The Babbling Brooks

PSAAC at Bull Hill

The Puget Sound Antique Airplane Club held the biannual summer fly-in at Bull Hill Guest Ranch in northeastern Washington (in alternate years we do the Air Tour which lasts 5-7 days with several stops). John took off in the Champ early in the morning to beat the heat (this was in August!) so he could fly a direct route over the Purcell Mountains to the west of us. I left later in the Beetle to meet the group at the ranch. John landed first at Colville to meet Lynn and Arthur. Arthur flew the Mooney and couldn't land on the short grass airstrip at the ranch. Everyone arrived safely and had a great time at the ranch. There were horseback rides, hiking, skeet shooting, and all food and drink you could possibly want. While at the ranch they took us to the Crown Creek Saloon...a private saloon and party place on the neighbor's place. Some rode horses, some rode in trucks. I took the latter having already ridden earlier in the day. The Crown Creek was quite a place! Besides the saloon, they had a game room and a beautiful private theatre. It can be rented for private parties and there's plenty for kids to do while the adults entertain themselves in the saloon area.

                                        

The ranch sits high above the Columbia River and the airstrip is down near the water. I decided to walk out over the hills so I could get a photo of all the airplanes parked on the field. As I walked out, there was a group of horses grazing out across one of the fields. I stopped to photograph them. Notice how that white one is looking at me? He kept watching me as though he was really interested in what I was doing there. I took a few shots and went on about my business to find where I'd be able to see the airstrip. I found it, took some photos and admired the view out over the river. When I turned around to head back to the cookhouse, I nearly jumped out of my skin. There was that white horse standing right behind me. I guess he really was interested because he snuck up right behind me without a noise!!

      

When we left instead of heading home to Montana, we headed west to Puyallup to pick up Trevor. We left the Champ at the Davenport Airport and headed over the Cascades in the Beetle. We couldn't pick up Trevor for a couple of days as they had some other family things going on. So we took the opportunity to visit with friends, shop at The Container Store and eat at The Cheesecake Factory (my favorite!)  

Surprise Visit!

While we were in Kalispell today we got a phone call from friends that are in the antique airplane club in Washington with us. Surprise! They were in Montana with the motor home and were driving to Eureka to see us! When we got back to town, we picked them up from the campground and brought them out to our place for dinner. We had a fun visit and got caught up on all the news. Thanks Rich and Carol for stopping by, we loved it!

Search & Rescue Certified...

I had mentioned that John and I were on our way to Helena last week. It was a rather productive trip for me getting some of the things on my to do list done as I was on my own most of the weekend. John spent about 26 hours in classroom and flying instruction and is now a certified search and rescue pilot for the state of Montana. The state is divided into regions and he may be called as a pilot or as an observer if someone goes missing in northwest Montana. He got to fly the state owned C182 and C206. He said he had a good time with the C206. It is heavier and more powerful than other planes he's flown and he had to land it on a short, uphill grass strip in the mountains. His instructor said he did great. We had planned to spend Sunday night somewhere just outside the east side of Glacier Park and come back through the park on Monday, but that didn't work out. We may still try to get up there one more time before snow closes the roads.

Orvin Day

A few months ago John heard about a Eureka old-timer who still flies his Piper Cub and has his own airstrip on his property. John has been interested in compiling a history of aviation in the area. So, he contacted Orvin and made arrangements to meet with him. He's been there several times to see Orvin and his wife, Echo (Isn't that a great name?! I've been out there with him once and met them, too). Orvin was a crew member on a B-17 bomber stationed in Europe during WWII. Like most veterans he has lots of stories to tell and he's been able to tell John a lot about aviation in the Tobacco Valley, too. John read a few weeks ago that the Wings of Freedom Tour would be stopping at Glacier Park International airport (Kalispell). They are touring with a P-51 Mustang and three bombers...the B-24, the B-25 and the B-17. He knew Orvin would have a great time seeing the B-17 and reminiscing. He contacted some other Eureka pilots and they cooked up a plot to take Orvin to Kalispell for the famous $100 hamburger (those of you that fly know what that is :). John also contacted the head of the tour to make sure Orvin would get a tour of the plane and this man called The Daily Interlake to let them know that Orvin would be there. It all worked out perfectly. Orvin flew to Kalispell with Dale thinking they'd be meeting some of the rest of us for lunch. The rest of us carpooled and were there to greet them. Orvin was full of smiles and today was the front page headliner in The Daily Interlake.

Here's the Eureka pilot contingent watching the planes land and taxi to the display area...Roy (whom you've met before as our "hangar angel"), Willy, Dale, Orvin, John, and Bob.

 

Free to Fly :)

We returned from our trip yesterday (stay tuned to hear about our fun time with friends at Disneyland and the San Diego Zoo!). John found his renewed medical certificate in the mail after being grounded since July 31st when he had his heart surgery. He'll be flying the Champ to Ferndale (near Big Fork) tomorrow for it's annual inspection. He's grateful the FAA didn't take too long with all the paperwork!

High Blue Belt for Trevor and Other Babblings

We made a quick trip to Washington last week. We were served a yummy gourmet dinner at our friend's home. It was part of the prize (along with $Cash) for my contest winning photo from last summer's Air Tour. It turned out to be perfect timing. Trevor had a Tae Kwan Do belt test while we were there. We were happy to see him perform. He did well and passed to the next level. He's only 7 and is half way to earning his black belt!

John and I took advantage of the trip and took the truck instead of the Beetle. We came back with it filled with goodies from IKEA . I got 4 bookcases, 2 cabinets, 2 wall cubbies, and a desk for my studio. Here's a sneak peak. We also picked up 3 bookcases for our hallway (which means I can finish unpacking the boxes!), a media stand for the future big screen television, a desk chair for John, new bedding for our room, 3 bar stools, and a dining room table plus 4 chairs. We need 8 chairs, but they only had 4 in stock. They should have more in when we are in Washington later this month to see the dentist and we think we can get them in the Beetle (may have to take them out of the boxes). We drove back to Montana on Sunday (the 24th) and spent two days assembling furniture.

We have been in Great Falls since Wednesday for the Montana Aviation Conference. John has been to lots of seminars and presentations and got himself signed up with the Montana Antique Aircraft Association. Yep, that's an additional Air Tour for this summer. We've also been invited to join a motorcycle tour of Yellowstone and the Tetons. We met Dwight who manages the Wheatland County Airport and his wife, Julie. They seem like fun people...we may take them up on it. I've spent my days visiting the C.M. Russell museum and playing with my paints. The keynote speaker for tonight's final banquet was Dick Rutan, pilot of the Voyager. He tells an amazing story of his record breaking flight. As an added bonus we got to see video of the first flight of the X-plane. This team is trying to win the $10,000,000 prize for the first civilian flight into space. They must take the equivalent of 3 people into space, return them safely, and then do it again within 10 days. The video we saw tonight was taken in 2004 and they were able to leave and reenter the atmosphere. Amazing stuff!

