Garrett Fisher

Author, Pilot, & Adventurer

Email subscription form header
Subscribe
Your email address:*
Please wait...
Please enter all required fields Click to hide
Correct invalid entries Click to hide
Powered by FeedBlitz
  • Writings
  • Documentary & Interview
  • Press
  • Economics
  • Maps
  • Flying Videos
  • TEDx Talk: Forget Economics
  • About Me

Powered by Genesis

Flight: CO to MT to NC: Preparations

July 4, 2014 by garrett

Instead of starting the blog with a rambling post about the airplane or the purpose of the blog, I’ll dive into the story behind the longest flight I have taken with my 1947 Piper PA-11 Cub airplane – 2300 miles from Colorado to Montana and then down to North Carolina – done from July 5 2014 to July 9 2014. Click the above links to get details on the plane and blog. Suffice it to say, the blog will be a catalog of my wild adventures taking pictures and flying all over the country.

As many have heard, we will be spending the summer in North Carolina. No, we are not overly thrilled with the prospect. It more has to do with the alignment of work opportunities, the fact the house we were renting was to be sold, and the lack of desire to sign another year lease in Colorado. So inertia pushed us east. This trip served to get the airplane and bring it east with me.

Since driving through Kansas completely sucks, flying over it is no fun, either. I had no desire whatsoever to repeat that heinous act. That, and I always wanted to hit up Yellowstone, so it was a mere 450 miles out of the way. The plan was to go from Leadville, CO over to Mt. Bross, up to Yampa, CO, down the Yampa River to Dinosaur National Monument, north to the Wind River Range in WY, NW to Grand Teton and Yellowstone, N to Bozeman, MT, SE to Gallatin Peak, MT, SE to Bighorn Mountains, WY, E to Black Hills and Mt Rushmore, SD, SE to Badlands National Park, S to Sandhills, NE, and then E/SE as fast as humanly possible for 1100 miles to get to NC. It was roughly 2300 miles of planned flying, all done at 77 miles per hour. 30 hours of flying done over 3 days. Or so that was the plan….

I had the pesky problem of the fact that this whole endeavor was going to cost a tad bit more than I wanted to spend. To satisfy my personal need to scam the “system,” I decided to eliminate hotels from the itinerary. There was the minor problem of sleeping on the ground, so I acquired an inflatable camping mattress from REI using some of the money I would have spent to spend one night in a room. When I mentioned that I have gone on business trips and bought high-end camping gear and camped in lieu of hotel fees, the REI associate, with a deep Southern accent, said, “Well, you didn’t fall off the turnip truck.” The last time I vagabonded was at a business event in Aspen, CO and I made a point to freshen up in the restroom at the Starbucks at the base of Aspen ski area – the most expensive real estate in the US, most expensive ski resort in CO and probably the US, and the most expensive Starbucks I ever patronized, with $7 lattes instead of $4.50. Nothing makes me happier than emerging from camping, washing in the presence of fur-coat clad indignant ladies, and then proceeding to purchase a $7 latte, to be savored in my pickup truck. If I could have queued up a perfectly timed uncouth belch, I would have. I secretly hoped my rugged look would exude an irresistible sexuality that these fur coat-clad ladies would find themselves heinously attracted to, and feeling ashamed over their animalistic, class-defying sexual desires. 

 

Drinking Latte with Irresistible Rugged Sexuality
Sipping a Latte After Washing in Aspen, CO Starbucks Bathroom


As for gear to make this whole trip happen, I brought a socket set, wrenches, and screw drivers (always bring tools), tent, inflatable mattress, blanket (one more redneck business trip and a proper sleeping bag will be financed), 3 gallons of water, 2 quarts of oil, 2 cameras, iPad (navigation), iPhone, MacBook (in case I get stranded and have to do client work), a grocery bag of bananas, beef jerky, nuts, trail mix, and crackers from Whole Foods, sunscreen, sunglasses, hat, sweatshirt, flight bag, and five changes of clothes.

Ghetto packed airplane
Ghetto Packed Airplane


Getting to the airport was a string of logistics – one-way flight connecting via Minneapolis to Denver. Summit Xpress shuttle to Frisco, accompanied with fellow travelers producing prodigious amounts of intestinal gases in a confined space. Whole Foods at Frisco for restocking, and a ride from a fellow local pilot from Frisco to Leadville. All in all, it took 14 hours from door to door to get there.

I had a rather serious question about how I would view being back in Summit County after 3 weeks. I do not like North Carolina, and everyone that knows me knows that. Colorado was my home for 14 months, and my fantasy for 8 years. I no longer lived there, didn’t like where I was, and my future was uncertain. I was somewhat scared that I would have a nervous breakdown, go into a semi-catatonic state, and flee into the national forest with my camping gear, only to emerge when it got cold. Ironically, I felt…….nothing. That’s correct, nothing. It was complete emotional neutrality – neither yearning from the past, hope for the future, or any relation to my present abode in the east. I dare say I had achieved emotional accuracy about Colorado and new adventures awaited elsewhere.

