California to Oshkosh, 2021
Welcome!
Having enjoyed our trip to Oshkosh so much in 2019, we wanted to do it again. Obviously, the Ercoupe is a two person aircraft, and there are three of us, so we had to work out a plan. Charles wasn't too enthralled about doing the drive again, and missing his friends over the summer, so we hatched a plan that meant Diane and I would fly, and my Mum kindly offered to come up and stay with Charles and our dog Darwin. Diane and I don't get to fly together often, but she does enjoy it, so flying across much of the country together was an exciting prospect.
| Trip Statistics | |
|---|---|
| Distance flown | 4322 statute miles |
| Flight time | 45.2 hours |
| Total fuel used | 233.18 USG |
| Total fuel cost | 1163.24 USD |
| Oil added | 3 qts |
| ICAO / IATA / FAA |
City | State | Fuel Added (USG) |
Fuel Cost (USD) |
Naut. Miles |
St. Miles |
Flight Mins |
Logged Mins |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KGOO | Nevada County | CA | ||||||
| KWMC | Winnemucca | NV | 12.61 | 72.51 | 201 | 142 | 154 | |
| KENV | Wendover | UT | 12.00 | 64.20 | 207 | 148 | 161 | |
| KEVW | Evanston | WY | 3.5 | 17.47 | 154 | 115 | 125 | |
| KRKS | Rock Springs | WY | 10.40 | 57.72 | 99 | 71 | 82 | |
| KCPR | Casper | WY | 10.2 | 51.51 | 165 | 124 | 132 | |
| 49B | Sturgis | SD | 10.65 | 53.78 | 187 | 143 | 151 | |
| KMBG | Mobridge | SD | 12.5 | 62.25 | 162 | 114 | 122 | |
| KDTL | Detroit Lakes | MN | 11.16 | 49.10 | 213 | 142 | 155 | |
| KMGG | Maple Lake | MN | 9.65 | 39.08 | 144 | 100 | 111 | |
| KAUW | Wausau | WI | 12.0 | 58.20 | 190 | 125 | 127 | |
| KEZS | Shawano | WI | 60 | 41 | 43 | |||
| KAUW | Wausau | WI | 8.33 | 40.40 | 64 | 48 | 59 | |
| KOSH | Oshkosh | WI | 8.0 | 40.72 | 153 | 108 | 124 | |
| KDLL | Baraboo | WI | 7.1 | 34.01 | 74 | 55 | 65 | |
| KFOD | Fort Dodge | IA | 14.2 | 67.45 | 212 | 156 | 167 | |
| KOLU | Columbus | NE | 11.6 | 58.58 | 168 | 135 | 143 | |
| KBBW | Broken Bow | NE | 7.08 | 32.99 | 110 | 79 | 85 | |
| KSNY | Sidney | NE | 10.7 | 55.17 | 163 | 129 | 140 | |
| KRWL | Rawlins | WY | 11.0 | 53.90 | 213 | 134 | 148 | |
| KVEL | Vernal | UT | 10.4 | 52.00 | 157 | 131 | 145 | |
| KTVY | Tooele Valley | UT | 169 | 119 | 127 | |||
| KENV | Wendover | UT | 15.3 | 80.32 | 88 | 60 | 79 | |
| KEKO | Elko | NV | 7.03 | 38.31 | 101 | 68 | 81 | |
| KLOL | Lovelock | NV | 10.21 | 46.15 | 171 | 126 | 127 | |
| KGOO | Nevada County | CA | 7.56 | 37.42 | 134 | 101 | 112 | |
| Total | 233.18 | 1163.24 | 3759 | 4322 | 45.2 hrs | 49.4 hrs |
July 17th, 2021 - Home to Wendover, UT
Both Diane and I couldn't sleep very well last night and by 3am we were done; things were too exciting. We were also uneasy about leaving Charles for so long. But - we like to have adventure in our lives, and this was a big one! Let's get going!
Leg 1 - Nevada County, CA (KGOO) to Winnemucca, NV (KWMC)
I was hoping to be in the air for civil twilight, but it actually turned out to be 5:55am by the time we were wheels off. The flight took 2h 22mins, and was pretty smooth. We had 3 hours of fuel on board, with no dipping into reserves. We slow climbed out of Nevada County, enjoying the sun-rise over the Sierra Nevada, finally reaching 9,500' to get over the mountains and over Reno class C. I called up Oakland Center just before Truckee, so they could guide me over that part of the route. As usual, they lose radar contact (if you're below 10,000') just before Reno, but they stick with you voice only, and then reestablish radar contact as you crest the mountain.
