Go West, to inconsequential Clinton, Iowa

To limit the amount of flying we have on the next day right after the airforce museum we jump in the plane and motor 2 hrs west to Clinton, Iowa on the West shore of the Mississippi. There isn't much to see on the way so I don't have any pictures to show off. Why Clinton Iowa? Free crew car and good fuel prices. I call ahead and tell him we'll be landing around 7 pm, he says he won't be there but don't worry the keys for the crew car will be under the visor, help yourself. People are so trusting and nice! I've ridden in about a dozen courtesy cars and they are a real mixed bag. Once a scored a brand new SUV. That is not normal and was not the case today. The car is a 90's cop car that runs on about half the cylinders that it should, shudders like its going to fall apart when braking and leaves me wondering which is more dangerous: The plane I built or this behemoth? This flying thing sure is glamorous! I can't complain though because it's free!
So we fuel up, gather our things and splurge on a holiday inn express. We, ha ha, go out on the town to the nicest restaurant, I order a fillet for dinner figuring this is Iowa I should be able to get a good steak if nothing else... Well I'm disappointed... Oh well.

We find out that there is an old World War II landing ship docked a few miles north of town so we fly by and get a few picts on out way out.

Nothing Can Stop the USAF

OK, first stop on the trip was the US Air Force museum in Dayton, OH. I had always heard the legends about how it has three times the number of aircraft as any other aviation museum and all that. Sure enough it completely delivered on that. There are three buildings that are around the same size as the single building that makes up the massive Udvar-Hazy air and space museum near Dulles airport. Obviously I can't even begin to scratch the surface of what they have on display. What I'll do is highlight what I though what most interesting: the Goblin. It turns out that during the cold war they knew that they could make a bomber with range and capacity to deliver nuclear warheads to the adversary and they did. It was called the B-36 and they have one at the museum and it is a awesome sight in and of itself. The problem was that fighter escorts just didn't have the range to protect this sitting duck. Air to air refueling really had not proved itself so the solution was the XF-85 Goblin pictured here. The fighter is so small that the propeller on the bomber looks bigger that it! The Goblin would ride in the belly of the b-36 and then be lowered out, unfold its wings, start the engine, go chase away bad guys and then fly back under and hook up to a trapeeze to be recovered. Here is why I think Nothing Can Stop The USAF: You can bet your ass there were guys lining up to fly this bizarre looking aircraft with its horrible deathwish mission. Inflight refueling matured and this bizarre method of defending bombers went by the wayside but the point is these guys would have done what ever it took. Click on the picture below to see more bizarre detail. Truly commendable.

Warm up run

Well it has been 18 months since I crossed the continent for the first time in a small plane. The first time I went by myself. I had just finished the mandated test period after construction and I felt that if I got into a mess I didn't want to make anyone else suffer. That suffering imposed on a passenger came later when Heather's brother wanted a lift to Florida... You can read all about that in a previous post.
Quite some time ago I told my dad that we'd make a trip to Reno for the airraces and last year just didn't happen because of work. This year I was able to get the time off from work. I decided that my life wasn't going to get any less complicated anytime soon and it was now or never.
The first trip out west was a sort take no prisoners approach flying as far as possible when the weather permits. this time I figured I'd break things up a bit. Here are the planned stops:
1. Dayton, OH Wright-Patterson Museum.
2. Yellowstone. You've got to cross the Rockies somewhere right?
3. McMinnville, OR. Sprucegoose.
4. Aurora, OR. Vans Aircraft.
5. Copalis, WA. Only charted airport in North America that is the beach.(SAND)
6. Shelter Cove, CA. Sea side airport, nice coastal ride from Copalis.
7. Reno, NV. One of the few places that still does Air Races.
8. Denver, CO to See a good friends/partners in crime.
9. HOME.

Weather permitting...

We got off to a rough start. Its Friday. I left work a bit early to get a early start. I meet dad at the airport. Plane is really packed. I get all the security and weather related plans filed and taxi out... then I realize that the database I've got in my GPS is only for the eastern US. Not a big deal to fix but the programmer is back out my house. It is 5 PM and now I've lost 1.5 hrs runing home and back to the airport in DC traffic. I call the airport in Dayton and let them know not to wait up for me since I'm now going to land around 3o minutes after they close... The guy cheerfully volunteers to stay late so I can get my rental car. I actually get a call from him when I'm just getting ready to land! We get the rental and we're on our way... at least for the first leg.

I'll get some pictures up shortly.