Somewhere through the fog of unconscious slumber I hear the rumble of a Beaver-on-floats departing from the bay. As I awaken a bit more I hear the distant hum of a motorboat. With eyes still closed I fully awaken to the sound of gently lapping waves. I sense a very subtle rocking – barely perceptible. I was on the houseboat near Skagway, Alaska and life was good!
I had returned home after a 50-day, retro-plane, world tour and a stint on a Central American Aircraft Carrier…I just needed to relax with my J.S. Bach and some waterpaints. But my dear wife asked, as she often does, “Why is it that you get to travel the globe while we sit here at home? Why can’t you ever take US on a vacation?” This coupled with a request from Dave, one of my church pastors, to learn more about this “simming” I do, ended me up here, in Alaska, on the houseboat, playing Josh Groban CDs instead of Bach. (Long time readers will notice the glaring lack of a link to http://www.plr.org/ this time!) I was just getting into the vacation frame of mind, about 1.75-days worth of vacation to be exact, when the fax from Tony came in. Seems the little FBO in Bend, Oregon was inundated with international as well as domestic vacationers and they needed more pilots. Being this Club’s Founder and “President” I felt it was my duty to respond. The next day I left in the Club’s ERJ 145,
we headed out to runway 19 for departure, picking up the High-Altitude airways back down to the lower 48. I flew a left pattern with short (for me) 5-mile final into S07’s runway 34, arriving at 6:28 PM local time.
I reported early the next morning, hoping to get a jump on the afternoon winds. Tony greeted me with a smile and a firm hand-shake, “Good to see you Ron, hang-on just a bit while I get the other pilots lined up here.” Apparently rather than flying any of the last couple monthly challenges we have present on http://www.toomuchfs.com/ , Tony has been here drumming up some summertime income by booking a Flight Charter Service! What a devious little devil he’s been. Finally Tony makes his way back to me, “Sorry for making you wait Ron” he begins explaining, “I have something a little different, a little ‘special’ for you this month.” Tony had given me a route which was, while scenic and challenging enough, different than the other pilots’. He had leased a C-182 from Evergreen Aviation, ( http://www.sprucegoose.org/ ), and it needed to be returned…BUT, there were 3-4 contracts that needed to be full-filled in the process. “I knew you were my man.” he said.
First, a businessman had an evening golf and dinner meeting at the Sunriver Resort, ( http://www.sunriver-resort.com/ ) not far from Bend. I’d need to shuttle the guy down there where I’d spend the night. Then, I’d have to go pick up his Fishing Guide from OR29, “Gopher Gulch,” in the AM, taking both of them up to Lake Billy Chinook for weekend fishing. With gusting winds out of the northeast I left at 16:00 from Bend’s runway 34, down to Sunriver where incidentally, years ago, my future wife joined me for one of my Father’s Business meetings – we spent the weekend canoeing and enjoying the catered meals! The next morning was a tough, slip-to-land, northbound approach into Gopher Gulch, where we picked up the guide and headed off to the lake for fishing. From there I had three guys at three airports to pick up and shuttle off to a sailplane convention at Portland’s Mulino Airport. First stop, the 2,800-foot gravel strip at Santiam Junction, next was the 2,600-foot dirt strip at McKenzie River then on to the 2,100-foot asphalt strip at Sweet Home before taking all of them up to Mulino, a 3,600-foot asphalt runway.
Lastly, I had two old retired pilots who wanted to take a tour of Evergreen’s Aviation Museum in McMinnville, Oregon. First stop was the 2,040-foot grass strip at Big Sky Ranch (42OR), then the tough, one-way-in-no-going-missed-approach into Flying M Ranch at OR05, a 2,150-foot grass strip. With both of them on board I departed eastbound and tracked to the McMinnville NDB for an uneventful landing on runway 22.