In the morning we'll be leaving for some Grandma time in St. George! We'll spend a week there and the travel to Southern California to see some friends, then up to Washington for that dentist appointment. We are hoping we'll get to see Chris and Yvette, too, as we go through Sacramento!

PSAAC @ Hot Springs, Montana

Hot Springs, Montana...a little known, out of the way place...but Marlo knew it. He'd flown there once and mentioned in July while we were on the Air Tour that he thought it'd be a great place for a fly-in. And so, he was encouraged to pick a date. The date was last weekend. It turned out to be mostly a drive-in due to weather (only one plane from Lewiston was able to fly), but there was still a great turnout of PSAAC (Puget Sound Antique Aircraft Club) people. Seventeen showed up even with the long drive from the Seattle area. John and I decided to drive there on Saturday for the day rather than spend the night. It's right in the neighborhood, just over 2 hours. The unstructured event was held at Symes Hot Springs in the town of Hot Springs. Rich and Carol brought their motor home and were able to park it right next to the pools...a convenient party hang-out for the whole group! Many of us went to the Harvest Festival being held just outside of town....a blast from the past, for sure!

The rest of the afternoon was spent solving the world's problems by both the guys circling their wagons outside and the women comfortably nestled in the motor home. The pools were hot (up to 107 degrees) and relaxing. We all ate dinner together in the hotel and listened to the local band. John and I had a great time visiting with friends and relaxing in the pools. Great idea, Marlo!

PSAAC Air Tour 2007 Photo Links!

Looking for those photos you saw at the banquet? Most of them are in my Smugmug gallery which you can access using this link... Air Tour 2007 . You can order any prints you'd like. There are 502 photos in this gallery. NOTE: If you'd like a copy of the group photo taken at the winery, DSC_0009-copy-1 copy or DSC_009-copy-1-copy, you'll need to order a 4x6, 8x12, or equivalent size to avoid clipping of the airplane or people. It's been sized to accommodate these sizes and you'll have a white border at the bottom to trim off.

If you are a Costco member and would rather order from costco.com, I've also put most of them in an album in my account there. There are 368 photos in this album. Just send me an e-mail requesting the link to that album (my e-mail link is under our photo on the left) and I'll be happy to send it to you. NOTE: If you'd like a copy of the group photo taken at the winery, # 396 or #397, you'll need to order a 4x6, 8x12, or an equivalent size to avoid clipping of the airplane or people in the photo. It's been sized to accommodate these sizes and you'll have a white border at the bottom to trim off.

Bozeman Air Show

It was hot, hot, hot...but the show was great. They only do this show once every six years and they are saying this may be the last one at Bozeman as the air traffic at Gallatin Field is rapidly increasing and it may become too busy to close the field for the air show. We saw some aerobatic performers that were new to us and lots of military jets and a helicopter. The highlight of the show was, of course, the Blue Angels. The extreme para-jumping team set the infield on fire, so we were treated to a real fire-fighting demo by the airport fire department. We had to laugh at the guy in the photo who thought he was going to put it out with his fire extinguisher. It got bigger before the water truck could get there.

On the way to Bozeman, we spotted something on top of the mountain as we were approaching Butte. We were still about 10 miles away and couldn't make out what it was. As we got closer to town, we could see it was a statue....it's a BIG Jesus. I can't believe the ACLU has let this one stand :) We left Bozeman early Sunday morning and took some back highways through Helena and Seeley Lake and up through the Swan Valley east of Kalispell to get home. Wow, that was a gorgeous drive...we discovered pelicans on Nevada Lake and a great lunch spot...The Stray Bullet in Ovando. I swear, it's going to take at least 10 years to explore all the places in Montana we want to see!

   

Air Tour 2007

The Puget Sound Antique Airplane Club Air Tour 2007 was July 15th-20th and everyone had a great time. John left Eureka on Thursday, July 12th and flew to Crest Airpark in Washington. He went two days early to give himself extra time in case of weather problems and also so he could see the grandkids. I left on Sunday, July 15th and drove to Spokane. Along the way I stopped at my great-grandparents farm near Sandpoint, Idaho and took photos of the fields, barns, and the house. The family that bought the farm from them over 60 years ago still owns it. Afterwards I went out to Pack River cemetery where they are buried. That Sunday John flew with the group to Pearson Airpark in Vancouver, Washington. That's Lynn in her new red PA12 (aka Carmine) in the photo.  They were able to tour an air museum there and the next morning took off for Hood River where they toured another collection of airplanes. In the meantime, I left Spokane and headed for Farmington where my Grandma Lizzie grew up. After a visit to the cemetery, I went to Colfax and did some research in the county library. I found a new book that had been done about the history of Farmington and there was information in it that had been obtained from my Great-Aunt Katherine (who passed away in 2002).  In the afternoon I headed for Walla Walla to meet John and the rest of the group for the next overnight stop. Along the way there was a fatal accident that occurred just before I'd gotten there. I saw ambulances at the Dusty airport when I went by and then I saw helicopters, so I knew something was up. I soon came to the backup and learned that it would be at least 3 hours until the highway was opened. The shortest route to Walla Walla was to return to Colfax and then go to Lewiston, Idaho to cross the Snake River. It was an extra 120 miles, but I got to town just as everyone was going to dinner. It was hot and on the way back George and Curt decided they'd pull an old college stunt and frolic in the pool of a roadside motel. We left just as it looked like the clerk was calling the police.

The next morning the Walla Walla EAA chapter provided breakfast for everyone. I took off in my Beetle and headed to Baker City, Oregon for the next leg of the tour. I got there just ahead of John and Lynn so was able to snap a few photos of them coming in.

While we were in Baker, we also visited the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center which is a must see. John and I had been several years ago, but have wanted to return. You can still see the wheel ruts from the covered wagons out on the hills.

The next stop on the Air Tour was Joseph, Oregon for lunch and sight-seeing, then on to Enterprise for the night. I dropped Lynn and John off at the Baker Airport and headed to Joseph for a beautiful drive along the Wallowa River. Joseph is full of artists and antiques. There are four foundries in town and the main street is decorated with bronze statues. It's quite a charming little town nestled in the Wallowa Mountains (which some of the fliers had to go around, including John).

