Oregon to Louisiana

[da40pilot2016]

Hopped an airline from Alexandria, LA to Bend, Oregon on Dec 28 to go pick up our recently purchased 2012 DA40. Did a 2 and a half-day pre-buy and then departed. Have been flying since 1973, but I have never experienced anything close to the flight from Bend to Alexandria. Took my colleague Charles with me, who was just as impressed.

I hired a mountain-experienced pilot to fly with us across the mountains to Redding, CA. Incredibly beautiful sight. The pilot returned home and we left Redding the next morning and flew between the mountain ranges down the BEAUTIFUL CA valley to Sacramento and worked our way across the high mountain range down near Apple Valley. Passed just on the south side of Edwards AFB. Incredible. Winds aloft were howling, but we didn't get much turbulence on the crossing. Landed at Apple Valley airport on New Year's day. Next to the fuel farm was a small building about 5 feet by 10 feet. It had a flat tin roof, and the upper half of the walls were plexiglas. Sitting inside of it were 5 men relaxing and drinking beer. We were thirsty, so we walked over and asked them if they had any water. They invited us through a hole in the fence, and gave us two Mountain Dews and some cookies. They had a hangar next to their little shack, and in it was a 1941 warbird that one of them had ground looped a week before. They had a small machine shop in the hangar. They also had two other hangars that contained a Model T paddy wagon, and few other cars that were perfectly redone. They said that their cars sometimes get used in movies. I asked them what they do for a living, and they said, "nothing." That is the most interesting and strange location I have ever visited. It was almost like seeing a phone booth in the middle of the desert within someone in it on the phone.

Left with low ceilings and strong wind and flew toward the east, and landed at Lordsburg, NM. No planes were on the ramp, and the only person there was an elderly man who was very informative on the unicom. With wind howling, we refueled and he gave us a complimentary set of screwdrivers on behalf of the town of Lordsburg. I asked him what people do in that part of the country, and he said, "nothing much," except that they have a ghost town and a railroad, and that a long time ago it was a hopping place.

Fought low ceilings across the desert to Deming. There is a lone tower in the middle of the desert that my G100 picked up, and that we already know about from VFR charts. And then over to El Paso, but could not cross through due to low ceilings and ice at El Paso. Landed at Santa Teresa Apt about 5 miles north of Mexican border. Refueled, and did a plan to get around the cloudy weather.

Headed north where ceiling was about 2500 feet to Truth or Consequences. BEAUTIFUL terrain. North to the north end of the restricted area almost to Albuquerque, and then hooked a right and went over the mountains. We had all four eyes focused on potential landing spots and were glad to see Roswell, NM, where we refueled. It is a huge boneyard of jets. Barely beat the ice getting out and went to Lubbock, and next day direct home to Alexandria.

I have flown commercially from Louisiana to the west coast many times, and have always tried to look at the terrain. But NEVER have I ever experienced anything like this--first-hand up and close to the hugely varying physiography, demographics and ways of life.If the weather had been better, we'd probably have missed a lot of it. Only complaint I had was that we had headwinds the whole trip except from Lubbock to Louisiana, but that seems to be the case all the time anyway. For pilots who have not done something like this, I very highly recommend it. I wish I had not waited until I was 64 to do it---but I'll do it again. Hopefully with some other colleagues flying along with me onboard or in their planes. Those desert dwellers from Appleview to Truth or Consequences probably live to be 200 years old--a seemingly very happy bunch, away from the hustle bustle.

[carym]

Wonderful story, but we need some pics to go along with this

I have flown over the Rockies several times to the west coast, both over the northern route to Seattle and the southern route to LA and the SF Bay Area. Also took a mountain flying course out of COS where we flew all over Colorado. The scenery and experience leave memories never to be forgotten. I must admit, I did these in my C310 and my DA42 so I felt slightly more comfortable flying over the Rockies in a twin engine plane If you ever come up to the Indy area, let me know and we can get together to share pics and experiences. If you are looking for more adventure, you should start planning your trip through Alaska.

Cary

[Lou]

Thanks for posting this. I was thinking about a trip from Alberta, through Spokane, WA, Bend, OR to Sacramento. Great account.

[Colin]

Sounds like a great trip. On that route I can readily recommend the diner at Ryan Field and an overnight in Marfa, Texas. It's been almost twenty times crossing in the DA40 now: http://flyingsummers.com/crossing-the-country/

I need to change planes so that I get some different fuel stops on the next few crossings, but there are incredible things to see every time.

[brandonpalmer]

Sounds like a spectacular trip, thanks for sharing!