Southern Hospitality (#29)

It was time to head home.  The distance straight line is 1544 miles.  Given the shorter days and the 3 hour time difference against us, it was not very  practical to fly home in one day.   We had a basic plan how to get home, head East, but lots of options as to what we would do exactly.  We decided to head out early and see how far we could go.

There is some high terrain on the direct route so I routed us over Monument Valley for the terrain and the view and then angled South to Albuquerque.  From there we headed East and landed at our first fuel stop, Santa Rosa New Mexico.  Pulling up to the pump, things looked OK until I saw a message on the screen saying out of order, call this number.  I called and got the local police department.  I explained the issue and they said they would check and call me back.  We waited a bit and I started looking for an alternate, it was a good thing we did not stay as no one ever called back.

I still had a good bit of fuel (a good reason to never land with minimum fuel) and I had looked at lots of  fuel stops when planning the trip.  Hereford Texas had a great price 30 and was minutes East.  Landing in Hereford we found a working Self Serve and more.  On final I had the sense that I had entered a cattle barn.  Opening the planes door, I was sure I was in the barn.  Hereford was also pretty windy as in a solid 20 knots plus gusts.  We did a quick turn and were in the air on our way to Oklahoma.

On the way out we had flown the Texas Oklahoma border.  It is not very straight so you can move in and out of each state while heading straight.  Our next fuel stop was Ardmore Downtown chosen because the reviews were good (Santa Rosa also had an excellent recent review).  The reviews were accurate this time.  Cheap gas and nice facilities.  It also means I have now landed in Oklahoma, 28 left.

We had looked at both Shreveport and Meridian as our overnight.  Shreveport looked like a nicer stay with a Riverwalk while Meridian got us further.  In the end my sense of the front we were about to fly through said to go the distance and overnight in Meridian.  The weather was good so we pressed on.  We landed in Meridian a bit before sunset.  I had checked hotel availability that morning but when I tried to book the local Fairfield I found out that it had sold out while we flew.  The staff at Meridian Aviation is great.  When we arrived the staff apologized that they were out of courtesy cars but that they could run us to a hotel.  We just needed to find a hotel.

Before I started on the hotel search I wanted a snack.  We had been on the move and had subsisted on some granola bars.  Meridian FBO has a great snack area with free snacks, OK it is payed for by the gas but no incremental cost.  They have Hot dogs, chili, nacho topping, ice cream, waffles, Tea, Lemonade, popcorn, Pizza at some hours and more.  I had a chili dog and CC had one as well.  CC also had some soft serve Ice Cream.  One other cool feature of Meridian, we got to park in a line of Navy Jets.

I started trying to find a room and got stuck on hold with Holiday Inn express.  The staff had a book of hotels and while I was on hold got me a room at a nearby Holiday Inn.  They also got us a great rate.  Then they ran us over.  There was an IHOP across the street for dinner and in the morning they brought us back to our plane.  Incredible service!!!  Shreveport was covered in storms which validated yesterday's decision on where to stop.  There was only a 100 foot layer at 2000 feet on our way home.  A flash through the clouds and 2:25 later we were pushing the plane back into the hangar.  Another successful trip completed.

Into the Canyon

Yesterday I decided not to stop at Marble Canyon, winds were strong, gusty and shifty.  Marble Canyon (L41) is only 10 miles from Page.  You can drive there but it takes 45 minutes, the roads are not quite direct.  Marble Canyon is also one of the few places you can legally land in the Canyon.

As discussed before the Grand Canyon has special flight rules.  There are different sectors each with their own requirements.  The Marble Canyon Sector has a floor of 7999 feet, meaning you can't fly below this altitude.  The airport is at 3600 feet so how do you get there?

There is an exception, you may operate within 3000 feet of the surface within 3 miles of the airport for take off and landing operations.  The airport is about 2 miles from the sector edge so you can legally fly into the special flight area just over the canyon rim and descend above the airport.

The runway is bumpy, narrow and the markings are non standard.  Non standard as in missing in most cases,  It does have a center line, sort of.  It looks like it was painted by a drunk person.  It is everywhere but the center.

I was glad I waited for the gusty winds to abate.  Arriving the winds were calm and the landing went well as I touched smoothly and stayed on the runway.  One other feature is that the runway crests in the center so you can't see one end from the other.  This makes it look much shorter even though it is 3700 feet long.    The runway sorta ends at a taxiway or maybe it just has a dogleg.  I pulled into park and shut down.

The ramp is not level.  When I started to release the brakes I started rolling backwards.  This was useful as I needed to push back into a space but eventually I needed to stop.  I had planned ahead.  We brought our own chocks so I sent CC to set them while I held the brakes.

