Sitting in the pilot's lounge, Logan , Utah airport. The table is mostly covered with back issues of Sport Aviation and AOPA magazines. I'm waking up after sleeping on the floor on a foam pad and my sleeping bag, sipping on freshly brewed Mocha-Java that I roasted a week ago, (Hey you should enjoy every luxury you can!) and thinking about breakfast for the final leg of the trip from Deer Park Washington to Canon City, CO.

Sunrise at Logan

Logan doesn't have a restaurant on the field, so a nice breakfast like a Denver omelette, hash browns and english muffin. is out of the question. The answer is to break out the little camp stove and make some soup.... Hmmm what kind? Vegetable beef just sounds too bizarre, how about Bean & Bacon ? At least the bacon sounds like breakfast ! The field is very quiet, the sun just below the horizon, and I slip outside to take the only picture of my trip. Thinking back on some of the rugged terrain I've passed, I wish I had taken more. This last leg will have one stop in Colorado, and I'm a bit concerned about getting caught in the afternoon storms common there this time of year. I figured if I get out fairly early I can be in Canon City before the situation gets too built up. I put the info into Aeroplanner and filed 2 flight plans: one for the trip to Fort Morgan and the second from Fort Morgan to Fremont County. The pilot's lounge has WI-FI and my little laptop sends the requests off into the ether. Moments later I taxi out and confront the range of hills surrounding Logan... a few passes back and forth and I've gained enough to head East. Wow! The Rockies are looming to the South and the landscape degenerates into tortured arroyos and river beds. Rock Springs has to be one of the most desolate areas in the US. Strip mines add raw scars to an already fractured countryside. Soon it becomes flat and it's time to turn South. Fort Morgan is really just a long single runway used mostly by crop dusters. It's hot (about 35 C ) and I remember that 37C is 98.6F. Density altitude (Elevation 5600) is now 8000 feet. I am amazed by some pictures of cropdusters with their wheels right down in the rows of soybeans. Thinking it might have been staged, I was dumbfounded when Kyle, one of the cropdusting pilots revealed that the picture was of him and that this kid of flying was a normal occurrence. The departure uses a lot of runway, (but still less than half of the 5200 feet) and off toward a sky crowded with cumulus. Flight service is advising of a SIGMET to the West and a bit north of my destination and reports of severe turbulence. “One man's turbulence is another man's thermals”

N20822

I try to maintain “even thousands plus 500”, but all this strong lift makes it difficult. At one time I find myself at 13, 600 feet and wondering if I should try 14, 500 or go back to 12, 500. The terrain is starting to look familiar, and it makes the time pass even slower. I'm now flying into the same wind that gave me such impressive groundspeeds on the West-East leg. (I saw 132kts on the groundspeed indicator one time! ). It's now more like 65 or 75 kts. Fremont county eventually swims into sight, and I land to see Beth bringing me a bottle of water and a huge smile.

It's good to be home.

 

 

 

Allan Melendy, (Taifun 17 E II)

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