Southern Colorado Flight-seeing and Camping with a Rans S-18 and a Lazy Daze

Day 1 - Del Norte, CO

Friday, June 26.
We were up early the morning of Friday, June 26 to start our week of flight-seeing and camping in Southern Colorado. For this trip we wanted to be comfortable so we decided to drive our 2005 26.5 ft mid-bath Lazy Daze.

My itinerary for driving the Lazy Daze was to follow I-25 to Santa Fe, 285 to Espanola, NM, and to Alamosa, CO, and at Alamosa, turn west on 160 towards Del Norte, CO. I stopped once for fuel and to stretch my legs just north of Espanola. Mike took off right after I departed Mid Valley, flying our Rans S-18, our latest flying aerial photo platform (photo above shows Mike with the S-18 at Del Norte after an afternoon shower).

Mike's flight path was to follow the Rio Grande just east of our home airport to Del Norte. Since he has a transponder, he was given clearance to fly right over the North-South runway at ABQ International. He then joined up with the Rio Grande north of Albuquerque and followed it over Cochiti Dam and Espanola. While flying north of Espanola, he shot the photo above of the Chama River joining the Rio Grande, looking south back towards Espanola. The Chama is a vivid red, coloring the Rio Grande for some miles downstream.

Mike and I arrived at our destination, Del Norte’s Astronaut Kent Romminger Airport (8V1), nearly at the same time. As I turned west on 160, Mike called on the aircraft radio we were using for communications to ask where I was. He was surprised to see the Lazy Daze heading west on 160. And I looked to the south of 160 (while trying to keep the Lazy Daze "straight and level" on 160) and there he was - flying quite close to me, heading west!

I was a little concerned about the weather at Del Norte as it looked like Wolf Creek Pass and north of there had rainshowers that extended out over Del Norte. But luckily, it was only light sprinkles over Del Norte and Mike arrived safely at Del Norte.

I drove in to Del Norte Airport about 20 minutes after Mike had landed and saw the S-18 tied down. The S-18 and no Mike! Well, I saw an open hangar personnel door and there he was - looking at Vern McCallister's airplane restoration projects - two spectacular warbirds - a Sea Fury and an AT-11. Mike spent a few hours looking over Vern's aircraft while I got the Lazy Daze situated on the RV pad.

Bill Miller, another pilot at Del Norte, graciously allowed us to hook up the Laze Daze to his electric outlet from his hangar. The photo above of the Lazy Daze shows the reflections of sunrise in the Lazy Daze and the pink-tinged clouds.

This is the first small installment of a trip log for this blog. More coming as I sort through photos and write the story of our trip. We spent several great flight-seeing and camping days at Del Norte and then moved north to Salida. More to come - stay tuned!

ABC Weds (2 days late) - R is for Rain!

Weds. just came and went so fast, I missed the usual ABC Weds. It is Raining here in the ABQ area today so guess R is for RAIN. A gully washer type of rain! Very nice, considering we have been parched for quite a number of weeks and maybe months. The weather forecasters promise more for the weekend so I plan to enjoy it while it lasts.

I would like to honor all military veterans on this upcoming Memorial Day! Thanks to all of them and their families who have given so much to keep us free! The photo above shows Old Glory waving in the wind at our Annual July 4th Picnic here at Mid Valley. I think the flag was being flown by the winner of the lawn mower race or perhaps a runner-up.

ABC Weds - Q is for Quiet - Utah Backcountry Airstrips

ABC Weds - Q is for Quiet - peaceful backcountry airstrips of Utah.

These are photos of us enjoying the quiet and relaxing atmosphere of Mexican Mountain Airstrip in Utah. We had flown the Rebel there on a nice April day this year, intending to camp. While Mike went in search of petroglyphs or pictographs, I relaxed in the shade, enjoying the quiet.

To learn more about Mexican Mountain and other Utah backcountry airstrips, see http://www.utahbackcountrypilots.org/

We plan to visit more of these beautiful airstrips in the future!

Visitors on Wings

This week and next, we will have hosted a number of pilots winging their way west. Since we live at an airport, we have sometimes been the destination for flying friends.

Recently (May 8th), we hosted two flying friends - Arty Trost and Randy Simpson - who are flying their "ultralights" (now Light Sport) aircraft on quite an aerial adventure. The first photo shows Randy's Carrera, the second photo is of Arty with her Maxair Drifter, and the third shows Paul, a Trike pilot from ABQ, Arty, Randy, and Jeff, another Trike pilot from ABQ. NOTE - Arty does not have an enclosure, just a windscreen. She has all her belongings strapped down to the fuselage. She also has to get into a snowmobile suit (even in 90 degree weather on the ground) and secures her maps to her leg with large rubber bands - it gets very breezy and cold at altitude! She tells me she loves being "out there" where she can see everything! Amazing lady!