Lynn had landed at Enterprise, so she and I dropped John off at the Joseph Airport after lunch and antiquing and made the quick drive to downtown Enterprise so we could watch John do the fly-by down Main Street. Afterward, we headed to the airport where Lynn took the job of ramp control :) The town had made a big deal out of the Antique Airplanes coming to town. There were posters up all over and a good crowd of people at the airport to watch the landings and see the planes. That evening they shut down Main Street so we could eat and dance! The food was good, the music was fun, and one of our own (Dick) sang for us, too. We all agreed he was even better than the "band".

 

The next morning everyone headed for Prosser. I thought my longer drive there would make me late for the event that was planned at the winery, but the weather was in my favor. We woke up to local fog and the pilots were stuck for a bit. My trusty Beetle served me well and I got to Prosser just as everyone else was arriving :) A new winery was holding it's grand opening the following weekend. It is on the grounds of a former military base and the winery is named Airfield Estates. They invited us all to tour the winery and they treated us like royal guests with wine tasting, fancy food, and a tour of the facilities. They were ecstatic when George pulled into the parking lot in his Stearman. Yep, the Port of Prosser and the Prosser police provided an escort from the airport and George taxied over the roads to get to the winery (see group photo at the start of the post).

We spent the night at The Barn, an infamous former stop of the Air Tour, where we frolicked in the pool and had a fun banquet dinner to end the tour. Kurt and George provided us with lots of laughs. John and I won a bottle of wine from the winery in the raffle (we got a ticket each morning if we attended the pre-flight briefings). The next morning everyone headed for home....except us. Lynn and John flew to Wenatchee and I met them at Pangborn Field. We all met Arthur at the Red Lion, had lunch, walked along the river, and lounged by the pool. (Arthur had hoped to fly over in his Mooney to join us for a couple of stops along the tour, but all the rain in the Puget Sound area changed those plans.) Lynn's friend, Cindy, and her husband came later in the day and we all celebrated Cindy's 50th birthday with a great Italian dinner at Visconti's. It was a great week!

So...where are we?

We are on the 2007 Puget Sound Antique Aircraft Club (PSAAC) Summer Air Tour! No time to blog much now, but here's a teaser photo from Enterprise, Oregon. We are having a great time with a great group of people and the towns we've visited have gone all out to make us welcome. (They shut down Main Street tonight so we could eat dinner and dance in the street :) More later when time allows!

Our Week

That January thaw that our builder told us about seems to be here. He was right about that and he is probably right that we will be back in the deep freeze in a couple of weeks. It was a balmy 44 degrees in Eureka on Wednesday. We got several more inches of snow in the last week and probably have about 4 feet now.  We've noticed that it felt warm, a relative term. It was still in the low 30s, but by Wednesday night the thaw began and we had giant icicles and ice blocks crashing off the roof.

                                                                                       

Wednesday we went to Eureka. The plan was for John to work with Paul (our builder) on our neighbor's home while I did errands downtown. We'd have lunch in town and then John would heat up the Champ and take a flight to get himself current. We headed out to Gateway Village and found Paul hard at work. He and John started snapping lines on the subfloor to mark the walls.

 

I watched awhile, took some photos, and rubbed Oreo's ears while enjoying the view of the mountains from our hilltop perch.

    

After a bit I hiked down the hill (ok, I slipped and landed on my a** first, then I figured out it would be easier to hike down through the woods than to walk down the icy driveway) and got in the Beetle to head to town and do some errands. It started right up and immediately died. it did it again. And again. And again. I called John. He said, "Hmmmm, wait a few minutes and try again." I did. It started right up and immediately died. I hiked back up the hill (this time taking the route up our own driveway which was covered with snow, not ice...and then across the woods (note the elk tracks!) to the neighbors. We decided to call AAA and have it towed to town (9 miles). After a confusing call due to my 253 area code cell phone and having just transferred my membership to Montana, they finally found me and sent Brian from Ted's Body Shop out to get me.

Just as the Beetle was getting comfortably settled onto the tow truck, John and Paul came sledding down the neighbor's driveway in Paul's truck. So, John rode to the garage with Brian and I rode to town with Paul. Paul dropped me off at Cafe Jax and went to get John. I was surprised to see them pull up to meet me in separate vehicles...John in the Beetle! Seems it started right up at the garage. They'd plugged it into the diagnostic machine and couldn't find anything wrong. What??? Did I forget how to drive??? I had already thought it was odd that this would occur the day after we'd had the instrument cluster replaced in the Beetle (maybe you remember the series of car mishaps last summer) and was beginning to think that something had been loosened or whatever. After lunch John and Paul headed back to the job site, I walked to the bank then back to the car to go to the post office. It started right up and immediately died. It did it again. But...this time I noticed a symbol light up on the dash that I had never seen before. A Beetle...with a key. Out came the owners manual.  Gee, the key has a security code in it that must match the car or guess what....the car will shut itself off. To make a way too long of a story shorter...turns out that the dealer has to reprogram the keys when they replace the instrument cluster. Gosh, don't ya think it would make sense to tell you to bring all the keys? John had to take both keys back in this morning and have everything reprogrammed.

John was able to get back in the saddle and take the Champ for a flight this week. He built a contraption for heating the engine with a propane heater and it started right up. He was happy to get in the air again. He's hoping now for some clear weather to fly it from Eureka to Ferndale Airport at Bigfork for it's annual inpection.  It's been foggy the last couple of days, but the forecast looks better for tomorrow.     

Yesterday (Thursday) it was back up to Eureka. John went out and worked with Paul at the neighbor's for a few hours again. He is going to learn a lot and will be putting it to use being the "hired help" for Paul when he builds our house.They got the first wall up. Speaking of our house, John and I visited a couple of appliance dealers in Kalispell this week. We had thought we may want to spring the cash for high-end kitchen appliances. We got starry eyed and are thinking we will probably go with Viking. They just announced a package deal and if we order the whole kitchen (30" gas range with convection oven, 36" refrigerator with bottom freezer, 30" venting hood, 24" dishwasher, and microwave all in stainless steel) by March 31 we can save $1500. Looks like we'll be storing appliances for awhile:) We are really enjoying the convection oven here at Dorothy's!

We attended our second line dancing lesson last night in Trego. We've had a lot of fun both times and hope to keep going every week. Today I visited the local scrapbook store in Columbia Falls and tonight John is at Poker Night in Stryker. Paul and his friends play every Friday night from Labor Day to Memorial Day and he invited John to join in.

We're lovin' it here in Montana...the snow, the scenery, the quiet, and the people! Here's a few images to leave you with...taken at Dickey Lake yesterday (15 miles south of Eureka) and Ptarmigan Village today (where we are staying).

   

The Champ Has Roosted!

