Canadian Cross Country

[skyking]

Hi All: THis July my wife and I will be going cross country in our 1959M20A.

We did this trip in 2008 and had a blast so we are doing it again.

We met a number of Mooney drivers all over Canada.

If anybody is interested in having a coffee and shooting the breeze drop me a line.

We would love to meet as many other Mooniacs as we can on our travels.

We will be leaving Edmonton and going East to the maritimes then working our way back all the way to Vancouver then East again back to Edmonton. We will be travelling through all provinces and parts of the NWT.

Total trip time 3 weeks.

Hope to hear from some of you.

 

Russ

[Ned Gravel]

Russ:

If you travel over Ottawa, and a look at any Sectional puts you over Ottawa if you are flying between the Sault and Quebec City, drop into Rockcliffe (CYRO).  While our friends to the South lost their DC 3 in the post 911 reality that grips Washington, we kept ours.  Rockcliffe is a little jewel in the middle of our national capital. See the attached taken on the downwind for 27.  Our club (airport management) motto is "Where Friends come to Fly."

Send me a PM when you get closer in planning.  We are leaving for Osh near the 23rd of July this year, but we are available anytime before that.  We have a guestroom available for you.  Won't be the first time a wandering Mooney driver has overnighted at our house.

[skyking]

Ed: Thanks much

i thing ytou were one of the people we did not get to see in 2008.

You are also on yahoo on the woodwings group , right?

 

russ

[skyking]

Ed: Thanks much

i think you were one of the people we did not get to see in 2008.

You are also on yahoo on the woodwings group , right?

 

russ

[Ned Gravel]

Russ:

Not on the woodwings group, but I do remember directing a new woodwinger to others on the aviating.com list about six months ago. Was that you?

As I recall, you woodwingers have to worry about different critters than the rest of the Mooney drivers I know - like termites?#@!

[skyking]

Ed...no termites here...to friggin cold.

I remeber now..i saw you on the mooniacs website that the mooney factory has.

we have spoken before.

 

regards

 

[skyking]

ed; we will make a fuel stop there for sure.

you are officially on my list of stops now.

will advise dates as we get closer to the trip date.

 

[skyking]

dates are all set.

We leave Edmonton June 22

Stops so far are Gimli, Dryden, thunder bay, manitoulin island, burlington , windsor, chatham, ottawa, rivier du loup, fredericton, dartmouth and Gander. We have 4 Mooney owners to see on the list so far. ( you know who you are)

Looking forward to this as we always have a great time on our extended flying trips. ( god i love my week in-week off schedules)

[MooneyMitch]

You are a most fortunate person Russ.  Have a great time and report back to us!!

[skyking]

Hi Mitch: I will. I have 4 Mooney guys to see and we are trying to line up the trip with the Hamilton and Windsor airshows so i can do the ambassador thing too.

I will keep you informed.

[MooneyMitch]

The only thing I find as exciting as an airplane cross country trip, is a motorcycle cross country trip.  That's just me though.   It is just such a great feeling of freedom coupled with adventure! Sometimes it's fun to plan the trip and sometimes it's fun to just strike out without a plan.  Enjoy!

[skyking]

I love the bike trips too, but my wife is not able to do long trips on the bike anymore. Just the plane and the spitfire ( car)

[skyking]

Well the day has finally arrived.

The plane has had a good checkout, fresh oil and filter, flight plans are done for the first 4 legs and we are off tomorrow morning.

Of course the weather looks like crud as i am writing this but hopefully it will clear up as we go.

I will try to see if my blackberry works to post as i go.

 

[mooneygirl]

Please keep us posted Russ!

[MooneyMitch]

Have a great adventure Russ!  We'll keep postive thoughts for the weather.

[skyking]

We are on the road.

Day 1 rain all the way from Edmonton to Yorkton Sask. With lightning off the nose we figured "what the heck, lets stop here"...LOL

Got a hanger for the night from Yorkton Aviation and they gave us a free rental car for the night. booked us a hotel and had the plane fueled up and ready to go at 9AM as promised. Great place to stop if you are up that way.

Day 2: Yorkton to Thunder bay. I am sitting here at the hotel listening to the thunder and rain again. Stopped at the Shell Aerocentre in Thunder bay to spend the night as we were surrounded by big wooly buggers .Pretty much the same treatment. Ramp agent arranged hotel and shuttle to the hotel.

HAd a great supper, had a swim and we wll be on out final leg into Burlington tomorrow as the weather finally looks good.

Getting lots of great pictures and will post some when we get back.

[skyking]

Next up..Windsor, Ottawa to see Ned and the East Coast

[carusoam]

Russ,

If you go to Thunder bay, don't you expect some lightning to go with it?

Please post a picture of a wooly bugger...

-a-

[Ned Gravel]

Quote: carusoam

Russ,

If you go to Thunder bay, don't you expect some lightning to go with it?

Please post a picture of a wooly bugger...

-a-

[carusoam]

They've got you surrounded!!!

-a-

[skyking]

The Good news: We made it to Burlington

The bad news: My engine quit on final into Burlington.

After all that work getting around the weather etc. I am now stuck here for the weekend.

Looks like a gasket in the carb. has started leaking and the engine will not run below 1200 RPM.

When i powered back on final it just sputtered and died.

We had a great flight from Thunder bay to Wawa, Manitoulin island and then into Burlington. The weather held and we only had some fog to deal with in Wawa. We saw the largest Goose in the world in Wawa. ( The lengths some people go to for a tourist attraction...LOL)

I hope Ned gets good weather for the trip to PEI as he is leaving this morning.

Once the plane is fixed we will be continuing on.....So far quite the adventure...

 

 

[MooneyMitch]

WOW!  Keep going and keep us informed.  Above all, enjoy your adventure.

[skyking]

carusoam: i just got the Thunder bay and lightning joke....LOL

I guess i am more tired than i thought,,,,

Usually i am much faster on the uptake...

Yes. we are very lucky it happened when it did..

I made the runway no problem and Kovalckeck aviation took the plane in right away and moved me to the front of the line as i am in transit.

The good news is it should not really impact the trip as we planned to spend a day ro two here to see the grankids etc.

This whole area is a no-fly zone for the next 2 days due to the G8 summit anyway so no harm no foul.

 

[skyking]

Good news, kind of....

Looks like i picked up a load of bad fuel in Kenora.

When they opened up the fuel screens they were plugged up with rust and gunk.

I had them all cleaned and checked before i left so we know thats the problem. Plus the left tank had some junk in it and that tank and the belly tank were the only tanks i filled up there. The right tank is still squeeky clean.

So Mononday we are back in business....

Gonna miss the COPA convention in PEI but ned can fly the flag at that one.

[Ned Gravel]

Russ:

I will post pictures.