Arty and Randy are returning to their homes in Oregon after they flew to the Sun 'n Fun Fly-in at Lakeland, Florida. They left Oregon in late March and arrived in time to enjoy Sun 'n Fun in mid-April. On their return trip, they have been dodging (or not) all kinds of weather on their return flight back home and made lots of new friends along the way. You can read more about their trip at Arty's blog at http://www.lessonsfromtheedge.com/b2evolution/blog1.php. You can also follow them on their SPOT websites - the URLs are on her blog. SPOT is a device that links to satellites to let your loved ones know your location - via emails, text messages, and/or your very own SPOT website. SPOT can also be used to signal for help or emergency assistance.

On May 7th, we started tracking Arty and Randy on their SPOT websites as they crossed the Texas/New Mexico border where they planned to follow I-40 to Moriarity NM and then to our airport, E98. They didn't make it to E98 on May 7th as they got a late start and winds and turbulence caused them to wait it out at a rancher's airstrip near Montoya, NM (Arty describes this airstrip in graphic detail on her blog). Later that day, they flew to Santa Rosa Airport to spend the evening.

Early on May 8th, they started their flight towards E98. Late morning, they met Paul and Jeff, the ABQ Trike pilots at Moriarty and then flew with them to E98 (our home). We gave them hangar space for their aircraft for the afternoon. Mike took them to Denny's for lunch and then brought them back so they could prepare for the next leg of their trip - as it turned out - to Grants, NM. They spent the night of May 8th at Grants and are currently on their way towards Kanab, Utah as shown on their SPOT websites. They are making great progress towards home and their loved ones. We wish them more blue skies, no turbulence, and tailwinds!

I had to interrupt this Blogging for a few minutes to check out a great sounding round-engine airplane coming into Mid Valley awhile ago. It was a WWII T-6 flown by another lady pilot - Julie Smith, who was once also an acrobatic champion, but now she flies her beautiful warbird to Oshkosh for AirVenture, joining other WWII warbirds for a fantastic airshow.

It is great fun - living at an Airpark - when you are a pilot!

Next week - we expect anywhere from 1 to 6 pilots coming from Alabama, Tennessee, Louisiana, Texas - they will be stopping by for RON on Weds. May 13 on their way to Monument Valley. The upstairs entertainment center has been reserved for however many pilots make it to E98. On Friday, May 15, we will be joining them at Monument Valley for the 7th or 8th Annual Unplanned/Unorganized/Unofficial Kolb Fly-in. We will have either the Rebel or the Rans S-18 (depends on an oil cooler arriving next week).

And the week after the fly-in, Mike will be joining our friends on a longer flight to Oregon to visit the Alvord Desert, the Rock House, and the Cottrells at their home and airstrip in SE Oregon. Mike will have a SPOT onboard whichever airplane he takes so we can track his flight to and from Oregon. I will be going back to work on Monday, but will be tracking the Oregon flight on SPOT. My turn for fun comes in July when we plan another Idaho backcountry vacation with the Rebel.

Jan Rebel Pilot is Back

I am back to blogging. I haven't written a thing since April 14th according to this blog. We had a nice long vacation from April 17th until April 26th to Utah with the Rebel and the Lazy Daze.

We started our vacation on Friday April 17th by attending the RV Rally in Albuquerque at the Fairgrounds (aka Expo NM). It was a good Rally for us as we got to talk to some of the vendors - in particular, we are interested in satellite internet for on the road, a big priority for us. That way I can keep blogging as well as check the weather for flights and driving and of course, keep in touch via email. We also saw a friend Perry Pahlmeyer. Last fall, we spent a few days with Perry and his friends at Hanksville Airport. Perry and his friends have powered parachutes - a fun way to view the world from aloft. We have also seen Perry at Bluff Airport too.

Our intent was to drive the Lazy Daze and fly the Rebel to Grants Airport on Friday, but the weather turned wintery and stormy. In fact, we had snow on April 17th in the northern part of the state. We delayed our departure until Sat. Apr 18th. Even then, we had to change our drive and flight plans a little. I decided to drive the LD as the weather looked a bit iffy to me, but fine for Mike. So he flew, delaying his take off a little. For me - my drive was to go up 550, but it was snowy and probably icy. I drove I-40 to 371 to Farmington and then 491 to the usual road we take to Blanding.