I arrived Friday night at the airport at 6:30, handled extensive pre-flight activities: fuel, washing windshield, adjusting tire pressure, ghetto packing the airplane and setting up camp for the night. Day one would start at 5:15AM and be one very long day.

Camping by the hangar
Camping Next to the Hangar

 

Filed Under: Uncategorized

  • Español
  • Français
  • Català

Blog Posts

  • Flights: Spain, Switzerland: A Crazed Aeronautical Bender…Seven Years Later January 25, 2023
  • Flight: France: Surfing the Wave December 19, 2022
  • Flight: Switzerland: A Mystery on the Eiger, 700,000th Photo November 16, 2022
  • Flight: Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands: Losing My Flying-Over-Water Virginity October 24, 2022
  • Flights: Norway: Sognefjord, Longest Fjord in Norway September 24, 2022
  • Flights: Norway: Hardangervidda, Largest Mountain Plateau in Europe September 17, 2022
  • Flight: Norway: Galdhøpiggen, Highest Peak in Northern Europe August 20, 2022
  • Flights: Norway: Jostedalsbreen, Largest Glacier in Continental Europe August 7, 2022
  • Flights: Norway: Flyraseri ikke Flyskam July 17, 2022
  • Flight: Switzerland, France, Italy: 2,000 Hours & FL160 July 9, 2022
  • Flight: Day 4: Sweden, Norway: 56N to 59N July 6, 2022
  • Flight: Day 3: Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden: 53N to 56N June 27, 2022
  • Flight: Day 2: France, Belgium, Netherlands: 44N to 53N June 19, 2022
  • Flight: Day 1: Spain, France: 36N to 44N June 4, 2022
  • Flight: Spain: Rock the Casbah, Sierra Nevada, Africa on the Horizon May 8, 2022
  • Flight: Portugal, Spain: Promontorium Sacrum, Last Sausage Before America April 26, 2022
  • Flight: Spain, Morocco: Spanish Africa, Pillars of Hercules, Southernmost Point in Europe April 18, 2022
  • Flights: Spain: The Antipope, Package Holidays & A Clandestine Metropolis April 11, 2022
  • Flights: Days 2 & 3: France, Spain, Portugal: España Verde, Galicia, Aggressive Eucalyptus & Andalucía April 3, 2022
  • Flight: Day 1 of 3: Switzerland, France, Spain, Andorra: Alps, Mediterranean, Pyrenees & Atlantic March 30, 2022

Archives

  • January 2023 (1)
  • December 2022 (1)
  • November 2022 (1)
  • October 2022 (1)
  • September 2022 (2)
  • August 2022 (2)
  • July 2022 (3)
  • June 2022 (3)
  • May 2022 (1)
  • April 2022 (4)
  • March 2022 (1)
  • February 2022 (1)
  • January 2022 (1)
  • December 2021 (2)
  • November 2021 (3)
  • October 2021 (1)
  • September 2021 (1)
  • July 2021 (2)
  • June 2021 (1)
  • May 2021 (3)
  • April 2021 (1)
  • March 2021 (1)
  • February 2021 (1)
  • December 2020 (5)
  • November 2020 (5)
  • October 2020 (1)
  • September 2020 (1)
  • August 2020 (1)
  • July 2020 (1)
  • June 2020 (1)
  • April 2020 (1)
  • March 2020 (2)
  • February 2020 (2)
  • January 2020 (1)
  • December 2019 (3)
  • November 2019 (3)
  • October 2019 (1)
  • September 2019 (4)
  • August 2019 (3)
  • July 2019 (2)
  • June 2019 (2)
  • May 2019 (2)
  • April 2019 (2)
  • March 2019 (3)
  • February 2019 (1)
  • January 2019 (1)
  • December 2018 (2)
  • October 2018 (2)
  • September 2018 (2)
  • August 2018 (2)
  • July 2018 (3)
  • June 2018 (2)
  • May 2018 (2)
  • April 2018 (1)
  • March 2018 (4)
  • February 2018 (2)
  • January 2018 (2)
  • December 2017 (4)
  • November 2017 (4)
  • October 2017 (4)
  • September 2017 (4)
  • August 2017 (5)
  • July 2017 (3)
  • June 2017 (4)
  • May 2017 (5)
  • April 2017 (4)
  • March 2017 (5)
  • February 2017 (4)
  • January 2017 (1)
  • December 2016 (4)
  • November 2016 (5)
  • October 2016 (4)
  • September 2016 (6)
  • August 2016 (2)
  • July 2016 (4)
  • June 2016 (3)
  • May 2016 (1)
  • April 2016 (5)
  • March 2016 (5)
  • February 2016 (4)
  • January 2016 (6)
  • December 2015 (4)
  • November 2015 (5)
  • October 2015 (5)
  • September 2015 (8)
  • August 2015 (8)
  • July 2015 (8)
  • June 2015 (8)
  • May 2015 (4)
  • April 2015 (4)
  • March 2015 (5)
  • February 2015 (3)
  • January 2015 (2)
  • December 2014 (10)
  • November 2014 (4)
  • October 2014 (1)
  • September 2014 (3)
  • August 2014 (1)
  • July 2014 (6)
  • May 2014 (1)
  • March 2014 (1)
  • February 2014 (3)