[Updated 15Jun10]
Photos to be added when we get the time...
10May10
Ken: Alaska Airlines to Phoenix. Bev & Dave picked us up and home to their place in Tempe.
11May10
Ken: Nikki and Bev have planned time for painting, crafts, etc. while I'm working on the plane. Dave had planned to go with me, but twisted his back enough that he elected to stay in Tempe. I packed up my stuff and we headed out to the airport. Offloaded a pile of our travel gear from the plane into the car, checked the 182 over thoroughly, and headed for Albuquerque. Light to moderate turbulence the whole trip, but the tailwinds were awesome. Indicating 110kt most of the way, with GPS ground speeds showing 140kt to 185kt!! Winds were strong and shifting, landing at Double Eagle II -- so much so I had the left wheel lift off briefly as I was rolling out! Went into Bode Aviation, found the maintenance guy, and he hadn't been informed I was scheduled in!! He was in the middle of another C182 annual, but they figured out how to shift things around a bit, and my plane was in the hanger being opened up less than two hours after landing. The fellow I'd requested and the shop manager said they would double team my plane, so it had someone working on it steadily. And they were happy to have me help as much as I could.
12-14May10
Ken: I worked with the two guys taking care of my plane most of the week. There seemed to be just enough for me to do that I didn't take any time for checking out Albuquerque for these three days. Found three major squawks: mags needed 500 hour rework; cylinder #2 had compression of about 25; fuel selector valve wouldn't shut off. Replaced three of four main wheel bearings, but the needed front wheel bearings weren't in stock. Ordered parts, but some would not arrive until Monday. Friday, we determined no one would be working over the weekend, so I caught a commercial flight back to Phoenix.
15May10
Ken: Bev, Dave, Nikki and I drove north to Jerome for their annual street fair. Interesting old mining town built on hillsides. Fascinating history of the mining era in which a few folks got hugely wealthy. Worth the trip if you get in that area.
16May10
Ken: Quiet day just reading and relaxing around the house. Getting hot, so staying inside was welcomed by these Alaskans.
17May10
Ken: Commercial back to ABQ, and back to Bode to continue the work. Got the front wheel reassembled, #2 cylinder pulled, mags disassembled and being worked on. The repair kit for the fuel selector was installed, and fixed that problem. Turn coordinator had quit on the way over, and we found a well hidden auto-reset breaker that had failed. Replaced it with inline fuse, and turn coordinator working once again.
18May10
Ken: Mags inspected, reassembled and remounted. Exhaust valve and guide replaced, and cylinder remounted. Airframe work all done and everything closed up, reassembled, etc. etc. etc. Transponder and encoder check done. Engine run up was good, and job was declared done (except for paper work, of course). Too late to finish the paperwork and get back to Phoenix, so one more night in a motel.
19May10
Ken: Finished log entries, paid bills, shook hands all around and I took off. As a final post-annual check I made 3-4 orbits of the field before breaking out and heading for Phoenix. Less turbulence, but still strong headwinds. Tied plane down back at Gateway, and soon the car was there to fetch me back to the house.
20May10
Ken: Hauled all our gear back out and loaded up the plane for the trip home to Fairbanks. Said goodbye to Bev & Dave and Nikki & I headed for LA. Because of the extra time taken by the annual, we had to change our plans. Ken's brother, Dean, was busy the end of the week, so we bypassed Riverside and had a nice flight to El Monte, closest airport to Nikki's son, Quin. Quin was waiting for us, and took us back to his fun loft-style apartment in LA. We visited around him having to stay fairly focused on an editing task due the next day.
21May10
Ken: Woke up to Quin still working on the edits. He got it done and shipped off, and we got to watch the final product. He's been doing promo's for the TV show "Glee". More visits as he drove us back to El Monte for our next flight -- to San Jose's Reid-Hillview Airport, nearest to Nikki's brother, Steve. Steve picked us up shortly after we tied the plane down, drove home to meet up with his wife, Emily. Nice dinner out with them, and back for more chatter and a good night's sleep.
22May10
Ken: The four us headed to the airport mid-morning, loaded the plane and flew 45 minutes east to Columbia, CA., an historic mining town Practically the whole town has been turned into a State Park. We wandered around, explored some buildings, had some lunch, explored some more, then back to the plane for the flight home. Steve is into geneology, and he and Nikki spent some time at the computer going over his recent findings.
23May10
Ken: Breakfast chatter, then back to the airport to load us up for the next leg -- to Chico, CA. Lovely flight up the Central Valley to Chico's Ranchaero Airport. We've come to love this little aviation hub. Surrounded by orchards, populated by interesting aviation folks, it was the subject of a delightful Lane Wallace column a few years ago. Ken's sister, Nancy, and her husband were at a local fair, with Cecil driving the little train for rides. So Nikki and I just enjoyed the lazy summer afternoon at the airport. Ken got involved in a long chat with a Super Cub pilot that dropped in for fuel. Nikki read, took photos, chased lizards. Nancy & Cecil got free from the fair a bit early and picked us up. To their home for dinner, chatter, a quick work on the music Ken is supposed to be memorizing, and a good night's sleep.
