Today is the first leg of the trip. It’s going to be a short one. I’m only going from Paris to McKinney which is on the NE side of Dallas. We’re really just going to be getting there to get all staged up.
Tom Garland, who’s going to be providing ground support is driving to Paris to pick up all of the luggage. The co-pilot, Tom Howard, is flying into Dallas Love field tonight. Later this evening we will all meet up at McKinney where we will stay for the night, do some final planning, and then head out on Sunday morning.
This morning I’m going to be wrapping up some final things on the plane and making a few more test flights and landings.
Speaking of landings. With the new gear and tail wheel I’m having a hard time judging the distance. I made about 10 landings yesterday and none of them were any good. I would just float and float over the runway and finally when the plane would stall I would be just a little to low and take about three bounces down the runway before slowing down and getting the tail wheel down. Hopefully by the time I get to California I’ll have it dialed in.
I spent the whole day working on the plane and test flying. Most importantly we put on a new tail wheel. But right now it’s extremely late and I’m extremely tired so you can check out the video below.
Technically, I’m not taking off until Saturday or Sunday. I might as well consider the journey underway though since I’ve started home traveling from east to west and the only thing I’m focused on at this point is the flight.
To mark the beginning of the journey I purchased a very nice bottle of 20-year-old port wine at the Lisbon Airport. I’m going to carry it with me and at the end of the journey I’ll un cork it with some friends and we’ll drink a toast to everyone that helped me turn my crazy plan into a reality. Afterwards, I’ll keep the bottle as a reminder of the trip and the friends and family that helped make it possible.
Lastly, I would like to thank my x-wife who made my wonderful girlfriend possible. She is wonderful and understanding of the crazy things I like to do.
I just got off the phone with the company that I ordered my new headset from. Unfortunately the news wasn’t so good. It looks like I may have to make the trip with an old headset or else go without one. I guess I could borrow one of my Dad’s or Brothers, but I was looking forward to testing out the bluetooth adapter on the new one. That, and the new one is really light weight and easy on the ears. All of our old headsets get hard to wear after 30 minutes, let alone 8 hours a day.
Today I boarded the plane for Lisbon. I’m actually writing this post from the Frankfurt airport at gate A20 after 4 cups of coffee, and I’m still not all that awake. Getting on the flight today I was a little worried about the airline security guys because I’m packed my Garmin 396 flight GPS and a handheld nav com in my carry on bag. I don’t want to risk them getting lost or broken. But, as it turned out, it’s no big deal to carry that stuff on. Although, they did run my bag through the X-Ray machine 3 times, swab it down and test it for explosives, and pull everything out to look at it. But, after all of that, they let me on.
Then I got to the Frankfurt airport and had to leave the security area to go to another gate. I was thinking, great, now I get to go through this all over again when they see what’s in the bag and I have no idea what the EU rules are going to be for carrying this stuff on. Oddly, they sent the bag straight through with no questions.
So, for future reference, I guess it’s no big deal. I suppose that will change if anyone ever turns one on and keys up the mic. However, I don’t think I’ve ever met a fellow pilot that would be dumb enough to do something like that. (knock on wood)
I’m getting a new headset for my trip because my old headset is broken. I’ve been thinking a lot about which one to get because I need something really comfortable, light weight, and quite. I’m going to be in the plane 8 hours a day for 6 or 7 days straight and this is not an area that I want to cut corners on. If you’ve spent more than a few hours at a time in a Cub you’ll understand what I mean.
This year at the Reno Air races I had a chance to check out the new Zulu headset from LightSpeed. It was light weight, really quite and it has bluetooth capabilities so I can use it with my Nokia N95. We’ll see how well that works in a Cub with all the noise LOL.
I placed the order today with PilotShop after calling LightSpeed to find out who was getting in some orders. The guys at LightSpeed were really helpful as were the folks over at PilotShop.com.
I’m hoping that they can get them shipped to me in time for my trip. I’m having it sent to the location that I’m departing from. Fingers crossed.
For anyone who’s interested, I’ll be talking about my experience with the Zulu headset on the trip. This will certainly be a good way to test it’s metal. The only thing that would have been better is if LightSpeed would have donated one for the trip. Of course, I would happily take a second one
If you’re at this web site then you already know that I’m going to be documenting the entire trip online. But… it’s the how and why that I think is interesting.
The Why…
The J-3 Cub doesn’t offer much room, even if I end up doing the trip on my own. This is going to be a five to seven day journey and I need all the space I can get for holding extra oil, clothes, water, and a hand full of small electronic devices.
The N95 has everything I need to blog in a small package. I have communication, navigation, and the ability to document the trip. I can take 30 frame per second video and 5 megapixel images, and I can upload to the web without a separate computer. I can do all of this in less room that it takes to put an iPhone in my pocket.
I’ve starting planning and plotting my route. I can’t take credit for the route though, that credit belongs to Erik Presten who was nice enough to spend time with me last weekend showing me a route that he has taken many times.
I showed up at the airport with my maps and my GPS ready to sit down for a gruelling session of poking around for airports that were all within a hundred miles of each other, out of the way of mountains, and at altitudes that were suitable for a cub. Surprisingly, none of that was needed. Erik had it all in his head. He literally handed me a piece of paper and said start writing. I guess he’s done the trip once or twice.
Here’s the route Eric worked out. I’ll map this out using Google Earth or Google maps later so you can see it on a map but for now here’s the list of airports.
Denton TX
Breckenridge TX
Sweetwater TX
Pecos TX
El Paso South I was warned to watch out for DEA helicopters here. Apparently if you don’t smell like kerosene (your not a corporate jet) they assume you’re running drugs. Getting forced to the ground by a DEA helicopter would make a nice blog post huh?
Teresa New Mexico Going to visit a big aviation museum here.
Deming New Mexico There’s some weird stuff in the air here. I was told that the military does a lot of of drone testing and training here.
Lordsberg New Mexico
Wilcox Arizona
Merana Airport NW of Tucson Arizona I hope to stop here and meet a bunch of Aerobatics performers here.
Buckeye Arizona
Blythe
Twentynine Palms
Apple Valley
Bakersfield
Harris Ranch I may put in for the night and get a nice steak here.
Los Banos
Tracey
Air Park And this will be the new home for my plane.
We will be departing on October 14th and we will get to San Francisco by Sunday Oct 21st. I hope. Because on the 22nd I have to participate in an industry show where I have to sit on a panel to talk about mobile games, because that’s the business I’m in. However, I’m talking to someone who can sit in for me in case I need an alternate.
Also, “we” may end up being just me. My co-pilot is having a hard time getting the time off. I have to say, I’m a bit nervous about doing this by myself. I’m sure everything will be fine and I’ll feel better once I get moving. In the mean time, it does make me a bit nervous. Especially considering that the idea started off with a pilot, co-pilot, and ground crew. And now, it may just be me, my N95 and a tent.
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