It's Done! At least for now...the door, the insulation, and the commercial power will be done next year. We have completed the hangar and the Champ made it's first entrance today. It has been tucked away (along with the travel trailer and the truck) until mid-January when we return to Montana. It took us 21 work days to complete and we finished one day early which means an extra day spent visiting Legend and Shayla. (It's a good thing we had an extra week built in cause we used all of that in September when we were trying to have the concrete poured and it was rainy and cold.) Here's a few extra shots of the last steps. We'll be leaving for St. George in the morning and can hardly wait to get there. Legend is excited to see Papa and Grandma. He called and texted yesterday to see what we were doing and when we would be there. He is so excited about his Superman costume that his Nana made for him and I bet he is just too cute in it.

We made a quick overnight trip back to Washington over the weekend and nabbed our washer and dryer out of the house. So far closing is on track, but it may get interesting with us on the road and needing to sign papers who knows when! We'll have to keep in close contact with the escrow people. Thanks to Lynn and Arthur who provided us with a place to stay. What a treat to have a huge space with a real bed after being in the travel trailer! Arthur, your eggs were yummy!

We expect to arrive in St. George on Thursday and will stay till Tuesday morning when we'll head off to LAX to catch our flight on Wednesday. We are soooooo looking forward to the next two months and some much needed down time!

Sparkle In His Eyes :)

Wow! I can't believe it's been a whole week since we've updated the blog. We've been working hard every day (well, except for Saturday). Since we don't have the use of the man-lift on the weekends, we headed for Whitefish for a lunch and a movie. We invited Roy and he agreed to tag along :) We have gotten a little behind schedule due to some "conflicts" with using the lift (that we have now paid for a share of :) The guy who holds the rental contract called Sunday night and said he needed it till noon on Monday. No problem....that turned into all day. Then he called Monday night and said he needed it till 10:00 am on Tuesday...that turned into noon. So we lost a day and a half of our time. Anyway, the roof sheets are now going up. We've discovered there really isn't much I can do to help, so John is up there in the rain putting those long sheets on. This is what it looks like as of lunchtime today. I took this from the road as I was taking some hot lunch out to John. I said to John yesterday that he gets a sparkle in his eyes when he looks at the hangar.  He replied that it was because he could see Hawaii on the other side of the hangar :)

We'll be headed to Bonney Lake very early Saturday morning. Lynn and Arthur have invited us for dinner and offered us a place to stay (at Crest Airpark) that night. We'll be loading up the things left at the house, including the Bosch machines, and heading back Sunday morning. John will be working hard to get the rest of those roofing sheets on Monday and Tuesday so we can get things winterized and stored and head for St. George by Thursday.

All things look good for the sale of the house. We have come to an agreement with the buyer on $$ for the repairs, the septic system appears to have passed inspection, the appraiser is confident the value is there, and the buyers financing appears on track. Closing should occur on or around the 26th. We are looking forward to relaxing on those beaches and having all this behind us!

Siding!

Yesterday John finished up the lumber work on the two gable ends of the hangar at the front and back. Roy and I got started on the siding. We quickly found that it was going to be much more tedious than we'd thought. After a couple of sheets, we (mostly me) also decided that doing that part of the job with ladders was not going to happen. Up and down and up and down and up and down...being short I couldn't reach across one panel to put all the screws in without getting down and moving the ladder.  Neither one of us could reach the top to keep the panel aligned and get the screws in up there. It was decided that we'd negotiate to help pay more of the rent for the man-lift so that we could keep it longer and use that to do the siding.   Today went much better and we completed the south side, except for the end panel which still needs to be cut.  We'll have the lift tomorrow morning and then Monday-Friday next week. Tomorrow afternoon we'll finish installing the service door in the north side (did I mentioned I've learned how to build a door jamb?) while we are without the lift. Funny thing about the color...we originally wanted a barn red hangar. The airport board nixed that, but allowed us to have green. (You may have noticed that all the other hangars are some shade of boring beige.). So today, the wife of one of the other pilots made a remark about it being nice that we were able to get a deal on the price of our hangar even if we didn't get a choice of color...ha,ha..she was surprised when John told her we had wanted red :) We hope to be finished up by the middle of next week except for the door. John is going to call one of our neighbors in Gateway Village who is a welder and fabricator and talk to him about options. The door may or may not happen before we leave for St. George and Hawaii. If not, that's okay. The airplane, trailer, and truck will be under cover and out of the snow.  We'll be buying antifreeze and a special airplane engine oil next week to keep them protected from the coming cold weather.

As soon as the hangar is done, we are making a quick trip to Bonney Lake.  John and I need to go take care of some house business and are going to get our washer and dryer out of the house and bring them back to our storage unit here in Eureka. More on that later...Works out well for our friends inWhitefish as they have a dryer that needs to go back to Bonney Lake :)

Brrrrrr!, but work goes on...

Winter is sneaking up on us! It was 23 degrees when we arrived at the airport yesterday to await the crane that was coming to lift the header over the hangar door. The water line to our trailer had enough ice to drop the water pressure. Insulation is now installed.

We are coming along with the hangar. We lifted the header over the door columns yesterday. All the roof members are installed and John finished up the fascia boards on the front wall today. He will do the back wall tomorrow.  Roy and I installed the metal baseboards today and hung the first sheet of siding! We are not going to be "slapping up" the siding like we expected :) We could see right away that it will take longer than thought. We have to drill through the metal and then put in the screws and there are oodles of them! John will be doing the roof and can hopefully start that tomorrow.

We are loving it here in Montana. It is truly magical to watch the way the light moves across the valley and up the mountains at sunrise and sunset. The people are wonderful and more friendly than anywhere I have been. Everyone wants to help. Edgar, the welder, that we had come do a job for us wouldn't even charge us for his time. Roy has been out there every day helping us. Nick, the crane man, has come out twice and both times waived his fuel surcharge...and so it goes everywhere.

Five Days of Work...

We've worked on the hangar for 5 days now (took 2 days off when John was flying the airplane over). We have made tremendous progress and are grateful to have been blessed with the use of the man-lift and with Roy's help. He has been there every day helping us. He told us he was afraid of heights (he's a pilot and flew as a flight engineer before retiring :), but by yesterday there he was up on the ladder hauling lumber and screwing screws right along side Cindy. We work hard all day long and now and then take a break after Cindy goes into town for chocolate milkshakes.   The last two days has seen us finish up almost 3/4 of the frame! Almost the entire back wall went in today even after discovering that the bolts for one of the back columns were installed two inches off! Fortunately, John was able to align it up enough to bolt it to the top piece and we think it will pass inspection.  Speaking of the inspection, the inspector is supposed to show up this week, but we haven't seen him yet. He asked last week who did the concrete and when we told him he said to go ahead and start and he'd come up to Eureka this week. Cindy has been learning or updating all kinds of skills including driving the man-lift, climbing ladders while hauling lumber, using the power drill to drive screws, and measuring and cutting lumber. And so it goes....we'll work again tomorrow and then are planning on taking Saturday off. We are going to Whitefish to take Dorothy out for pizza and figure out the logistics of our stay in her condo while she is gone to New Orleans for the winter. Stay tuned!