With passengers safely at their museum, I turned in the Cessna at the Evergreen Aviation World Headquarters and then set off myself, to take a gander at the beautiful P-51 (and about 30 other aircraft), housed under the sprawling wings of Spruce Goose! Tony, some tough flights but still, a good assignment. Many Thanks for the work. I’ll watch for the check next week!
I had returned home after a 50-day, retro-plane, world tour and a stint on a Central American Aircraft Carrier…I just needed to relax with my J.S. Bach and some waterpaints. But my dear wife asked, as she often does, “Why is it that you get to travel the globe while we sit here at home? Why can’t you ever take US on a vacation?” This coupled with a request from Dave, one of my church pastors, to learn more about this “simming” I do, ended me up here, in Alaska, on the houseboat, playing Josh Groban CDs instead of Bach. (Long time readers will notice the glaring lack of a link to http://www.plr.org/ this time!) I was just getting into the vacation frame of mind, about 1.75-days worth of vacation to be exact, when the fax from Tony came in. Seems the little FBO in Bend, Oregon was inundated with international as well as domestic vacationers and they needed more pilots. Being this Club’s Founder and “President” I felt it was my duty to respond. The next day I left in the Club’s ERJ 145,
we headed out to runway 19 for departure, picking up the High-Altitude airways back down to the lower 48. I flew a left pattern with short (for me) 5-mile final into S07’s runway 34, arriving at 6:28 PM local time.I reported early the next morning, hoping to get a jump on the afternoon winds. Tony greeted me with a smile and a firm hand-shake, “Good to see you Ron, hang-on just a bit while I get the other pilots lined up here.” Apparently rather than flying any of the last couple monthly challenges we have present on http://www.toomuchfs.com/ , Tony has been here drumming up some summertime income by booking a Flight Charter Service! What a devious little devil he’s been. Finally Tony makes his way back to me, “Sorry for making you wait Ron” he begins explaining, “I have something a little different, a little ‘special’ for you this month.” Tony had given me a route which was, while scenic and challenging enough, different than the other pilots’. He had leased a C-182 from Evergreen Aviation, ( http://www.sprucegoose.org/ ), and it needed to be returned…BUT, there were 3-4 contracts that needed to be full-filled in the process. “I knew you were my man.” he said.
First, a businessman had an evening golf and dinner meeting at the Sunriver Resort, ( http://www.sunriver-resort.com/ ) not far from Bend. I’d need to shuttle the guy down there where I’d spend the night. Then, I’d have to go pick up his Fishing Guide from OR29, “Gopher Gulch,” in the AM, taking both of them up to Lake Billy Chinook for weekend fishing. With gusting winds out of the northeast I left at 16:00 from Bend’s runway 34, down to Sunriver where incidentally, years ago, my future wife joined me for one of my Father’s Business meetings – we spent the weekend canoeing and enjoying the catered meals! The next morning was a tough, slip-to-land, northbound approach into Gopher Gulch, where we picked up the guide and headed off to the lake for fishing. From there I had three guys at three airports to pick up and shuttle off to a sailplane convention at Portland’s Mulino Airport. First stop, the 2,800-foot gravel strip at Santiam Junction, next was the 2,600-foot dirt strip at McKenzie River then on to the 2,100-foot asphalt strip at Sweet Home before taking all of them up to Mulino, a 3,600-foot asphalt runway.
Lastly, I had two old retired pilots who wanted to take a tour of Evergreen’s Aviation Museum in McMinnville, Oregon. First stop was the 2,040-foot grass strip at Big Sky Ranch (42OR), then the tough, one-way-in-no-going-missed-approach into Flying M Ranch at OR05, a 2,150-foot grass strip. With both of them on board I departed eastbound and tracked to the McMinnville NDB for an uneventful landing on runway 22.
With passengers safely at their museum, I turned in the Cessna at the Evergreen Aviation World Headquarters and then set off myself, to take a gander at the beautiful P-51 (and about 30 other aircraft), housed under the sprawling wings of Spruce Goose! Tony, some tough flights but still, a good assignment. Many Thanks for the work. I’ll watch for the check next week!
