Cincinnati to Denver to Cincinnati. Another bucket list item check d off.

[nels]

I left Tuesday morning for Denver and arrived late afternoon Denver time. Visited my son Wednesday and the two of us flew home yesterday. Out was at 8500 ft. First stop and with plenty of wind on lading was LXT on the east side of Kansas City, about a 3 hr 45 min flight. From there I flew on to FTG in Denver. A little bumpy for the last 100 miles but not terrible. The runway was wide and long which was why I picked it as it was my first landing at an elevated airport. The visit was great as we toured Denver a little on Wednesday, had a beer in Golden and a nice supper in the evening with my son and his future wife; my son even picked up the tab. My son Adam decided to fly home with me so we planned to leave Thursday early, about 8 am. He wanted to finish a video interview he started several months ago with his 96 year old grandfather back in Cincinnati. Well, he had lots of cameras, tripods etc which he had estimated at about 50 lbs the night before but was probably well over 100 once he had it all together. Borrowed a scale from the FBO and promptly broke it. We had just fueled the plane the night before so had a full load of fuel on board. End result was we left my tool kit, the tripod, bottles of water etc behind as an insurance policy on not being over gross at 5000 ft. Finally heading home at 9500 ft we were cruising at a ground speed of 132 knots and 6.7 gph running lop. I was amazed at this but was afraid to keep it up so rolled it up to 7.4 gph. I'm pretty certain we could have made it home without fueling but I decide to stop at Omar Bradley field  in Missouri and fill up at $3.75/gal rather than 5.22 at my home field. Left KMBY and up to 7500 where we picked up a heavy tailwind and 175 knots cruise on the remaining leg. Used flight following all the way out and back; that was great. Gas at LXT as 4.08, at FTG 4.48, at KMBY 3.75 and my home field 5.22.

[Skates97]

Glad you had a great trip. For me the first time I did a trip far enough to have to make a fuel stop I was really nervous. After a couple of them I wasn't nervous any more and was really looking forward to them. 

[Hank]

6 hours ago, Skates97 said:

Glad you had a great trip. For me the first time I did a trip far enough to have to make a fuel stop I was really nervous. After a couple of them I wasn't nervous any more and was really looking forward to them. 

Wait for a trip that requires an overnight enroute. Them're great fun!

[Bartman]

Real travel, not just around the patch and hamburger runs.  That's why we fly a Mooney.

[steingar]

Congrats. This is what your airplane is there for.  May it be the first of many.

[Jim Peace]

10 hours ago, Hank said:

Wait for a trip that requires an overnight enroute.

Or two overnights....C model from East coast to West usually takes that to be civil......

Then there was that one time it should have only taken me 5 or 6 nights to get somewhere in a 210....turned out to be three weeks, kept having to wait out weather......

[nels]

You know, it is a great feeling getting so far that quick. What got me is Im certain I could have made it back home on one load of fuel with at least an hours worth of fuel in reserve. These Mooneys are impressive!