Magnetos For Bill?

The okay weather on a light day at work had me checking the scheduling at Twin Oaks. My favorite plane was wasting its wings, sitting in the hanger. Fortunately I had left my headset and gear in the car.

The cloud base would keep us in the valley, but I was good with that for a midday trip.

We arrived at Twin Oaks with no real plan in mind, other than heading north.

As we were readying the plane, Bob asked if we'd be stopping through Scappoose.

"Sure", thinking Scappoose is as good a destination as any on this day.

"Would you mind dropping off a set of magnetos?"

A destination with a purpose! "Sure"

Off we went, transitioning Hillsboro class delta, north to the Columbia and up to Scappoose (SPB),

Once on the ground, we realized that we weren't exactly sure where Bill, to whom the magnetos were addressed, would be located, so we we began walking.

There are a lot of friendly people at Scappoose that are more than willing to help you find Bill, and unite him with his magnetos, even if they don't know him.

At one point Chris commented on the probable strangeness of two guys wondering the airport wearing Xfinity jackets and carrying a box of magnetos, looking for some guy named Bill.

On our third stop, we found someone who knew Bill, and pointed us towards the building at the north end of the airport where we would find the magnetoless Bill.

We did have to interrupt this locations lunchtime to find out Bill was off this day, but he was expecting the magnetos, and they would take them.

With our mission complete, we departed Scappoose as lower clouds threatened from the northwest, and headed back through Hillsboro and on to Twin Oaks.

That was fun.

Next time I'll have to check out the Scappoose Creek Inn for lunch.

New Years Breakfast

Pancakes, eggs, bacon, and grits at Twin Oaks - a good start to the new year. Flying down to the coast with a friend after said breakfast - a great start to the new year.

The monthly pancake breakfast at Twin Oaks was lightly attended, being early new year's day, but you find out who the diehards are.

The weather was quite nice, with some patchy low clouds, so Chris and I departed Twin Oaks for a trip over to Tillamook and up the coast to Astoria.

Areas of low clouds over the Coast Range pushed our route over the mountains south a little, following the H B Van Duzer Scenic Corridor until finding a clearing northwest to Tillamook. Recently fallen snow in the coast range added to the scenic beauty of the area.

The coast was was partly sunny with an occasional light shower to fly through as we headed north towards Astoria.

The return trip southeast was equally scenic, passing Saddle Mountain and over the the Coast Range, with a little zig-zag at times to maintain cloud clearance.

Fly Steve Fly Published

Well... one copy anyway... 

For Christmas, Heatherle published my blog into a hardbound book.

 

 

She did an amazing job on setting up the layout, which includes all posts and photos though the anniversary of my check-ride.

 

 

What a great surprise!

12/19/10

A beautiful day gave Matti and I the opportunity to go low over towards the Cascade foothills, down south, across to the Coast Range foothills, and back.  

 

Maybe no big adventure, but anytime spent cruising around with your son on a visit home from college is a great time, and time well spent. 

 

Pictures:

 

Our neighborhood

The Oregon Garden

Base Leg at Twin Oaks and local flooding from the Tualatin River