We the further secured the plane with extra chocks, I mean rocks that other people had used as chocks and then walked across the street to pay our landing fee.  The airport s actually private and it costs $5 to land there.  I was happy to pay my fee after landing in the Canyon.

So why did we come, well I wanted to land in the Canyon and it is a challenging strip but it also is next to the Navajo bridges over the Colorado river.  The original bridge was built to replace a ferry ride in the 1920s.  It was timely as the Ferry sank and for two years you had to drive over 800 miles to cross the river.

The original was bridge was narrow and as traffic grew there was a need to replace the bridge.  In 1993 a new modern bridge was built.  The old is now for pedestrians to watch the new bridge and the river.  Walking the old bridge it is hard to imagine going head to head with a semi as late as the 90s.

Departing was pretty easy, just mind the narrow runway.  We did a circle to gain some altitude and then headed out of the canyon.  One of the big tourist attractions in Page is flightseeing.  They run tour planes over all the local sites.  I checked and a ride costs $135 or $185 if you want to sit up front.  Sedona had flightseeing too for $100-$150 per person.

I wasn't going to pay when we had our own plane but I did talk to one of the tour pilots on arrival and found out about there operations worked.  This way I knew what to look at and to know how to avoid them.  Leaving the canyon we took a flight down Lake Powell to see the sites spending much less than $370 and seeing a lot more.

We looked down on Horseshoe bend, the Dam, Massive Butte and Rainbow Arch.  After tying the plane down and getting it refueled we headed off for some final sightseeing.  We were flying in and around some higher terrain and the GPS units kept warning me to be careful, this is something we typically don't see in Florida.

The Wave is quite famous for its unique rock formations.  To visit the site you need to get a special permit and you need to back country hike.  The permits are hard to get and in super high demand.  We are also not that type of hiker.

Luckily there is the New Wave.  It is not as impressive as The Wave but it is just a mile down from the Dam.  I had gotten directions off the internet.  It is not one of the main tourist attractions.  You take a turn off and then two more turns down successively bumpy and dusty roads.

We followed the directions and at the designated spot we parked.  There were no signs where to go from there, just the direction to head West .2 miles.  We figured that we would invest 400 steps and see.  About the time we got to 300 steps we found a marked trail and followed it to the New Wave.

It is smaller and less impressive but I like to look at the ratio of view to work required to get there.  It is a high value hike.

We left the New Wave and headed for one final scenic overview of Lake Powell.  As we gazed over lake Powell we could also see Utah, it was 2 miles away.  It was not planned but we decided what the heck, let's visit Utah.

We hopped on the highway and headed North until we came to a sign.  There was a couple on a bike travelling cross country taking a picture when we arrived.  He was going to get the bike out of the way so we could snap a picture but I had a better idea.  Now I can tell people I biked across the country with CC and have the picture to prove it.

We drove a bit in Utah and looked at the Utah mountains and then it was back to Page to get ready for the trip home.  Forecast was for tailwinds but I didn't believe it.

Page Arizona

This is a flying vacation but for 3 days the plane was parked.  It was time to get in the air again.  The first question was how to leave Sedona.  Sedona has one runway and it is on a pretty good slope.  Normally we depart into the wind but the slope is great enough that if it is not too strong, it is better to take off downhill.

I had been watching the wind it had been strong from the North suggesting an uphill take off but in the early morning things had calmed down quite a bit.  As we started the engine, the wind was a bit shifty but when I reached the the main taxiway, it was pretty light so I elected a slightly downwind and downhill departure.  The pilot behind me made the same choice, not that it means anything, we both could have been fools.  It was a good choice though, the slope is strong (like the force) and we were airborne quickly and climbing out over the buttes.

Since we were still in the mountains, we went VFR.  We had clear blue skies so weather was not really a factor.  The winds were about 25 knots at altitude so we expected some turbulence in the rougher terrain but it was mostly smooth.  We were going to Page Arizona but first we would overfly the Grand Canyon.

The Canyon has special flight rules.  Special Federal Aviation Regulation No. 50-2—Special Flight Rules in the Vicinity of the Grand Canyon National Park, AZ to be exact.  There are two reasons.  They have most areas as flight free to maintain the quiet.  They also want to separate the tour operators from other general aviation operations.

There are designated corridors and altitudes for overflight.  I had picked up flight following out of Sedona so nearing the Canyon, the controller asked if I was familiar with the rules.  I replied wI would fly Fossil North, Dragon South and Zunni North.  He seemed satisfied and left us alone to sight see

The flight over the Canyon has great views.  I actually liked it more than the park visit.  We did have to contend with some smoke.  There is a fire on the North rim right now.  There were actually flight restrictions to allow firefighting but our altitudes kept us above the fray.