Mike got really lucky with his photography - he took a photo of Cabazon and one of its sister peaks, snow capping the peaks just as if someone sprinkled powdered sugar all over the peaks. Awesome photo. If I can get a small enough photo, I will add one to this blog. It is on his disk somewhere.

After a wintery start to our vacation, we were able to enjoy a beautiful week of flying out of Hanksville for early morning and late afternoon photo-flying and a few days of Capitol Reef camping, hiking, and mountain biking (Mike only). I got to have a turn at flying the Rebel all by myself when I flew it from Blanding to Hanksville while Mike drove the LD to Hanksville.

This is kind of rambling, but just had to put something in - I have also missed a few ABC Weds and really enjoy doing that. I will catch up next week (maybe).

But - busy travels continue --- we have friends coming from the east on their way to Monument Valley where we will join all for the 5th or 6th Annual unofficial Kolb fly-in (May 14-17). This year, it seems everyone is flocking (flying or driving) to MV. Tomorrow, we will be hosting some flyers (very extraordinary flyers) who will probably be stopping at MV (Arty Trost and Randy Simpson. They flew their ultralight aircraft all the way to Florida from Oregon in March for Sun 'n Fun Fly-in at Lakeland and now they are on their way home. See Arty's blog at http://www.lessonsfromtheedge.com/b2evolution/blog1.php. We have been tracking their flights using their Spot Shared pages. They landed somewhere west of Tucumcari today and plan to fly here to E98 tomorrow.

Next week, we will be hosting around 5 or 6 more pilots who will be flying to MV as well. John Hauck is the lead guy for this gaggle. The pizza will be on for all those that make it to our place on Weds, May 13. They depart for MV on Thurs. May 14. Then we depart on Friday May 15.

I will be at MV until Sun May 17. Mike is going to continue with John H and the rest on to Oregon where they will be visiting famous locations such as the Rock House, Alvord Desert, and enjoying the hospitality of Larry and Karen Cottrell (who will also be at MV). What a busy bunch of folks.

The MV fly-in should attract a variety of aircraft, Kolbs, Cessnas, Rans (ours), Carrera (Randy), Drifter (Arty), a Flight Design CT (I think), and more! What fun it will be to see friends from all over the country gathered together at MV. I will try to get some photos.

This is it from here - gotta make supper now...

ABC Wednesday - M is for Mike

ABC Weds - M is for my husband Mike. He is the light of my life and so grateful for him. We celebrated 37 years of marriage last Tuesday, April 7th. Here he is at Canyonlands Needles District's Peek-a-boo trail, one of his all time favorite hikes.

ABC Weds - L is for Lazy Daze!

ABC Weds - L is for Lazy Daze! We took delivery of our "Home away from Home" in early November 2005 and have been having fun with our LD ever since. Our 26.5 foot mid-bath in pretty blue and white is such a comfortable haven on our trips with our airplane or without. After a day of hiking or flying, we take advantage of the two living areas in our MB: Mike takes up residence in the front living area, setting up his PC on the dinette while I crank up the TV antenna and do the usual check for TV stations back in the rear area. I also bring along my library books and settle on one of the couches, enjoy the great views from 3 sides in the rear and just hang out! Relaxation is the ultimate in our Lazy Daze.

We use our Lazy Daze year-round - even in the winter when many people here stow their RVs. In the warm months, our Lazy Daze lives in Blanding Utah and in the winter, we bring it down to our home here south of Albuquerque. Then we take it on winter trips to southern NM and AZ around Christmas. Sometimes we take an airplane along - someone flies and someone drives and we will often base and camp at airports where we have our airplane tied down.

When we don't take our airplane, we often enjoy BLM or National Forest dispersed camping. The photo above is of a trip we took with my Mom in 2007. This campsite is on slickrock overlooking White Canyon along Highway 95 in the Fry Canyon area. Highway 95 heads west from Blanding and takes you into incredible scenery near the north end of Lake Powell (Hite) and then connects with Highway 24 at Hanksville. Along this road are (or were) many great "view lots" as I call them. Since our 2007 trip, some of the best "view lots" have been closed by the BLM putting rocks across the paths to those sites. Too bad!

ABC Wednesday - K is for Kansas, my Home State

ABC Weds this week - K is for Kansas, my Home State. I was born in Seneca, Kansas on March 31, 1947. Yes, I celebrated my 62nd birthday yesterday. Kansas was a good place to grow up, especially on a family farm - The first photo shows my family's farm taken from our Glasair III during a May 2003 visit. My brother Steve lives there now. The second photo is Steve's daughter (my niece) Courtney in the Glasair III at Sabetha Municipal Airport right before we departed for home. She looks good in the cockpit!