Our news from Eureka!

The Champ is now living in Eureka and we have made lots of progress on the hangar! John took the train to Seattle from Whitefish on Friday night and arrived in Seattle early Saturday morning. He spent the day taking Trevor to a movie and visiting with friends, then took off Sunday morning for Eureka. After 5 hours and 50 minutes of flight time, he arrived safely at Eureka. He said the ride was pretty good most of the way, except for flying up Lake Koocanusa where it was very bumpy. The Champ is now tied on the tarmac waiting for its new home to finished.

We took Monday off from heavy duty building as we needed to build in an extra day for John to move the airplane in case of weather problems. We just did some organizing and cut some lumber to be ready for today. Today was a big day as we were able to set three middle trusses, probably the most difficult part of the job. We hired a fork lift to lift them. John stood on an extension ladder on the south side and I stood in the man-lift on the north side (no photos of my work today). We guided the trusses into place and placed the eight bolts and nuts in each one. Guide lines helped to stabilize the whole assembly till we could get some lumber in the walls and ceilings (the girts and purlins J ). The rest of the day was spent plumbing the columns and trusses and getting all the bolts and nuts tightened. Roy and Cindy started installing the girts and put up the wind braces (the state of Montana says it must withstand 95mph winds), so we could get it all plumbed (I’m talking about getting it all straight, not putting in pipes J). Tomorrow we hope to get the rest of the lumber in these sections, including the roof and then we can move on to the back wall.

We are tired, but it is a good tired!

Trusses together...now we wait

for the fork lift. Yesterday we lifted the six truss pieces over to the hangar pad and stood the two door header pieces up in place. The trusses and header are now bolted together and the fork lift man is scheduled for Tuesday morning.

John took the train from Whitefish to Seattle last night and is planning to bring the Champ over on Sunday (which happens to be his birthday :).  So I am here in Eureka doing my own thing for a couple of days. We've left Monday open just in case John needs an extra day to get the airplane here due to weather or some other unforeseen circumstance. The forecast is for clear skies through the week, so we figured now was the time to do this.  If he is here on Monday, we'll go to the airport and organize the lumber for the next step. We'll put the lumber up on the side walls which will help stabilze the whole structure after the trusses have been lifted and bolted into place.  Then we'll start on the back wall. So far everything has gone well with no major problems. Keeping our fingers crossed that Murphy's Law does not kick in here!

I Never Thought I'd Be A Heavy Equipment Operator...

  but here I am…I was duly chosen to drive and operate the man-lift as the weight of the man in this operation plus the weight of a piece of steel would exceed the lift capacity of the man-lift. It was the best job to have anyway, way less manual labor than setting and bolting the hangar columns. We accomplished a lot this first day. The six side columns are standing tall and waiting for the roof trusses. John estimated each column to weigh about 300 pounds. I could lift one end, but there was no way I was carrying my end across the taxiway to the pad and standing it up on end to be bolted. We are fortunate that the hangar building operation just outside the airport gate is renting the man-lift and using it only on the weekends. They said we are welcome to use it and so we are and saving ourselves big $$$ in the process by not having to rent the equipment ourselves and pay the transportation fees in getting it to Eureka. Our thanks go to Roy, local pilot and hangar neighbor, who assisted us today.  He was hanging out in his hangar when we arrived this morning. He ended up staying all day and helped with setting the columns and straightening and tightening the bolts. His assistance saved us some time today! The lumber was delivered today right on schedule. Tomorrow we plan to put the three roof trusses together. We have decided to assemble them on the ground and then hire either a fork lift guy or the crane operator we had before to lift them into place to be bolted. The manual shows a method of doing it with scaffolding to hold them in place, but it sounds kind of risky and time consuming. And so the first day of actual construction went well…no injuries J, no testiness J, and we accomplished what we’d planned J.

We're Home :)

When we were looking for property in Montana in 1997 we first looked in the Bitteroot Valley and decided that wasn't it. We drove north to Kalispell. We liked the area so much better and noticed Eureka on the map. There was not time that trip to come this far north, so we headed home and got on the internet. It was there that we first saw pictures of the area and Gateway Village. About six weeks later we came to the Tobacco Valley. As we rounded the curve at Rexford and caught our first glimpse of the valley I knew this was home. We chose our property and came home to think about it and be sure. We’ve never looked back or regretted it for a moment. Each time we’ve come to the Tobacco Valley that same feeling of home has washed over me. John says it’s been the same for him. But…coming this time was different. It happened sooner. As I drove by Kootenai Falls on Highway 2 and was about to enter Libby and make the turn for Eureka I knew then that I was finally home.   It was a beautiful and peaceful drive along Lake Koocanusa and into Eureka. After nine long years of wanting to be here and feeling like Bonney Lake was the means to make it happen, we are here and it feels good!

I stopped in Libby at the grocery store for some chicken for lunch and couldn’t help but smile at what I saw in the bakery…trout and moose cookies…welcome to Montana!

The first order of business in town was to secure storage for the overflow goods we hauled from home.  By the time I got here, John was already hard at work building shelves in our unit. We are staying in the RV park behind the Silverado Motel and Casino, twice as pricey as the other one, but twice as nice and with a much better shower J  Our first day ended perfectly with a gorgeous sunset that turned the clouds over the valley a neon pink.

We checked out the concrete pour at the airport.  The finish looks great. There are a few bolts that look a little wonky due to the wet weather we had, but John thinks they won’t be a problem as there is some tolerance built into the structural pieces and they can be hammered a little . There is one slight problem…the contractor forgot to put the two bolts in for the service door. It is on the plans and we know he knew about it because he and John specifically talked about whether to leave it where it was. Just an oversight on his part and we are waiting for him to call us back. We still have 60% of his payment, so we aren’t worried about it being rectified. We made a trip into Kalispell and Whitefish today and got the rest of the tools and items needed for the build. The lumber is being delivered tomorrow morning and then we can get at it. John is working on getting use of the man-lift that’s being used over at the huge hangar being built just outside the airport gate. He had planned on taking the train from Whitefish on Sunday night and bringing the airplane over next Tuesday.  Looks like the weather may not cooperate for that, so he has changed his reservation to Friday night and will, hopefully, return in the Champ on Sunday.