I had intended to land in the Canyon, most places it is a violation but there are a few where it is allowed by following the special procedures.  As we headed North, I checked the Page weather and the winds were strong and gusty.  I decided to skip that stop today, we had another flight scheduled in the morning and the forecast was for calm winds.

Inbound to page we overflew Horseshoe Bend, one of the reasons we came.  We also started to see lots of tour plan traffic.  Watching for planes and planning our arrival kept me pretty busy but soon the wheel were down and we were taxiing in.  We were met by a golf cart trying to attract our business.  There are several operators here so we had choices.

I had already chosen American Aviation.  All of the choices were pretty close together but American is in the main terminal building with the Avis desk.  I did not bother to have them pull the car on the ramp because it is so close.  Our golf cart had lead us to a space.  It was pretty far out because they are fixing the ramp.

I had also picked American because they had good reviews.  True to the reviews our golf cart driver, helped secure the plane and then drove us to the terminal.  Avis had our car and the Avis representative brought it to the curb in front of the entrance.  Great service!

Our first stop was Glenn Canyon Dam.  The Dam was built in the 60's to create Lake Powell  and assure a water supply for the Western States.  The Dam offers tours but they must be booked same day, in person.  They just run a few a day and only 20 slots per tour.  Given our warning that the crowds would be terrible we wanted to maximize our chance for a slot.

Luck was on our side and we snagged 2 slots on the 1:30 tour, you had to return by 1:10 though or risk losing your slot.  We took the extra time to enjoy the views of the Dam and Bridge from several vantage points.  We also checked into our hotel and headed into town for lunch.  Page is small and none of these stops were more than 10 minutes apart.

We arrived on at 1:00 and looked at the museum exhibits and checked in right on time.  We had to pay for the tour $5, which is a bargain.  Even though it is federally run, it is the Bureau of Reclamation and they don't honor our NPS annual pass.

The tour starts by going through security.  The Dam holds all the water for the Western states so they want it keep it in good shape.  After security our guide began the tour.  You can take pictures of anything and they will answer any question about the Dam except about the security.

You first an elevator from the visitor center down to the top of the Dam.  Here we learned the history and got to walk along the top and take pictures of both the drop and the reservoir.

Our next ride was another elevator from the top to the base of the Dam.  It is over 500 feet down.  We walked through the base of the Dam to the power generation house were we could see the turbines in action.  The turbines get replaced every 40-50 years.  They had recently finished replacing all of the turbines a few years back.  One of the originals has been left at the Dam top for the tourists to see or maybe because someone got lazy.

This was the end of the tour and we rode the elevators back to the visitor center and headed off to Horseshoe Bend.  Horseshoe Bend was what got me thinking about Page.  If you have ATT cable, they have a screen saver function when the cable box sits idle.  One of the pictures is Horseshoe bend.  It looked cool so I wanted to see it in person.

Horseshoe Bend is a tight turn on the Colorado river with great views.  A few years back it was a sleepy spot.  You parked on the dirt and hiked in.  Somehow it became a viral sensation and now it is crazy busy.  The town built a big lot and collects $10 per car to visit.  The fee started about a year ago so we just missed seeing it for free.

I was a bit miffed that they monetized it but to be fair, it looks like they are using the money to improve the site.  The lot is big and paved.  They have bathrooms and they are improving the path from the lot to the view.  By the end of the visit I was satisfied with the new arrangement.

The need for the lot may have been driven by the hoards of larger tours.  Throughout our trip we ran into large tour groups, many from outside the USA.  It is about a half mile hike to get to the view.  We hiked on in and took a bunch of pictures.

Now we are very respectful of the edge, it can be a long way down at some of these locations.  I am amazed at how many people think that it is a good idea to back up to a shear drop of 1000 feet or more on uneven terrain to get a picture or selfy.  What really amazes me is that more of them don't go over the edge.

As I said before everything in Page is pretty close.  Our Courtyard was half mile from downtown and everything else was less than 10 miles away, including Utah.

We still had time before sunset so we headed to the Hanging Garden Trail head.   At the trail end you are rewarded with a rock overhang that has plants growing across the vertical wall.  I believe it is a pretty unique formation and just has the right amount of moisture and light.

We enjoyed the walk and the hanging greenery.  The trail has an additional side trail that takes you to the top of a small rock hill.  It had good views of the surrounding area, including Lake Powell.  The sun was starting to head down so we called it a day and headed for the hotel.