The Adventure Begins

Things are already not going as planned, but there is plenty of adventure to be had and we're having fun!

We stayed at the Oxford Inn last night, which was pleasant enough and served a good hot breakfast. In the morning, the weather was absolutely perfect over southern California. The skies were clear, winds were light and visibility was fantastic over the high desert. Scott and his wife picked us up at the hotel and took us to William J. Fox Field (WJF) in Lancaster, CA. They treated us to Lancaster's musical road, which was very fun! The asphalt is grooved along a section of road so that if you drive over it at the right speed it sounds like music. When we arrived at the airport we checked out the plane. Allen's first impression was that she's pretty. Lucy went up with Scott for a couple bounces and we were told by tower that they had no transponder signal from us. After troubleshooting the problem in the runup area and trying again, we decided to go back to the museum to figure out what the problem was. After taking off the bottom engine cowling we discovered that the antenna had become disconnected. It was an easy fix and then Lucy and Allen went up for their first flight in the plane together. Allen got to fly to get used to the plane before we set off. He made a beautiful wheel landing. After that we fueled up and went back to the museum to pack up our stuff and head out of town. Upon calling Furnace Creek Airport (L06) in Death Valley, we learned that the airport would be unattended as of 3pm and there would be no fuel if we landed after that. Deciding not to chance it since it was getting rather late, we decided to head due east and stop at Barstow-Daggett Airport (DAG) before heading off to Boulder City, NV (BVU).

We headed east past Edwards Air Force Base, passing just south of Rosamund dry lake bed, with views of Rogers dry lake off in the distance. As we left the valley, we went into some interesting terrain, with ridges and mountains. We picked up the Mojave "River" and followed it to Barstow. The river had about as much water in it as the lakes at Edwards, but it still served as a great landmark. We landed in Barstow without incident, and were greeted by someone from the FBO who fueled the plane for us. After making a quick rest stop, we went back to the plane to fly on to Boulder City. This didn't happen. When we started taxiing we noticed that the plane was not as responsive as it had been. We stopped to check it out and discovered that the tailwheel was flat. We chocked the plane in the runup area and walked back to the FBO to get some help. The guy got a compressed air container, put in the back of his truck and drove us back out to the plane. We pumped the tire up and taxied it back to the FBO. We saw that it was leaking pretty badly. They didn't have any replacements on the field but they called nearby Apple Valley Airport (APV) for us. He pumped the tire back up for us and we were able to land at Apple Valley without incident. We got a replacement tire and tube at the FBO and were able to fix it. Since it was getting late, we decided to stay in Apple Valley for the night, but we took the plane up to fly around a bit in the last remaining light. Right now, we're sitting around a fire with some people from Apple Valley. There is a barbecue since tonight is a special night flying event!