Preamble

After the flying/roadtrip last year, I sold the aircraft and trailer, thinking I was finished with that adventure.....
See that story at http://jgwalkaboutusa.blogspot.com.au/

But I had the photos from that trip running as the screen saver on my home computer, so they made me really long for more.  Then out of curiosity, I had a quick look at Barnstormers (where aircraft are advertised for sale), and spotted an aircraft and trailer combo for sale.....  Turned out that I had met the owner and the aircraft in California last year, so knew it was a good rig.  The temptation was way too much and I bought it right away!

So now I was committed to another adventure, and all that goes along with that.....  Found a camper van advertised in Phoenix, and made another deal.

Then early August found myself sitting in a 777 airliner high over the Pacific Ocean, with the combination of excitement and trepidation that comes with starting out on an adventure like this.....

Arrived in Phoenix and stepped out into the blast oven that it's like there that time of year.  Picked up the van and headed to Hesperia, California to pick up the aircraft.  Then hit the road, via Flagstaff and Albuquerque, to Golden Colorado.



View 2013 Flying/Roadtrip in a larger map

Finally ready.....

Been here in Golden, Colorado for a week and a half now.  Have real good friends here, and stopped for only a short visit, but got into a lot of aircraft work.  Tony flies a Savannah here, and has a hangar at Erie airfield, where I parked the trailer.  

The cockpit is fully enclosed, so I had to open an area for clear photography, can't shoot through the plastic for clear photos.  So cut away part of it.  And was very pleased to find that the cutaway didn't give any more draft in the cockpit, but feels really good to be more open.  So another win!

Tony had a couple Tundra tires that he'd taken off his aircraft, and he gave them to me.  They're quite a bit larger, and will be good for rough strips or out landings.  Only problem could be that there wasn't much clearance in the trailer, and concerned that it wouldn't fit......  But turns out that it just fits by the narrowest of margin, but it does fit!

With the bigger wheels, it became obvious that alignment of one wheel wasn't correct, the right wheel was towing in too much.....  This explained why it was so difficult to roll the aircraft backwards.  That wheel was tracking out, spreading the landing gear and the tire was scuffing along the pavement.  First of all thought it was a bent landing gear leg, but on pulling it apart, it was pretty straight.  Turned out to be a loose fit where the axle foot bolts onto the leg, bolt holes kind of 'hogged out', letting the foot rotate.  So lined up the foot and then drilled a new hole at right angle to the original.  Now the foot is secure, and the alignment is correct, as proven the first time I easily rolled the aircraft backwards out of the hangar.  So another issue solved!

Cleared out a rats nest of old unused wiring, for a strobe or something, and figured out what wires go to where, and what fuses do what....  Wired in the radio and the GPS, and built a mount for the radio.

Added a rope and pulley arrangement to pull the aircraft up the ramp into the trailer, cause I'm not as strong as the previous owner.  Added tie-down points to the outside of the trailer, in order to be able to tie it down.  It's so light that it could be blown over in a storm.  I brought extra of my 'Whack-em-Down' aircraft tie-downs from Australia to drive into the ground.  Added tie points inside the trailer to hold spare fuel cans.  Loaded and unloaded a couple of times to get the sequence right.

So it's been a busy time here, all in 95F (35C) heat.....  All this wouldn't have been possible without the hospitality of Tony and wife Bobi, and Tony's help all round.  And typical American friendly help at the airfield.  When a fella saw me preparing to try to drill that leg and foot with a hand drill he insisted that we take back to his home workshop and use a proper drill stand.  And when I needed a couple of bolts they hunted around a couple of other hangars to find them.....

Did the first test flight today, after all these mods.  Went really well, balanced in flight, and no extra draft from the cut-away.  But when I landed the tailwheel collapsed......  Managed to stay on the runway and taildrag it off the taxiway.  I never did like those crumby little 'pizza-cutter' tailwheels that Kolb uses, so had already ordered a much more substantial tailwheel form Aircraft Spruce.  When I got home today it had arrived, so perfect timing!  And a kind fella at the airfield had already given me a piece of 5/8" chrome moly tubing that I'll need to mount the new tailwheel.