24May10
Ken: Weather briefing warned of clouds and low freezing levels. But the first part looked fine, so we decided to load up and go have a look. This leg took us from Chico to Sunriver, OR. We chose a non-direct route, which kept us over lower, flatter terrain much of the way. East of Mt. Shasta we were briefly over a total cloud cover. About the time I was deciding to turn back to an open area and go below the clouds, we came to a wide clear area. Descending from 10,500' to 8,500' put us below the overcast with good visibility approaching Klamath Falls. The rest of the flight followed the highway from Klamath Falls to Bend, with Sunriver just off that highway about 20 miles south of Bend. We had been getting increasing whine in the headset, and, on downwind at Sunriver, the GPS flagged lost power and the radio display started blinking. I turned off the landing lights, which restored power to the electronics. Upon landing, I could retract flaps OK. So I found the mechanic that works around the field, and we did some diagnostics. Generator was not providing power, as I expected. Opening it up, we found the brushes down to a nub and the commutator badly in need of burnishing. Options were explored, resulting in ordering a new generator to be overnighted. That should go in late morning and hopefully we'll not be too late for our lunch date with Scott Peterson in Yakima, WA. Rented a car, found a motel in Bend, had a nice Indian dinner, and Nikki's already asleep!!
25May10
Ken: Picked up the generator at the parts shop at Bend Airport, and back to Sunriver and the plane. Mechanic already had the old generator off and waiting for the new one. New one installed, plane started (just barely on the discharged battery) and it's working great. (Found vacuum pump beginning to leak, directly onto the generator belt. We'll take care of it when we get home.) Returned rental car, settled up debts for it and the mechanic, filed the flight plan, loaded up and off to Yakima. Dodged rain showers, but had clearance for flying at 7500'. We got away from showers about half way there, and arrived Yakima about 1430. Scott was there in less than 10 minutes and we had a nice chat over lunch. He looks great and seems to be doing quite well. Back to flight plan the border crossing, which took most of an hour. For some reason, my call to FSS wouldn't connect to a briefer. I was on hold for 10 minutes, tried again and on hold for 15 minutes. Tried on Nikki's phone and got through. I'd already done the tedious filing eAPIS to notify CBP about the two nefarious souls about to cross the border from US into Canada. Called CANPASS and got the usual 3 minute efficient and friendly filing. Finally in the air 45 minutes later than planned. Lots of rain to dodge for the first 30-40 minutes, then lovely trip the rest of the way to Kelowna, BC. Arrived there precisely at the time estimated to CANPASS, called them and got the usual welcome to Canada and an arrival # over the phone. Taxi to hotel, great dinner at a NY Italian place, and back to hotel for night's sleep. Intend to make it from Kelowna to Whitehorse tomorrow!!
26May10
Ken: Early up and out, to make the most of the day. Fueled, filed and headed for Prince George. Weather was generally good and we flew mostly direct to Kamloops, then direct Prince George. The fellow at the Shell who parked us remembered me from prior stops (2-3 years prior!). Got some lunch at the terminal, refueled, filed and headed up The Trench to Watson Lake. Better weather than the last time through that area. It's a lovely leg, but at 3.5 hours it taxes the bladder. New fueling system at Watson Lake -- the couple that had it before have sold their business. Now it's the more common credit card kiosk, so fuel is available any time. Filed and headed for Whitehorse. Again, nice weather, uneventful leg. Arrived Whitehorse close to 12 hours after departing Kelowna. Surprise! The logistics company with the rooms for rent was booked full for the season by an exploration group. Walked to the new Skky Lodge, which was full with a couple of conventions. They said nothing left in town. Walked to the Chalet to get some dinner and found they had a room after all. So we didn't have to break out the tent/bags and stay in the airport campground.
27May10
Ken: It's so nice to be able to walk in to a Flight Service Station and get a human to brief you. Seems like Whitehorse, Northway (in summer) and Fairbanks are the only places we go where that's possible these days. I found WiFi in the terminal building and was able to file the CBP's eAPIS. Then back to Flight Service to call Customs and give a time of arrival notification, file the flight plan, and head out. Customs let me know there were no longer services at Northway! Another really nice day of flying, though we basically followed the highway for peace of mind. The new runway/apron at Northway is quite nice. Customs guy was waiting and was quite friendly. Nikki went in to lodge to see if the restroom was available and found that the cafe was still in operation. So we had lunch. And found out that they still had fuel in the truck if we needed. Customs was a bit premature in reporting the demise of services, though it will happen by 1July10. Walked down to Flight Service for briefing and filing, then loaded up for the LAST leg of this trip. It does feel good to call Fairbanks Approach and know we're almost home again. I had given up our parking space while the plane was in Phoenix, and decided to rent from MAC. So we pulled into their area and got a slot to tie down. Plane is now back in service in Alaska.
