Texas Trip 2003 By Don McMullen
It all began with a phone call from Bruce McLemon. Bruce asked me if I wanted to go to Texas and fly a Cessna 150 back to Camarillo. I didn’t know how Joan would feel about that so I told Bruce that I would get back to him. When I told Joan about it she said it sounded like fun and to go ahead and go. Bruce said it would take about 3 or 4 days. Little did I know I would be gone 7 days.
That Friday morning I packed my bags and headed for the EAA hanger in Camarillo.
The shuttle picked us up at 9:00 am (Bruce McLemon, Jim Gallagher, Leon Haskins, and myself) it took about an hour to get to LAX. We arrived 2 hours early plenty of time HA! After 2 hours we were still in line with only our bags checked. We still had to get searched and have our carry on luggage checked. Jim over heard some one say if anyone was getting close to leaving to go inside to a shorter line. So we did and just made our flight.
We arrived in Dallas TX about 6:00 pm local time, rented a car and went to the hotel. We stayed at the La Quinta in Arlington TX It was a real nice hotel with lots of goodies: swimming pool, Jacuzzi, fitness center, restaurant, and lots of shopping malls close by. Then we all went to the bar-restaurant and had a great time and a good dinner.
The next morning Bruce called us on the hotel phone very early about 5:00 am to go find all the airplanes. Bruce made a few phone calls and off to GKY Arlington airport we went. Leon met his friend there and left with him for a visit. Bruce, Jim and I drove the car to Ennis F41 airport to locate the airplanes. It took us about an hour due to a very bad accident. At Ennis we found three of the airplanes but the one Bruce was supposed to fly was missing. We talked to the mechanic and he told is it was located at a grass strip some 30 miles away.
Bruce and I took the Cessna 150 and flew over to the grass strip where the plane was located. Jim drove the Mechanic to Dallas to pick up his car.
It was a nice wide grass strip but had quite a sloping hill at one end. Bruce and I talked to the mechanic, checked out the airplane (BAD!) and flew over to Corsicana airport 6 miles away to get gas. We filled up both airplanes and started to take off but Bruce’s airplane wouldn’t pass mag check (missing really badly. Bruce found out latter that it had 2 broken teeth on the crankshaft drive gear) Bruce called the mechanic at the grass strip and he and his son came right over and had a look. After about an hour they couldn’t figure it out so we left the Cessna 182 there at Corsicana and flew the 150 back to Arlington.
Jim was real worried about us because we were supposed to meet him right back at Arlington. We should have called him. We all took the car back to the hotel
Had a good dinner and an early night and decided to try again tomorrow.
Got up early again and I am not used to this especially with the time change 2 hours earlier. We were waiting for Ray Knight to arrive from Florida where he had left a few days before and had run into bad weather the last time Bruce had talked to him, he was stuck in Louisiana. We had moved all the airplanes (a 150, a Cherokee, a 182 retract) to Arlington so we could leave from the same place.
Bruce took us out to visit with his daughter, son –in- law and their kids - what a wonderful family! Bruce’s son in law (can’t remember his name) took us to see the machine shop that he manages (very interesting all those computer driven machines) they make all sorts of things and lots of aircraft parts for the heavies.
Finally we were all ready to take to the skies. (Ray had finally joined us) We drove to Arlington, left the rental car there, and took all the baggage to the airplanes. We left about noon and headed for Wink airport for our first fuel stop. Bruce & Leon in the 182, Jim in the Cherokee, Ray in the 152 with long range fuel tanks, and me in the 150. The 150 had the shortest range so the first hop was short so I could figure out my range. I figured I could fly 3 hours to empty tanks.
We arrived at Wink in the early afternoon, fueled all the airplanes, had some lemonade and decided that Ray & I would leave first because we were the slowest airplanes. Ray taxied out first and then I would follow but that never happened as my starter broke and although we tried & tried to prop it, the 150 would not start.
After some discussion Jim Gallagher decided to stay with me. Bruce, Leon & Ray flew off together.
The airport manager said he knew a good mechanic and called him. He was going to remove and try to repair the starter or order a new one and over night it.
Jim and I flew the Cherokee back to Midland, TX because there was no good place to stay in Wink. We got a nice hotel in Midland, the home of George Bush.
The next day the mechanic had not fixed the starter by noon. I called Stan Shaw the guy that owned the airplanes and he suggested that we rent an economy car and see the sights and leave early in the morning so we did. That afternoon the mechanic called and said that the airplane was ready to go.
The next morning Jim & I got up early and couldn’t believe it - overcast skies, very low ceilings with thunderstorms in the area. We ate a slow breakfast took our time and drove out to Midland International and left about noon for Wink. The weather wasn’t too bad 700 to 1000 foot overcast, good visibility and 4 eyes to look for towers (plenty of them)
It was 700 foot in Wink so we waited around for a while. I gave weather a call and they said it was clear out about 60 miles toward West Texas and was starting to break up.
So Jim & I took off headed for west Texas airport at El Paso. My radio finally worked after getting the loan of a push to talk switch from Jim (much better than a hand held mic). I took off first because I had the slower airplane, Jim had the Cherokee 180. The overcast finally got broken and on top I went about 6500. I called back to Wink and gave Jim pireps. I got so far ahead of Jim that time he never did catch me. After refueling I took off first. The guy at the airport said we could squawk 1200, stay below 5000 and follow the border through El Paso. That is what we did. It was quite a sight to be skimming along the border and see the contrast between the two countries. It was very hard to tell where the border was even on the GPS things weren’t clear. Every time I couldn’t tell where I was I would head north until I figured it out. Jim was right behind me doing the same thing.
After we cleared El Paso we headed for Wilcox AZ for more fuel. After fueling up at Wilcox I called the Holiday Inn in Casa Grande. They said they would come and pick us up at the airport. So off we went to Casa Grande. Jim & I were really tired. It was late. We ate a late dinner at the hotel and hit the hay.
Jim & I slept in that morning then finally got the hotel to take us back to the airport. There was fog all along the coast including the LA Basin so we went the long way around through the desert, a quick stop at Apple Valley for gas and lunch and on to CMA Camarillo. There was overcast at Camarillo about 1000 ft so we ducked under and landed.
It was a good trip but after flying that Cessna 150 at 85 knots for more than 17 hours it really makes me appreciate my RV6A’s 170 knots (approximately 200 mph) IFR & high altitude capability! I arrived home a week and some hours later – good to get home.