More Johnson Creek

Johnson Creek Airstrip campsite in the trees and our Rebel at Johnson Creek. Johnson Creek is also a great destination for fly fishing. Many people fly in and walk a short distance to the stream running nearby the airstrip. Beautiful place and one of our favorites!

ABC Wednesday - J is for Johnson Creek Airstrip, Idaho

ABC Weds - J is for Johnson Creek Airstrip, Idaho. This airstrip is the premiere backcountry airstrip destination for backcountry pilots all over the West (seen from above as we circle with other aircraft going into land at that small green strip surrounded by trees).

We have been into this remote backcountry strip several times, but last summer was the first time for the Murphy Rebel. Johnson Creek is the premiere destination for backcountry pilots all over the west. It has all the amenities - showers, water, shaded campsites with picnic tables and fire rings, and best of all - lots of airplanes show up in the summer.
Last summer in late June, we flew the Rebel to Idaho - 8 hours of flying from Mid Valley to Smiley Creek - another Idaho airstrip (not so backcountry, but beautiful never-the-less). We spent an evening at Smiley and the next morning (after a wonderful breakfast at Smiley Creek Lodge right across the highway from the airstrip), we flew to Johnson Creek. This was when aviation fuel was pushing $6 a gallon in some places. Our expectations were that there would not be many airplanes at Johnson Creek - boy, were we wrong - when we arrived about mid-morning, only a few spots along the runway remained for tiedowns and the best campsites were gone. Already airplanes were lining up on the opposite side of the runway. After a great landing by Mike, we tied down the Rebel and found a campsite in the pine trees. We spent a few days here and by the time we left, one day we counted nearly 80 airplanes! So much for that high-priced fuel keeping pilots grounded! We met many folks we now count as friends and have met up with them at Oshkosh and other fly-in destinations (Durango, Casa Grande to name a few).

Off to Mineral Canyon Airstrip

This weekend (Friday March 20) we are flying our Rebel to Mineral Canyon Airstrip (see photo left). We plan to fly there and camp overnight like we did last year about this time.

The photo shows our campsite at Mineral Canyon Airstrip which is along the Green River (northwest of Moab). It's a dirt strip near the takeout/put in for the rafters going down the Green River.

It is an incredible place of beauty! That's me relaxing in the morning next to our campfire. Our home (tent) is alongside the Rebel. Not exactly Lazy Daze camping, but then you couldn't get a Lazy Daze down into this canyon either so it is just a different experience. No microwave, no indoor toilet, no TV, but wonderful quiet, many stars, incredible beauty too. This is Airplane Camping in the Backcountry!

ABC Wednesday - Indian Paintbrush

I had to dig back into our 2007 photos to locate a photo of an Indian Paintbrush. Mike took this photo while we were on a Spring vacation with my Mother to Lake Powell, Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon, and Flagstaff in our Lazy Daze. It was many firsts for Mom as she had never camped before, never really been in a motor home, never been to this part of the country... she was dazzled to say the least! She enjoyed these flowers we found along the roadside. I made her hike with me at Bryce Canyon - she did extremely well. We met some other Lazy Daze people there at the Bryce National Park Campground. Mom will probably say feeding the birds at Lake Powell was one of the highlights of her trip. I hope we can convince her to do this again with us!

ABC Wednesday - H is for Hanksville - March 11, 2009

Here is is - ABC Wednesday again. The letter for today is H - H is for Hanksville, Utah. Hanksville Airport (HVE) is one of our favorite places to launch out of in our Murphy Rebel. We have spent many a spring and fall there, camping and flying both early morning and evening for the best photo opportunities. Just a few miles west of the Hanksville Airport is Factory Butte (one of the world's wonders in our eyes). Not only is it close to Factory Butte, it is within a short flying distance from Lake Powell, Capital Reef, Bryce Canyon, Waterfold Pocket, San Rafael Reef, the Maze area of Canyonlands and more.

This photo is of the Firestar II at Hanksville Airport back in 2004 - pre-Lazy Daze days. Probably had our Airstream Class B there.

Since that time, we have visited this airport at least once a year, sometimes twice for a week at a time for launching out in our airplane for aerial photos. It is a quiet airport, no fuel, bathroom facilities are there, but always have to watch out for spiders.

So this is my contribution for ABC Weds - the letter H - hats off to Hanksville!

The Rebel is Back in the Air - March 8, 2009

Our Murphy Rebel is back in the air - Yay!