We have a big day tomorrow. I’m going to finish my Kahlua and cream and go to bed. I have no internet service here, but hope to get to town to post in the next couple of days. ‘Night all!

We've been poured!

The concrete has happened at long last.  John called last night and talked to John C's (the concrete man) wife.  She said John C had gone to check on a job at the airport to make sure it was covered cause the rain was coming down. Bingo!  Had to be ours and it was. John C says it "did not go as well " as he'd hoped cause of all the rain.  He thinks there are a couple of bolts that may be slightly off, but he told John how to tap them to get them into position for the steel pillars. We are going to wait a whole week for it to cure after this rain and cool weather. The plan is to finish the packing and storing and leave for Montana on Monday, probably arriving Monday night.  That'll give us Tuesday to do any odd errands and rest up for what is sure to be more work than we are expecting :) We are relieved that we can get started and hopefully be done in time to sneak in that visit to Legend and Shayla on our way to LAX for our flight to Hawaii on November 1.

We have stored or sold all our furniture except the bed, the nightstands holding the lamps, and the love seat.  The big TV went out the door to buyers from Craigslist last night and most of the other stuff has been sold, too. I am still sitting here at the desk and looking at the file/shelf units and no one has e-mailed or called on those, so we'll have to decided what to do with them. John painted the living room and dining room today.  Taking the furniture out meant you could see every boo-boo on the walls and it wasn't good.  Our agent tried to talk me into a beige.  Are you kidding? There's not a beige thing anywhere in my house.  It would have been so out of place.  So, it's still blue, but very pale.  I think I like it, I'll have to wait and see in the daylight tomorrow.

Snow, Delay, Change of Plan, & a Risky Haircut!!

Hangar construction started Tuesday.  As we were driving to Eureka, they were excavating at the airport.  The forms and rebar were laid by the end of Wednesday and the concrete pour was scheduled for today.  But wait....... Snow!!!??? This is not normal for this time of year in the Tobacco Valley. When we woke yesterday it was very cold.  The mountains were shrouded in clouds and by afternoon it started to rain. When the clouds cleared we looked to the mountains and there it was...dusting the tops.  Our contractor said he may need to delay the pour until Monday as it was supposed to rain hard today.  When we got up, it wasn't bad in the valley, but there were nasty storm clouds out to the west.  As it turned out, it probably would have been okay to pour, but it was rescheduled to Monday.  We took the opportunity to drive to Libby to consult with a fabricator about building the hangar door frame, then on to Whitefish where we are having dinner with Dorothy and her family (except, I think I just heard the chicken pot pie hit the floor upstairs, no kidding!).  We had decided that when we returned to Bonney Lake we would move completely out of our house as we don't want to depend on someone else doing it if it sells while we are in Hawaii in November and December.  So...instead of a week of waiting and watching concrete cure, we are headed home tomorrow to pack everything up and move it to storage.  We'll be back to Montana in a week or so :)

Here I am with my new scooter (maybe, Brad may still decide he wants it in which case I'll sell it to him).  I did some practicing at the airport in anticipation of getting out on the highway.

I really needed my haircut!  I finally bit the bullet and made an appointment with an unknown stylist at an unknown salon with no recommendation from anyone.  I decided on just a trim rationalizing that no one could screw it up too bad.  I was pleased with the job and the shop!  Whew!

Just a few photos to share from our walk after the clouds cleared from the valley (Rocky Mountains at our back, looking west).  Blogging off......till we are back in Washington!

Eureka!...again...

We have arrived again in Eureka after an uneventful trip.  Our first night was spent at Wanapum State Park on the Columbia River in Vantage, Washington.  We didn’t relish making the trip here in one day as it takes longer in the truck with the trailer.  Seventy-five miles an hour just isn’t good in that configuration, especially loaded up with power tools, hand tools, miscellaneous gear, a generator, and a scooter.  We decided to stay at the Blue Mountains RV Park north of town where we had stayed before.  It is just five minutes from the airport which will be handy when we start to build.  We found a water pressure problem in the park bathrooms and reported it this morning.  They said they had it hooked up to a new well so are going to check it out.  Hope it is resolved before I want another shower!

This morning we went to the airport to see the excavation that had been done yesterday.  We found that the tarp we’d covered the building with had come off when the grommets tore in the wind.  Geez, they just don’t make stuff like they use to. John recovered the load and weighted everything down with rocks.  He pawed through the hardware box to see what was in there.  I noticed the packing list mentions almost 2000 bolts (which means we will be installing almost 2000 of them) along with other assorted doo-dads. John Chupp and the concrete crew showed up and began measuring, sawing, and hammering forms for the foundation. They were hard at work when we left.  Chupp thought he wasn’t going to have any workers, so John was going to help…but turns out he found two guys to work. 

We are now in town with the laptop fired up.  The Interbel WiFi service came right up like I expected.  What I didn’t expect was that it is $9.95 per day, not per month!  I guess that does sound more like it, but I was sure that was I had read before.  Happens when you get old J Won’t be much for us to do here the rest of the week since it looks like John won’t be needed to grunt work at the hangar site. I’m sure we can find some leisure activities to keep us busy :)

PS: Excuse any wierd formatting!  I am using Word and doing a copy and paste to get this online since I am now paying by the hour :) Typepad tends to do some odd things with Word files, but it works!

It's been a long day...

We were up at 5:30am so we could get to the building supply store when they opened at 7:00.  We got our supplies for covering the hangar and headed for Cowgirl Coffee to get mochas.  As we came out the door we were greeted by a gorgeous sunrise over Glacier Park! I didn't take a photo as we weren't in a good place for the perfect image and we didn't want to take the time to drive to a good spot :) We got to Eureka airport and it took until 10:30 to finish the job.  Of course that included the time visiting with another new hangar neighbor who came over to say "howdy".  He is a retired UPS pilot who lives in Mexico, but is planning to make Eureka his summer home.  After an early lunch at Cafe Jax we headed for home and arrived about 8:00 pm.  Gotta love that time change coming back!  We have the furniture moved downstairs that is going to storage tomorrow and have rearranged our bedroom.  I think our Feng Shiu is off, hope I can sleep!  John is going to sneak in a flight at dawn and I'll finish up the odds and ends that need to be done before we can head to Oregon to meet the rest of the Brooks family.  Later!

John Ropes A Big One In Montana!

