COMPLETE ROUTE

Each leg has a map from Bruce's flight planning software and his pilot's notes on the flights.  A "leg" is the total route for a full day of flying.  Click on the small route maps at left to see a larger version of the maps.  Flight plan maps and notes were provided by Bruce - our pilot.

LEG ONE :: traveling east...

San Carlos, California to Fort Stockton, Texas

Left San Carlos CA (KSQL) at sun-up. Plan was to fly the southern route (AZ, NM, TX) to avoid weather in KS and OK (they were forecast to have severe thunderstorms – they ended up having an F3 tornado and golf-ball sized hail!!).  Flew down CA central valley, through the Tehachapi Mountains south of Bakersfield, past Palm Springs and the Salton Sea. Refueled in Eloy, AZ, just south of Phoenix. Then through southern NM, over El Paso, TX and on to Ft. Stockton, TX. Intended to continue on to the Austin area, but weather prevented this – we returned to Ft. Stockton after running into the weather just south of San Angelo, TX.

LEG TWO :: traveling east...

Fort Stockton, Texas to Annapolis, Maryland

Left from Ft. Stockton at sun-up. Flew toward Austin to stay south of the large "no fly zone" that is around President Bush's ranch in Crawford TX. The weather was still lingering over TX, but the tops were around 6000 feet, so we just flew over it. Clouds finally broke over Arkansas. Landed at Oxford, Mississippi for fuel - college town with a big University of Mississippi. Spent 45 minutes on the phone with the FAA negotiating a flight plan to get us into the Washington DC ADIZ (security zone). After Oxford, flew direct to Virginia and then negotiated the DC security zone to land at Annapolis airport.

LEG THREE :: traveling the south-east...

Annapolis, Maryland to Charleston, South Carolina

After transiting the DC ADIZ, flew direct to Charleston. Lots of turbulence and a moderate headwind.

LEG FOUR :: traveling to Kitty Hawk...

Fly to First Flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina and Back

Flew up the coastline, landed at Kitty Hawk, and then returned on an inland route (with a fuel stop in Kenansville - Duplin County airport). Lots of dog-legs to detour around military restricted airspace (e.g., Cherry Point Marine Corp Air Station). The wind at Kitty Hawk was strong as advertised, making for a fun landing (the airport is surrounded by ~50’ trees, causing quite a bit of wind shear on short final).

LEG FIVE :: traveling west...

Charleston, South Carolina to Sioux City, Iowa

Left Charleston, SC at 1PM, bound for Sioux City, Iowa. Fuel stop right on the Mississippi at Cape Girardeau, Missouri. The map doesn't show it, but we followed the Missouri river northwest as much as practical (with doglegs around St. Louis and Kansas City). Weather got interesting near Kansas City with a big line of thunderstorms forming in the mid-afternoon (we were seeing lots of lightening on the planes lightening detector - a useful instrument when you have to negotiate the cells).

LEG SIX :: traveling west...

Sioux City, Iowa to Lewiston, Idaho

Left Sioux City, SD and followed the Missouri river northwest. Intercepted highway 90 around Wall, SD (home of Wall Drug, which you will know if you have ever been on highway 90 within 500 miles of Wall, SD). Then over the Badlands and onto Rapid City, SD where we circled Mount Rushmore national monument a few times. Then over the black hills, past Gillette WY and over the Big Horn mountains. Weather was stacked up on the west side of the Big Horns so we went south toward Casper until we found a hole where the mountains dropped below the ceiling. Squeezed through the hole, and then onto Cody, WY for fuel.

After Cody, WY we flew west, took a detour to explore Paradise Valley, MT recommendation from Kevin). After that we more or less followed highway 90 onto Bozeman, then Butte, then just south of Missoula and onto Lewiston, ID.

LEG SEVEN :: traveling west...

Lewiston, Idaho to San Carlos, California

Short flight straight from Lewiston to home. On the east side of the Warner Mountains and over the top of Susanville.