So now it's a much better aircraft for my use.  I had thought that I was just going to have to live with those issues, cause can't do much on the road, but this has fixed all that.

The aircraft and trailer.

Enclosed this time.

The Trailer.

Fabric covering, sort of like a covered wagon of old...

Very light and easy to tow.

So I'm ready to roll in the morning!  Headed for South Dakota......

Good progress but no distance....

Started out with lots of excitement, the flying/road trip was really happening at last.  The aircraft was ready, except for the tailwheel, and I already had all parts required to fix that.

Erie airfield is close to the interstate highway I-25 which heads north, so was easy to get out of town and on the way.  Stopped at a gas station a few miles up the road near Longford to top up with fuel.  A vibration and clatter underneath had been bugging me for awhile.  Sounded exactly like a universal joint, but every time that I crawled underneath, they felt tight and solid.  But I had always checked in 'Park', and this time tried 'Neutral', and then found LOTS of freeplay....  So it needed work right now....  Asked a fella distributing water for the drinking fountains in the gas station, and he recommended a mechanic called 'Hands On', nearby.  It was the perfect workshop, down a backstreet and only working to local customers.  A very straight arrow and as honest as could be sort of fella.  We hit it off right away and he made space to do my job today.  Turned out that the U-joint was so worn that it would have collapsed sometime very soon, probably along the remote highways in outback Wyoming....  So I was really lucky to get it fixed now!  (But I do remember that he did say he had difficulty getting one of the circlips to fit properly; more on that to come...)  I was so impressed with his approach to work that I asked if he could do the shock absorbers as well.  He fitted them in as well, and now I have new front shocks and airlifts in the back for towing.  I knew that I was going to have to do that sometime anyhow, so it was good to get it done now.  Took all day, but time well spent....

Camped at Longford Walmart.  A very quiet Walmart lot.  Bought a couple of plastic storage containers to help organize the van.  All is going really well.

A long day on the road.  Very remote in eastern Wyoming, a long way between towns, sort of like Australia.  Rolling grassland, only for cattle, with a few valley bottoms with cultivated fields.  Lots of 'snow fences', must be pretty cold and bleak in winter.....

 But a pleasant easy run along secondary highways with little traffic; sure beats the interstate with all it's traffic....

 Van towing well at 65 mph. Then a lot of grades and bends thro the Black Hills, so pretty tired by getting to Sturgis and some lunch.  On to Box Elder, and America's Mailbox.  Good reception, and looks like they know what they're doing here.  Now need to study the manual for my Drivers license test tomorrow.....

More chores but good progress.

Started the day with a Flying-J truck stop coffee - yuck....  Now I know why I swore off coffee last time over here....

America's Mailbox headquarters and RV park.

They're really big on flags here, that one is 60 ft long....

America's Mailbox has made an business of registering and insuring full-time RVers who have no other home address but their rig.  The owners have been full-time RVers themselves, so knew the need.  Most states require utility bills and such to prove residence, and many charges local taxes even if you spend all your time elsewhere.  They provide a mail forwarding address, and hold mail until you email them with a current address, and then they forward it to you.  They also help arrange driver's license, registration and insurance, and it's really popular, with a lot of big motorhomes arriving to become new South Dakota 'residents'.  They have an RV park adjoining, and all that's required to declare to be a SD resident is a receipt for one night in the park!

Then over to the drivers license office.  Really quiet and efficient there.  The receipt for the night in the RV park, a written test, a driving test, an eye test, a photo, and then handed a new license, all for $20.  Really exciting, felt like a teenager with first license!

Then back to America's Mailbox to do registration.  A bit of mucking around cause I never got a bill of sale, just the signed off title.  Some phone calls and some faxes and it was fixed.  The purchase price of $2000 was just right to exempt from sales tax...   Registration fee $67 for a year!  It's hard to see those charges cover anything more than the office costs...

Then to the in-house insurance agent.  $195 for 6 months, compared to the $929 for 6 months in Arizona!  It was really worth coming here to South Dakota to do this.  Lots of other RVers doing it as well, it's a bit of an industry here.....