                                  

Today was the big day! The hangar has been delivered to the Eureka airport. We started the morning with bad coffee at City Brew in Whitefish, won't go there again.  We didn't need to get to Eureka till late afternoon so we checked out the new Costco in Kalispell, right on Highway 93 was you enter town from the north...closer for us than the old one and it's big, shiny, and has a self-checkout! Yippee, no more long waits in line for a few items. Lunch was hamburgers at home.  We headed for Eureka at 3:15 so we'd have time to meet Craig and get our copy of the hangar plans back along with the approval letter from the airport board.  The hangar wasn't due till 6:30 which is also when the crane driver thought he could get there from his truss job.  At 3:30 as we are motoring north, John received a call from Carl, the truck driver.  He was in Eureka...3 hours early.  He'd found a place to park his truck and was going to take a nap :)  So, we took care of our business then went out to where the truck was.  Carl greeted us and we'd chatted for a bit when he mentioned that the other hangar on the truck was being delivered to a private air field in Burnett, near our home in Washington.  Yep, that's really close to us.  As John and I got in the car to head out to the airport we walked around the other side of the truck and I noticed the name on the other crate of hardware...OLSON!  It's a small world after all! The other hangar is being delivered to our friends, Andy and Lori, whom we worked with for almost 20 years.  What are the odds????  So, I wrote a friendly little note on the side of their crate and signed it with our names, place, and the date.  I know they'll be surprised when they see it :)  John called Nick, the crane driver.  We had to wait about an hour for him to arrive and it took about 90 minutes to unload.  There was a slight problem unloading the last package (the steel siding) as Andy's hangar door was so close to the edge of the package that they couldn't slide the straps under our package of siding.  John, Carl, and Nick finally worked it out and got it off, all 4000 pounds of siding. John was relieved that it all worked out and that the delivery is accomplished.  While we were at the airport waiting for the crane, John C., the concrete man, also came out and the two Johns pointed and gestured about exactly where the hangar belongs on the lot.  It has to be precise in relationship to the other hangars so that the airport will meet the legal requirements regarding setbacks, etc. for a precision approach in the future (aviation jargon there). We also met a hangar neighbor who is the father of the man we met yesterday and traded lots with.  This last photo is of the painful part of the whole process...handing over that cashier's check to Carl!

Hangar Coordination

We slept in this morning and almost caught up on our sleep from yesterday.  We found mochas at the Montana Coffee Traders in downtown Whitefish, then headed for the building supply center to get a quote on the lumber needed for the hangar and inquire about delivery to Eureka.  No problem there, they will deliver it to the building center in Eureka when they do their regular store deliveries (this is the same company) who will then deliver it to the airport. We made the drive to Eureka and after lunch at Cafe Jax (on their new patio!) we visited Craig E. to give him a copy of the permit. We discovered that there is a hangar planned for the near future on the lot next to us.  However, this guy wants to build 60 feet wide instead of 50 feet. That means our hangar has to move 10 feet south, Craig says the decision is ours. Well, guess what, the guy is in town from Minnesota.  John and I headed out to the airport to take a look.  We found that moving that far south would put us into a downhill situation...meaning fill dirt.  Nope, we're not doing that.  However, we determine that if the guy wants to pay the extra cost it'd be okay.  Then we discussed making a lot swap.....meaning John loses the southern exposure he wanted for possible solar panels on the south wall (we are at the end of the front taxiway, last hangar lot), but less hassle for building. John figures he could put the panels on the roof if he decided to do it.  So, we made a call and got Mark (previously know as "the guy") out to the airport.  We showed him where the fill would be needed and right away he offered to pay the cost.  Well, John says what would you think of a swap???  Mark was immediately agreeable.  It turns out he wants to do a 60' building now and later add another 40'! He is a mechanic and wants to open an FBO (fixed base operator for you non-aviators).  It'll be 6 years from now, but we'd have a mechanic right next door :) He and his Dad already are the fuel operators for the airport.  So, we made the deal to swap and called Craig.  Later in the day we went into his office to confirm the deal and will get a letter saying the airport boards approves our hangar on lot 8 instead of 9.  Afterward, we met with the concrete man and got our estimate (ouch).  He said he'd be ready to start on the 11th, but that just won't work for us, so we are sticking to the original date of the 13th.  The truck driver just called and will be at the airport tomorrow at 6:30pm.  Perfect! That is when the crane driver we found can be there! Things appear to have fallen in place and John is doing the happy dance.

John and I are bantering ideas around about the Hawaii trip, emptying our house before we go, when to move over here, etc.  We may just put it all in storage and come over here in January even if it has not sold.  We can live here at the condo for the cost of utilities. That's the place there in the photo.  There are 3 units in the building.  It's a great place and so quiet.  I can imagin being here in the snow!

Here's a couple of shots I took at our property today, down on the road.  That's Aspen Lane looking south, the road we'll come in on from the main road.  The second one is our driveway starting up the hill to where our house will be.  We were surprised to find that the building hasn't started over at the neighbors.  We thought they were supposed to have begun by now.  The power route has been staked, though, including the detour onto our property where they will put our transformer and meter (we signed an easement agreement last month for this).

We did have a showing at home yesterday.  Haven't heard on that one, but Gary called today and said there was someone from Oregon that saw it last week.  He is being transferred and they have to move to the area in 3 weeks.  They are home packing their house up and getting it on the market.  They are considering a contingent offer, so their agent wanted to know if we would look at a contingency.  We'll see what happens from here. 

That's all the news from today.  It has been a busy day, but we've accomplished a lot!

Almost "home"...

We've arrived in Whitefish after an uneventful drive.  It was nice to come a different route this time as we were coming to Whitefish rather than Eureka.  We came east on Interstate 90 to St. Regis and then north through Plains, Polson, and Kalispell along Flathead Lake.  We arrived just before 5:00pm, Mountain Time.  We had a little trouble finding Dorothy's condo and had to call, but then there she was waving us in. She has a great place.  One bedroom plus a loft and just 1 1/2 miles to Big Mountain Ski Area, about 5 miles from town.  We had a nice visit over a glass of wine after the condo tour which included where to find the bear spray for walks in the woods :)  She was telling us about the bear that ambled across right outside the back.  Such is life in Montana.  We had dinner at Stageline Pizza in town and then went to visit with Greg and Stacy (Dorothy's son).  We knew them also from St. Andrews in Sumner.  I was happy to discover that Greg has inside information that the new building going up in downtown Whitefish is a Starbucks!!  Wahoo, there's also one going up next to Home Depot in Kalispell.  The closest one now is in Missoula, 3 hours away.  I had just sent an e-mail to Starbucks yesterday asking for a store and now there will be two!  We'll see if they spill the beans (no pun intended :) about the new stores when they reply.  Dorothy is staying at Greg's tonight as she will be flying to Seattle for work in the morning.  So, John and I have the place to ourselves for the next few days.  Looks like this may be our home for a few months after the first of the year, so it's nice to get the lay of the land :)

We received a call from the driver that the hangar will be delivered to Eureka on Wednesday afternoon or Thursday morning.  He is leaving Minnesota in the morning.  So, John called the forklift owner.  He is in Tucson, but had told John he had another guy who could do the job.  Well, he has bailed and says he can't do it till Saturday. Looks like we have some nosing around Eureka to do tomorrow to try to solve this dilemma.  Perhaps we can find another forklift in person that we weren't able to do by phone.  If not, looks like we will have to either go back to Plan A and have the hangar delivered to a work place with a crane a couple of miles from the airport, or try to find someone here in Whitefish with a forklift that will drive up there to do the job.  If we have it delivered somewhere other than the airport it means we will be moving 14,000 pounds of materials one load at a time to the airport with a flatbed trailer. Wish us luck!

