I realize I’ve been remiss not writing about our time at Gaston’s, where we got to spend three days watching the river go by, watching birds, watching various planes come and go, and eating some great food in their restaurant. It was all very chill and I practiced ukulele a lot. So, sorry but not really sorry. We had such a good time. BTW, we asked in the shop how they pronounce the name of the resort – and they say GAST-ens. Who am I to contradict?

But we were excited to get to see our friends in Moab UT, two days’ flying from Arkansas, so we departed on May 23 from KRPH (Graham Municipal -Gaston’s) to KTDW (Tradewinds, the satellite airport in Amarillo TX). And here I have to confess a big flying lesson for me. Flying off a grass strip, it’s extra important to calculate take-off distance, and climb rate for terrain beyond – and we did. But it’s even more important to ensure your seat position is correct if you’re a shorty like me, and I didn’t get it quite right. I was a little too far back, so on climb-out, I wasn’t pushing the throttle in fully. I just couldn’t understand why our speed wasn’t picking up, but finally figured it out, and we climbed out fine, but it was scary for a few seconds, and I’ll never get that wrong again. I’ve always been grateful for other pilots’ confessions, so there’s mine.

Tradewinds Airport is a super friendly place with a very accommodating airport manager. There were severe thunderstorms predicted for overnight and they found hangar space for Sierra girl. They loaned us a crew car to get to the hotel. They organized refilling our O2 bottle. AND, the airport has an excellent diner where we had breakfast before departing the next day. What an excellent stop.

Day 17 was going to be a long flight from KTDW to KCNY (Canyonlands Regional Airport Moab UT) with no stops – 3 hrs 29 mins, and at high altitude (10,500 ft) to try to avoid high terrain, cloud, thunderstorm cells and turbulence. It all worked great except we still got a pretty shaky ride for the second half of the flight. But the beauty of the landscape made up for it. This part of the West is stunning, and since I’m originally from the East coast, I was such a tourist taking loads of pictures the entire flight.

It was a gusty landing at KCNY and I was glad Dan was flying the leg. The wind direction was just off Runway 21 (260°), but wind speed was 4 kts gusting 27 kts. Any pilots here will know how challenging that is. And Dan greased it 🙂

KCNY is also a friendly airport, with scheduled airline flights (the little ones), air tours, and of course light aircraft like us. We tied down, rented a car and got to Cindy and Don’s gorgeous house just south of Moab. They have a 360° view around their property of canyon walls, mountains and high desert scenery. Western beauty. After a peaceful, quiet sleep, we’re looking forward to a fun day of exploring.