The least enjoyable portion was just past Reno, where we ran into a lot of smoke from the Beckwourth Fire Complex. The Beckwourth Complex is a collection of fires that started burning in late June, North East of the town of Beckwourth, California. When we passed, it was still going strong, and producing a lot of fire smoke. We ran into that smoke as we passed Reno airport. I had been high to get over the mountains around Mount Rose, and I planned to stay high to keep out of the Class Charlie around Reno (which topped out at 8,400'). After struggling through the terrible visibility at 9,500', thinking 'is it going to be like this the whole way through Nevada?', we began a descent to 7,500' past the town of Fernley. There, things were much better, with a much clearer view of the route ahead.
Passing Lovelock, I had to make the decision of whether we had enough fuel to get to Winnemucca, or do we stop and refuel at Lovelock? Judging the levels in the wing tanks, I felt confident they were good, and we wouldn't be dipping into the header tank. That proved a reasonable choice, and we made it into KWMC with 10 USG on board, and no drama.
Winnemucca seemed a nice airport, although there was no coffee on the go when we got there, so that was a bit of a fail! After pit stops and a quick chat with a nice guy who had a great story about his first ride in an Ercoupe, we fueled the machine ready for the next leg.
Leg 2 - Winnemucca, NV (KWMC) to Wendover, UT (KENV)
Take-off with a good amount of fuel from Winnemucca (4,300' MSL) was uneventful, although temperatures were warming up, and climbout was a little less than I would have liked. A reminder to not be complacent as we get into higher terrain over the next day or two. We had breakfast in flight; Diane bought hard boild eggs, and they were delicious as we headed East, following I-80.
We tracked past Battle Mountain, Elko and Wells, before descending into Wendover, 2.5 hours later. As usual, Nevada's scenery along the route was impressive, the shear scale of the landscape reminds us how tiny we are. Lots of large minining operations were visible; just before Wendover, we passed Graymont's Pilot Peak plant. This lime plant is named not for where it is located, but what it looks out over, Pilot Peak just to the North East. It is strategically situated in close proximity to the State's major gold producers. The stone is quarried immediately adjacent to the plant, crushed to size and conveyed directly to the preheater kilns.
One of my worries for the flight was 'what do I do for caffeine, if there is no coffee available', as happened at Winnemucca. I will likely get headaches if I don't have any. Diane had me covered - she bought some instant coffee sachets, and we tried those on this leg. They weren't too bad!
The flight was pretty smooth, and the Ercoupe was running perfectly, although the air was starting to get bumpy by the time we got into Wendover around 11:30am. Quite typical for afternoon over the desert, around the mountains.
Wendover is a very cool old WW2 bomber crew training base, with many original buildings still there. The old terminal building was very welcoming, and had a nice air-conditioned pilot lounge that we charged up our electronics in. Diane had a quick snooze. I fueled up the machine, and then we borrowed a courtesy car (crown vic in army colours) to head into town. I realised I had forgotten to bring my tie-down rope, so we found a hardware store and bought some. Then took the car back to the airport, and walked to the fantastic little Mexican restaurant around the corner. Lots of Bonneville salt flats memorabilia on the walls, and great food & service.
It was very hot out, the sun beating down, but we decided to walk over to the B-29 hangar at the East end of the field. Much water was needed! No Doc or Fifi present in there, just a 152, a broken Jet Provost and a Grumman Albatross.
Next, we setup our tent on the grass out front of the terminal building. As we were doing that, the owner of the Mooney parked next to us came back to check on his aircraft. Had a chat with him, nice guy who was interesting to talk to. He gave us some peaches he was taking back to Chicago. Unfortunately, the terminal building had huge spot lights which soon came on, shining down onto the grass all night. We were able to maneuver over to some shade, but I always forget how bright airports can be for camping...
Photos from Day 1
July 18th, 2021 - Wendover, UT to Rock Springs, WY
This was a big day! UT to WY is high country, and means crossing the bravo airspace around Salt Lake City, crossing the Wassatch range of mountains, as well as getting into the high country of Wyoming. Density altitude and weight & balance were a worry.
Leg 3 - Wendover, UT (KENV) to Evanston, WY (KEVW)
We got a reasonable nights sleep on the grass in front of the terminal building. A washroom was available nearby in the old 'Hangar 1', which was very welcome. Temperatures cooled off quite nicely over night.
After packing up the tent, loading up the Ercoupe and checking the oil and fuel, we took-off at 06:15am. 'Glassy smooth' air awaited us, it was a beautiful time to be in the air. We didn't climb high; one of my regrets on the last Oshkosh trip was crossing the salt flats up high, so I remained low this time. No need to go high for safety! The pastel sky colours, the vibrant blue salt ponds, bright white flats, were really amazing to see as the sky brightened. A few minutes after departing, we saw a freight train heading East across the flats, and I decided to get a bit lower to 'race' him! Obviously, even an Ercoupe is not really racing a locomotive, and we quickly passed him; I wonder if he saw us?
