart KBMI when Terry (aka Rupester on VAF) introduced himself as an RV9A owner. His plane looks like it has just received its pink slip, it is in pristine condition.

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Departing with good weather.

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Here is the Stratux being plugged in. I am using it with an iPad mini and Fltplan Go.

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KUSE Fulton County airport, OH

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New FBO in town. Very helpful.

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We had already filed eAPIS at KBMI, so all we needed to do is file IFR and call our Canadian border office to offer an arrival time.

Light clouds on departure thickening as we headed east. We were vectored around Detroit by the controllers.

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Being greeted with a nice sunset as we approach Ottawa.

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The Chateau at KBMI - Bloominton IL

Brianna from the Synergy FBO had made hotel reservations for us to stay at the Chateau. Price was right, at about $70 for the night. We were quite surprised when we arrived at our hotel.

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Epilogue

After 9 days and about 2800 nm of flying, we feel so lucky to be able to see sights in this most unique way. In general, the FBOs were extremely helpful, even when making puny fuel purchases that no where compares with what a small jet would be shelling out. They still treated us royally.

We're back home now, and these are all just memories. Just thought we would share them with you, as well as being a reminder for us as to how lucky we are in being able to pursue this dream. Until our next escapade.

Alfio and Shirley
 
Sweet story! Great planning great sights great pictures! You guys are very creative in choosing destinations and routes. Thanks for your time writing about the trip. I hope someday you will post about that incredible journey of yours trekking the Down Under. :)
 
Excellent Trip Report!

Thanks, Alfio and Shirley, for the inspiring photos and the details of your latest adventure in your RV-9A. An aerial tour of the American mid-west is definitely on my bucket list.
 
It was a WUNderful surprise to encounter you and Shirley at my home airport. meeting and talking with you both was the highlight of my week.

GREAT trip report! So glad you had such good Wx and were treated well by so many FBOs. It's reassuring to see. :)
 
Trip Report

Enjoyed your trip report very much.
The Chateau at KBMI is interesting, I've been there too.

Thanks for posting!
 
Great Read!

Alfio,

I really enjoyed the trip report over lunch. I just wish you could have added some pictures - that really would have made it better.....:D

Great Stuff!
 
Thanks for the compliments, guys. Trip was great, posting the photos on this site is a bit of a pain, but knowing you enjoy it makes it worthwhile.

Vlad said:
Sweet story! Great planning great sights great pictures! You guys are very creative in choosing destinations and routes. Thanks for your time writing about the trip. I hope someday you will post about that incredible journey of yours trekking the Down Under. :)
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Other than meeting Jon Johanson, the rest is not RV related. I will consider posting it on another site and I will let you know.


Sledrider said:
Thanks, Alfio and Shirley, for the inspiring photos and the details of your latest adventure in your RV-9A. An aerial tour of the American mid-west is definitely on my bucket list.
Click to expand...

Now that you have flown off the 25 hours, we are waiting to get wind of your trip reports :)

Rupester said:
It was a WUNderful surprise to encounter you and Shirley at my home airport. meeting and talking with you both was the highlight of my week.

GREAT trip report! So glad you had such good Wx and were treated well by so many FBOs. It's reassuring to see. :)
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It was nice meeting you as well. We had the opportunity of meeting another acquaintance, Austin, in Wyoming, however timing and weather did not work out.

I must say that we had a great experience with the FBOs. We somehow managed to pick the good ones this time around.

fabricflyer said:
Enjoyed you trip pictures. Would like to know where you got your Axius sunscreens.

Allen
Very slow build RV7A build
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Bought them at a garage sale, and they seem to fit perfectly. I have one of them that has a 'tired' suction cup, so will see if I can fix that. Would not know where to buy these... after your email I checked Amazon, but could not find that size screen.

petehowell said:
Alfio,

I really enjoyed the trip report over lunch. I just wish you could have added some pictures - that really would have made it better.....:D

Great Stuff!
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I apologize for the volume of photos Pete. We did have over 700 photos snapped (Shirley has a trigger-happy finger) so consider yourself lucky it wasn't more. Hope you did not bust your lunch hour schedule :)

By the way, we also enjoy your trip reports as well. You might consider adding a photo or two to compete :rolleyes:
(I jest of course)
 
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tc1234c said:
Alfio and Shirley,

Wonderful trip and great report! I like your panel too!
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Thanks Ted. We really like our GNS480 GPS once you get your mind wrapped around it. It is so quick to enter a flight plan. Given that this was a later upgrade to the panel, it all seemed to fit in nicely. I still have not painted to the top and bottom radio stack panel. One day :)
 
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