Departure

OK, I've got 11 days of my work schedule cleared to do this trip. This trip will be done with good weather only meaning that I won't fly through clouds. Friday is my first day off and the weather doesn't look cooperative but at the same time doesn't look like a complete shutout. A cold front is on it's way, and for this particular front this means:
strong headwinds
cold temps
snow
some cloud cover.

My other problem is that there is a nasty snow storm moving East Northeast that will engulf Eastern Colorado all the way to St Louis. This system will take days to pass. If I don't get into the Rockies by sundown Friday night I will be stuck for several days in the plains of the Midwest with nothing other than bad weather and books to keep me company.

Thursday Night: I called flight service and they don't say good things but they don't say bad things either. The mountains of West Virgina are going to get snow(bad visibility) and the cloud tops will be near 10,000 feet. 10,000 feet isn't too bad I can get over the snow but will be battling serious headwinds...

Friday morning, 5 AM: I called flight service again. Most stations across the route are reporting OK weather. Mountains of West Virgina are getting snow. I've got the day off anyway and so with all my stuff for the trip I leave for the airport. By sun up at 7 AM I've got the plane off the ground and I'm flying west in to gale force headwinds. I can't stay low out of the strong headwind because of lousy visibility in snow and the risk of getting trapped between rising terrain and lowering clouds in the mountains of west Virginia. Ouch. I take the less painful option of flying into a 50 knot headwind at around 10,000 feet. Thanks to the winds I end up having to shorten the flight distance by 90 miles. The flight is beautiful, smooth and in the sunshine over the clouds. Below me there is a may lay of wind and snow that will become my demise should my engine decide to stop turning money into noise.

My cheat sheet from www.airnav.com says that "Rough River" airport has cheap fuel and it happens to be on my route. I change my destination to Rough river. 100 miles away from rough river the undercast starts to break up just as it was forecast to and I descent down under the clouds. The air under the clouds is turbulent. This flight so far has been smooth but I've only been doing 110 knots across the ground according to the GPS. Below the clouds my ground speed come up to 130 knots, only a 30 knot headwind instead of 50 knots but the price I pay is having my little airplane tossed around by continuous turbulence. This is welcome trade.

After nearly 4 hours and 450 NM of flying, I spot The airport, land, taxi to the pumps, notice they say "out of order" and call the number listed on them. I tell the woman I need fuel. She says they don't have any and aren't planning on having any for a while... ouch. With an hour and a half of fuel on board I fly 10 miles away to the nearest airpot and they've got fuel albeit expensive fuel. I fill up , get the green weather light from flight service and depart for Ellsworth, KS.

Ellsworth is by Salina, which is by... not much else. Smack in the middle of Kansas. Cheap fuel. I don't see much other than Ice in the trees giving way to snow on the ground later on and lots of flat land. It still is pretty scenery but scenery that I'm familiar with. I've flown in this part of the country before.

another 4 hours of flying and this time 545 NM and I land at Ellsworth municipal airport in Ellsworth, KS. It is listed in airnav.com as "assisted self serve." Not sure what that means but I'll find out.

I taxi to where the fuel pumps are and you need a key to make them work... I enter the building and there is a phone with several numbers to call. I call the first and they say someone will be right out to fuel my plane. They were right; less than 10 minutes later a nice gentleman shows up, fuels me up and with a few pleasantries and talk of experimental homebuilt aircraft I depart for Canon City, Co. nestled in a canyon just inside the Rockies. The "N" in Canon is supposed to have a "~" above it so it sounds like Canyon.

From Ellsworth, KS, elevation 1,600 feet the terrain remains flat all the way to Denver and Colorado springs except for the fact that the elevation rises to more than 5,000 feet. During this flight between the plains and the Rockies somehow my little plane almost completely by itself maintained 1500 feet above the ground for the two hour 350 NM trip. Even though I know it was just coincidence it seems like gravity and the lift of my wings were in perfect equilibrium as I inched closer to the rocky mountains. From 1500 feet the view was spectacular. I could see details in all the little streams that generated small canyons and see how the powerful Northwest wind had forced snow into perfect lines as it whipped past "L" shaped lines of trees that form wind breaks around farms. And then, out in the distance more than 120 miles away I could see the scenery that I had come for. The Rocky Mountain Range was coming into view. Massive mountains stretching up nearly 10,000 feet above the surrounding terrain. I passed Pueblo, CO went up the Valley to land Canon, City.


After landing The nice guy that worked at the airport fueled my plane and got me squared away with a courtesy car and gave me directions to the local Holiday Inn Express. Living in style. I went to eat at and had a Beer. Got settled in at the hotel and called Flight Service for weather. The news wasn't good. The storm I was trying to beat was going to be my nemesis tomorrow...