So - first goal completed; we successfully took off, and were on our way East again. Next goal - cross the Class Bravo airspace around KSLC. I wasn't sure how they would route me (lack of experience), so I figured I'd get onto flight following and ask. The good news was - it didn't seem like it was going to be a big deal. The controller didn't know exactly how Approach would route us, but said it probably wouldn't be an issue, and we didn't have to climb high yet. So we settled into a nice cruise over the Bonneville Salt Flats, and the mountains following them, before arriving into SLC airspace. ATC chatter was quiet, still. Diane really enjoyed seeing Antelope Island from the air, since her and Charles camped there on our last trip. We saw some bison from the air!
As we approached SLC, and got transferred over to an approach controller, I learned that it was pretty much a non-event to get a direct routing over Hill Air Force base at 8,000' to the Weber Canyon. Weber Canyon was our best way through the Wasatch Range for our route, ending our passage over the Great Basin of Nevada, and starting our crossing of the Rocky Mountains, over the Continental Divide.
Once we were through the impressive scenery of the Weber Pass, I started to focus on the question of fuel, and how far we could go on. For gross weight limitations, we were not taking full fuel, so our range was slightly limited. Evanston or Rock Springs was the decision. I really wanted to limit take-offs in this high country (over 7,000' field elevations in this part of the world), but also didn't want to push too far. In the end, I decided that Evanston was a prudent stop to pick up a small amount of fuel to get into Rock Springs. Landing at Evanston, and visibly checking the tanks, we would have easily made it into Rock Springs. Better to be safe, so I was OK with the decision. Was good to stretch our legs in nice and green Wyoming, and refill the coffee flask.
Leg 4 - Evanston, WY (KEVW) to Rock Springs, WY (KRKS)
After adding just 3.5 gallons of AVGAS at Evanston, we wasted little time before getting back onto the runway. Take-off at this elevation (7,143') was actually pretty decent, using about 2,000' of the 7,300' available. Climb out wasn't super quick, but was at least positive, at 200-300 fpm. The rest of the flight into Rock Springs was uneventful, although density altitude was 8,700' at Rock Springs, when we arrived; getting up there! I was surprised to hear a Cirrus call out a '10 mile base', as we were turning final... Different styles on the radio are always interesting!
Once on the ground at Rock Springs, the fuel truck came around (no self-serve here), and topped us up with about 10 gallons. We went inside the terminal building to scope out options for the night. The staff were very friendly, and said we could stay in the crew snooze room, which was very nice of them. So we wouldn't have to pitch the tent, and we'd be in air conditioned comfort! There was also a shower and bathroom available, and water, snacks and coffee. So, we were sorted there. Oh, and the keys to the Chevy Malibu were handed to us as well; what privilege we have as GA pilots in America!
So we took the Malibu into town, and enjoyed a tasty meal at a Mexican restaurant. After that, we walked around the town for a bit, enjoying the nice old buildings, rail-road and coal mining history.
Photos from Day 2
Just departed Wendover - Bonneville salt flats
Early morning colours.
Racing the locomotive!
Bonneville salt flats
Climbing out from Wendover, over the salt flats
Salt flats
Rock Springs, WY.
Taking the courtesy card into town at Rock Springs
Rock Springs - Colourful buildings
Rock Springs - Mural in town
Rock Springs - Subway under the railway to get into town
Rock Springs architecture
Rock Springs architecture
Rock Springs downtown
Rock Springs airport views
Rock Springs sunset
Rock Springs sunset
Rock Springs sunset
Rock Springs early morning
Rock Springs ready for departure
July 19th, 2021 - Rock Springs, WY to Sturgis, SD
Leg 5 - Rock Springs, WY (KRKS) to Casper, Wy (KCPR)
Another critical day, taking off from Rock Springs at 8,300' DA at max gross weight. Then a hours flight East along I-80, before we turned off North East at Rawlins, heading over some remote countryside over the Seminoe and Pathfinder reservoirs.
We landed safely at Casper for fuel, and met a new friend with his Broussard. We also had an email from a YouTube contact, who suggested we head to Sturgis next. That lined up well with our plans, and we had another great new friend in Bruce; the general aviation world is so friendly!.
Leg 6 - Casper, WY (KCPR) to Sturgis, SD (49B)
We stayed in the Black Hills in a beautiful log cabin, and Bruce took me for a flight in his Chipmunk. What a great time.