A view out the right side of the Rebel from June/July 2008, at the Grand Tetons on a trip from Yellowstone to Blanding.

The Rebel tailwheel is new and makes the airplane sit a bit higher while taxiing. The feel of the ground handling is a little different, but I will adjust to her. Mike continues to experiment with vortex generators and something he calls darts on the wing and horizontal tail. This is to allow more control over flight into the dirt strips of Utah and Idaho - this spring and summer. We should see plenty of those backcountry strips soon.

The windy weather has made flying hit and miss here south of Albuquerque for the last few days. We took advantage of the winds to get some crosswind landing practice at Belen Alexander yesterday and a landing on our East/West dirt runway at Mid Valley on our return from our breakfast flight to Belen.

Mike spent the weekend building a presentation on Southwest Landscapes that he will be giving to the Women of Mid Valley this Tuesday, March 10th at our monthly meeting at our house. His photos are mostly aerial photos of the Southwestern US taken from nearly all our airplanes - a snowy long view of Mount Taylor in the winter from the Glasair III, many photos of Monument Valley and Bryce Canyon from the Rebel, the Abajos and golden aspen from the RV-4, Factory Butte with a dark cloud backdrop from the Kolb Firestar II, and more recently his photos of Deming, Silver City, and Arizona from the Rans S-18! Awesome! We agree - the best viewing platform (other than the actual airplane) will be our 52 inch Sony Bravia with accompanying music on the Sony Surround Sound system. Blows you away!

Next weekend, we take a Over 55 Driving Course here at Mid Valley - gets us insurance discounts.

Back to work for me tomorrow after my usual 3 day holiday - I read all the blogs of full-timers and long for the day when I can just take wing and/or our LD and not have to think about a definite return date.

G is for Glasair III N555MJ

ABC Wednesday Again - G is for Glasair III N555MJ, our fast sexy looking bird. This is a photo of my Mom, Dad and me at Sabetha Municipal Airport from a number of years ago - on our way to Oshkosh in late July for the big Fly-in. The back is piled high with camping gear - usually around 150 # worth since we stay all week.

It took us 6 years to build this beautiful bird - we started in 1989 and my husband Mike flew it in the Fall of 1994. We have Stoddard Hamilton (now New Glasair) to thank for a really solid design - and fast - cruises around 200 kts. Always the first airplane we think of when we want to get there fast!

ABC Wednesday - F is for Factory Butte near Hanksville, UT

F is for our favorite place to photograph - Factory Butte just west of Hanksville Airport, Utah. This photo was taken sometime in 2005 from our Murphy Rebel aircraft while on a morning flight-seeing trip in the Capitol Reef/Bryce Canyon area.

This is Mike's absolute favorite photo subject. We have many photos of this beautiful place. I have flown around it many times while Mike aims his camera out the side of the airplane.

Another Day in Paradise

The temperature here in the Albuquerque area is to be in the 70s today - can Spring be coming?

My Rebel is "down" right now because of a little oops in the hangar. Until that gets fixed, we will be flying another one of our birds - today, we will fly our Rans S-18 to Belen for breakfast this morning. Belen for Breakfast is a common trip here from Mid Valley Airpark (about 6 miles southwest as the crow flies) and the other airports in the Albuquerque area.

If you are ever in the Belen area - even if you are not a pilot, you can drive to the Belen Alexander Airport (E80) - the second exit coming from the south off I-25. After you exit I-25, turn left and head west to the top of the mesa. Drive a mile or so until you see the Airport on your right. Carolina's Cafe is on the second story of the Fixed Base Operator/Sky Diving hangar. Vicky Husbands makes the best breakfast around! Wonderful breakfast burritos with homemade red and green chile, blueberry pancakes out of this world, and more! In the warm weather, you can sit outside on the deck and watch the parachutes blossom overhead and aircraft flying around the airport.

Should be a beautiful day for flying! Look up - you might see us enjoying the blue skies of New Mexico.

Maybe ... next weekend we will get out and enjoy some camping in our Lazy Daze! Looking forward to seeing more of South Monticello Point and doing some canoeing.

Rebel at Mineral Canyon - from a camp trip in 2008

Hi Fellow Bloggers,

This is my first post to my brand new blog. Here is my favorite mode of transportation, a Murphy Rebel. Here you see it at one of our favorite camping spots - Mineral Canyon Airstrip, Utah. This is a great camping place near the Green River - close to the rafting/canoe take out/put in on the Green.

Most weekends, I get to take this bird aloft and view the world from above. Nothing like it!