Then went to Wells Fargo bank and opened an account and get a plastic card, real simple now that I have this US address.

So now I've got a drivers license and a credit card, and a vehicle, what more do you need to tour America!

Late in the day by then, but just had to get rolling.....  Now camped in a gravel pit next to Wall airfield.  Flew from here last year to see the Badlands, so no need to fly again now.  Gulping a Big Bud, it's been +100F (38C), and still just about that at sundown....

Stopped along the way and fixed the problem with the fan in the van, so the the air conditioner couldn't work this last couple of days.  We Aussie's are tough and not bothered by heat, but a/c sure feels good sometimes, eh....

p.s. - I just checked the Spot locator and it's amazing!  In satellite view you can even see the piles of gravel that I'm hiding behind........  Don't think anyone will notice me here......  Nearly dark now.....

Lucky Breakdown

Rolling at sunrise, excited to really be on the road again.  Stayed on excellent secondary highways through,rolling grasslands.  Very relaxing.....

Went just fine until suddenly one of the new universal joints collapsed, with lots of clatter and vibration......  Luckily it was only about a mile to a country store and I was able to limp and clank very slowly to there.  On the way the vibration shook the muffler loose from the exhaust pipe and dropped the muffler on the road.....  What a change to the relaxing day.....  Wired the muffler up off the road, and then bellowed and clattered the rest of the way to the store.....  Unbolted the drive shaft, and a local farmer gave me a lift 12 miles to the nearest town.  Of course the farmer knew who was the best mechanic in town, and 'Rockin-Rob' was certainly it.  He dropped what he was doing and worked for a couple of hours on my problem.  The circlip groove was battered by the episode, but he carefully ground it deeper with a Dremel tool, and did a really good result.

I sure was lucky to breakdown where I did.  50 miles earlier in that remote country would have been a real hassle, and this was Friday before the Labor Day long weekend so everything would be closed until Tuesday....

In the meantime I explored a really good museum across the road.  Interesting local history and heaps of huge dinosaur fossils, alongside a 'Creation' display trying to explain how the fossils aren't really as old as science measures......  Outside was a really brilliant sculpture from scrap metal of a dinosaur.  Not just a rough approximation, but a very artistic and realistic work, very impressive!

Then got out on the road, hitch-hiking with the drive shaft.....  Surely that drive shaft would tell one of these farmers that I'm a man in distress, and not just a drifter.  Very soon picked up by the lady who owns the store where I had left the van.  She was quick to point out that the locals wouldn't be put off by a drifter, but would be by a 'liberal'!  She then intimated that the clothes I was wearing could indicate a liberal or even a greeny....  Kahki shirt and cargo shorts are my everyday wear in summer, just because they are so comfortable, but I hadn't considered image...  I guess the image is a bit too close to a park ranger, not a loved creature in these parts....  I resent having to select clothing for image rather than comfort, but I do realize it sets a first impression.....  So I got out my blue work shirt and bought a pair of dark cargo pants.  I know that blue jeans is really what's needed, but I need all these pockets, and my balls won't tolerate being crunched up in stiff jeans when I sit and drive all day....

Noticed Sitting Bull's grave site on the map, so went a fair bit farther to pay my respects because I do respect him greatly.  Couldn't find it when I got to the Indian village where it's located, so asked directions from a couple of young fellas. They told me, then tried to panhandle, "...can you spare a couple of dollars..."  These were young healthy men with plenty of work ability and government pensions, but no personal pride....   Sitting Bull would have been very disappointed with them......

So out of town, and found a campsite on a hill overlooking the Missouri River flats where Sitting Bull and his tribe would have hunted and played, and I tried to imagine those scenes.....

Washburn, North Dakota

At Washburn airfield, North Dakota.

It's blowing a gale today, with some shower squalls, so no flying, so went by road to visit the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center, and the replica of old Ft Mandan.  I've often thought that if I was a young fella in those days, I would have wanted to be on such an expedition into unknown territory. But seeing the size of the accommodation that about 40 men had to cram into for all those winter months, rules it out for me.  You'd have to be a very sociable and tolerant fella to survive that; not a place for a dedicated loner like me.....