We had planned a trip to take the kids to Disney land. Plans always seem to change and this trip was no different. We had the plane packed and we were just waiting for a good weather slot to go. The weather was looking good to go but our daughter became sick with a fever. She was clearly ill so we put off the trip until she was better.
A week went by and the weather was looking great again to go. The timing was good as we would be leaving on a Saturday morning. Weather was not good through SW Montana and all the way south through Utah. It was forcasted for high winds causing hazerdous driving conditions, not good for flying either. No trouble, we would go through Denver, nothing wrong with a bit of extra flying. The plan was to get as far south as we could so the cold front would not be quite as violent when it went through.
That morning our son woke up early which was great, he felt warm, you guessed it, he had a fever now. He did not act sick and was ready to go. The fever was gone as soon as we gave him some tylenol. I then had to make a decision, go or no go. I figured if we had an airline ticket there would be no choosing. Seeing how this would be the second time cancelling we would fly to Great Falls and see how he did.
Off we went and cleared customs in short order. Our son was fine and ready for the next leg. I had talked to Scott Mills as to where to stop and he suggested Greely for lunch. Flight plan filed and off we went.
It was a long bumpy ride. Most airports along the route were over 30kts and we had about a 40kt cross wind at altitude. We chugged along as the kids played with the Apple Technology.
As we approached Casper the famous line came up. "Dad I need to pee!!" Are you really going to make me land in these winds? The flying part is fine, the doors are no fun to open in 40kts. The instigator soon dozed off and we pressed on with our fingers crossed. 15 minutes out of Greely he woke and really needed to go. He learned how to hold it and we made it into Greely for lunch.
We took our time getting the plane tied down and soon found out the restaurant closed in five minutes. Well that plan did not quite work but we got a car to head into town. It was a nice break and the decision was to get over the rocks again into Santa Fe for the night.
We climbed out and soon got cleared through the Denver Bravo south bound. We looked down at Front Range as we went by. (We will visit one day Scott) Winds were now straight on the noze. Under 30 kts so we were happy. We had planned to Santa Fe Via Pueblo. There was many dust devil/storms getting kicked up making the ride fairly rough.
We soon turned on course direct to Santa Fe and started our climbed.
Center was quick to advise that the minimum IFR Altitide through our route was 16k. We flew the pass and were soon over the Rio Grande.
Not long we were in our descent to Santa Fe just as the sun was setting. It was a good day with 1050 nm flown.
That night is when the plans started to change. I woke up in the middle of the night with a not so good stomach. Needless to say I got bad food and was in bed for then entire next day. Something you always hope never happens while traveling in your own plane. I could finally eat the next day "somewhat" but felt pretty good. The weather was looking fine to Phoenix so we had filed a direct route for Glendale.
Getting packed up. Thought it was supposed to warm this far south!
Not long west of Albuquerque we hit lowering ceilings and snow. That was in the forcast for Santa Fe that afternoon and all the METARs looked good west bound. Trouble was there was no airports where the weather was down and I did not know how bad it would be until I got into it. The XM showed it as lightly scattered, the vis was just to poor to fly in that kind of terrain. We turned around and went for lowering terrain.
See Continuation.....
A week went by and the weather was looking great again to go. The timing was good as we would be leaving on a Saturday morning. Weather was not good through SW Montana and all the way south through Utah. It was forcasted for high winds causing hazerdous driving conditions, not good for flying either. No trouble, we would go through Denver, nothing wrong with a bit of extra flying. The plan was to get as far south as we could so the cold front would not be quite as violent when it went through.
That morning our son woke up early which was great, he felt warm, you guessed it, he had a fever now. He did not act sick and was ready to go. The fever was gone as soon as we gave him some tylenol. I then had to make a decision, go or no go. I figured if we had an airline ticket there would be no choosing. Seeing how this would be the second time cancelling we would fly to Great Falls and see how he did.
Off we went and cleared customs in short order. Our son was fine and ready for the next leg. I had talked to Scott Mills as to where to stop and he suggested Greely for lunch. Flight plan filed and off we went.
It was a long bumpy ride. Most airports along the route were over 30kts and we had about a 40kt cross wind at altitude. We chugged along as the kids played with the Apple Technology.
As we approached Casper the famous line came up. "Dad I need to pee!!" Are you really going to make me land in these winds? The flying part is fine, the doors are no fun to open in 40kts. The instigator soon dozed off and we pressed on with our fingers crossed. 15 minutes out of Greely he woke and really needed to go. He learned how to hold it and we made it into Greely for lunch.
We took our time getting the plane tied down and soon found out the restaurant closed in five minutes. Well that plan did not quite work but we got a car to head into town. It was a nice break and the decision was to get over the rocks again into Santa Fe for the night.
We climbed out and soon got cleared through the Denver Bravo south bound. We looked down at Front Range as we went by. (We will visit one day Scott) Winds were now straight on the noze. Under 30 kts so we were happy. We had planned to Santa Fe Via Pueblo. There was many dust devil/storms getting kicked up making the ride fairly rough.
We soon turned on course direct to Santa Fe and started our climbed.
Center was quick to advise that the minimum IFR Altitide through our route was 16k. We flew the pass and were soon over the Rio Grande.
Not long we were in our descent to Santa Fe just as the sun was setting. It was a good day with 1050 nm flown.
That night is when the plans started to change. I woke up in the middle of the night with a not so good stomach. Needless to say I got bad food and was in bed for then entire next day. Something you always hope never happens while traveling in your own plane. I could finally eat the next day "somewhat" but felt pretty good. The weather was looking fine to Phoenix so we had filed a direct route for Glendale.
Getting packed up. Thought it was supposed to warm this far south!
Not long west of Albuquerque we hit lowering ceilings and snow. That was in the forcast for Santa Fe that afternoon and all the METARs looked good west bound. Trouble was there was no airports where the weather was down and I did not know how bad it would be until I got into it. The XM showed it as lightly scattered, the vis was just to poor to fly in that kind of terrain. We turned around and went for lowering terrain.
See Continuation.....
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