Sunset on the Champ

Got a roll of film back today (yes, I am admitting that I am a photography dinosaur :).  I took this photo of the Champ while we were in Madras.  Just thought I'd share cause I liked the way it turned out. I used my wide-angle, 14mm, lens.

We went to Esther's annual Open House today.  She has a house full of consultants there selling baskets, cooking tools, make-up, books all in the same place.  So I did a little Christmas shopping and added to my Longaberger pottery dishes.  We had some yummy food made from recipes in the new Pampered Chef cookbook, "Cooking For Two" (which I ordered).  I especially liked the Cider Bulgar Chicken Salad!  Who'd of thought I'd like something with wheat pasta! The Strawberry Granita was yummy for desert, too.

Home Again...

I found myself being rousted from bed at 6:15 am.  John and Lynn wanted to get an early start for home while it was cool, before the heat started and the air got bumpy. I think they were the first out of the starting gate this morning :)  I took them to the airport and went back to the hotel.  Arthur drives a Mooney and can get from S33 (Madras) to S36 (Crest) in just over an hour.  He didn't see any point in leaving when they did, so we'd arranged to meet at the more civil hour of 9:00 am so I could deliver him to the runway.  After doing so I found a little coffee stand for my Mocha (the new Starbucks in town opens TOMORROW, what timing), then headed up Highway 26 towards home.  The highway skirts the south edge of Mt. Hood and is a beautiful drive.  I made one stop in Chehalis for a Taco del Mar lunch and was home by 3:00.  Not bad considering that John pulled into the driveway less than a minute ahead of me :)  (OK, the champ is not quite that slow.  They did have to make a fuel stop and when they got to Crest the PA12 that Arthur and Lynn just bought was beckoning for it's first flight.  John stayed to witness that event.) The weather was great the whole trip.  A little hot, but clear skies perfect for an air show.

No further word about Mr. Dad wanting to make an offer on the house.  Gary showed the house yesterday and the buyer has called to ask a couple of questions about the house.  He says he may want to come see it again.  The fishing continues...

VIP Treatment...

We have been treated well here at the Central Oregon Air Show.  When we arrived on Friday, we were given "VIP Pilot" armbands.  Those armbands gave us free admission to the air show and got us into the VIP tent at the airport where they had food, soda, water, beer, and wine...all free to us!  Last night we were guests for social hour and dinner at the Norton Cattle Company (see post from yesterday) and tonight we were guests at the Ochs Cabin which sits on a 3600 acre ranch in a beautiful setting next to a swimming hole. They served drinks and dinner and the teenagers that were there entertained us by jumping off the 30 foot rock wall into the pond.  We had a great day that included a pizza lunch, the afternoon air show, and the evening air show (after the dinner). The people of Madras did a great job organizing the show and their hospitality to us (including all those drivers providing shuttle service for pilots) was above and beyond!  Home tomorrow!

He flies, She drives and we are here...

After breakfast at the Historic Hood River Hotel, departure was made for Madras. John and the group were shuttled to the airport where they toured the Brandt collection of airplanes and then prepped for flight.  In the meantime, Cindy made her way to the closest Starbucks and then headed down the freeway.  There just happened to be a scrapbook store in The Dalles that hadn't been visited yet, so a stop was made, the store was browsed, and a small bag of goodies found it's way to the Beetle trunk.  The group took off from Hood River Airport and slowly made their way to Madras.  Slowly is the operative word as the winds were starting to howl again and it was a head wind.  Cindy arrived 40 minutes ahead of them.  We lunched with Arthur and Lynn at the Black Bear Diner and then headed to the hotel for a soak in the hot tub and a cold brewski.  At 5 PM, the airshow shuttle picked us up and took us to the Norton Cattle Ranch (see photo).  The owners hosted a social hour(s) and dinner for all the pilots that flew in for and performed at the airshow.  They had a beautiful home on the ranch with gorgeous views of the high desert and the mountains.  It has been a long day :)

No news on Mr. Dad and the house....I think the "as is" thing in exchange for a lower price may have scared him off.  What a pain it is to sell a house!

Hood River, Oregon

                                                   

We are off to the Madras Fly-In in Madras, Oregon.  The Puget Sound Antique Airplane Club is doing a four-day event.  John flew the Champ, I drove the Beetle and hauled bags.  John and the group got a late start from Crest Air Park due to low ceilings.  As they approached Hood River flying down the Columbia Gorge the winds were howling as usual.  John knew they were in for a rough time when he saw the kite boarders hauling down the river.  It was the same on the road.  Hardly any wind until 25 miles west of Hood River, then we were slammed.  My landing was uneventful on Oak Street.  John said he landed (bounced) 3 times getting the Champ onto the runway at the airport.  The landing stories were flying all around as each pilot of the 21 airplanes in the group had to tell his/her story and then tell it again to the next one :)  Such is life in a group of pilots, sort of like telling fish stories.  We had chartered the Hood River Dinner Train for the evening.  We were still waiting for Arthur to arrive in his Mooney as boarding time approached.  I called my old air traffic buddies to see if they were talking to him and had a position.  No such luck.  It wasn't more than a few minutes before Arthur called to say he was 14 minutes from the airport.  Being as I had the only car, John, Lynn, and I jumped into it and headed to the airport to get him.  (They held the train for us.)  We had a lovely dinner while riding through the orchards and seeing the gorgeous views of Mt. Hood and Mt. Adams.  Photos:  Me and John on the dinner train, Lynn and Arthur (our Champ lives in their hangar at Crest Air Park), Mt. Hood, the Mt. Hood Dinner Train at the end of the line.

We've been talking with our realtor all day.  Mr. Dad wants the house, but wants us to come way down in price.  We don't think we can really do much better by sitting on it, so we are negotiating by saying we'll come down (some), but not do any of the little repairs that we know need to be done.  We'll see what happens from here....

We are both tired and headed to bed.  Tomorrow we'll be visiting an airplane collection here in Hood River and then be off to Madras.