Fort Bragg Christmas Parade

One of the benefits of owning a plane is the ability to make long trips shorter.  It sounds perfectly obvious, and it is, but it has practical consequences.  It means that we are more likely to go for a weekend because it requires less time and effort en route.  And we are more likely to go further for the same reasons.  

Unlike many of our trips, on this outing, we were under no particular time pressure to depart.  Our destination, Fort Bragg CA, is just a 50 minute hop to the west from our home base at Grass Valley CA.  Unfortunately, Fort Bragg has no public airport, so we fly into Little River (KLLR) and rent a car to drive the remaining 12 miles north along the scenic coastline via highway 1.  On this trip, we were expecting overnight rain in Fort Bragg, but Sunday was forecast to be clear, so all we really needed to accomplish on Saturday was to arrive before the rain.

Fort Bragg is a small town located along the rugged Northern California coast about 120 miles north of San Francisco.  In the past, the town thrived on the logging and fishing industries, but today it seems more touristy than anything else.  As a kid in the 1970's my parents took us camping there many times.  I well remember exploring the rocky coastline and tide pools within the various state parks that dot the area.  Today it seems that there is still some fishing going on, but the Georgia Pacific sawmill that used to be at the town's core is long gone.  Fort Bragg is still a great place to visit and it's got a less touristy vibe than the nearby town of Mendocino, just a few miles to the south.

We left Grass Valley under blue skies in the early afternoon for the nearly hour long flight.  Shortly we were passing to the north of the perpetual TFR at Beal AFB.  Then it's over the peaks of the coastal range and to our left is Clear Lake -- a large natural lake that is anything but clear.  Continuing on we begin a slow descent to the Little River airport.  This little beauty of an aerodrome is over 5000' long and sits just above and slightly to the south of Mendocino.  There is an FBO on the field called Air Galore that rents bikes and cars.  The overnight tie down fee is $7.

Our concern about flying to the coast is always the ever present possibility of fog.  There is no foolproof way to predict it so we just go and hope for the best.  In the past, I have phoned the airport attendant before departing for a first hand weather report, but since the fog can roll in at any time, the report is of limited value. Just because it's clear when we depart is no guarantee that it will be clear when we arrive.   On this trip, there were just a few thin wisps of low clouds near the airport, and we landed without difficulty.  The car was delivered right to the plane as we pulled up on the ramp and soon we were on our way to Fort Bragg.

Our first order of business was to find some lunch.  There is a little 'hole-in-the-wall' kind of pizza place called Piaci Pub and Pizzeria that we stumbled across on a previous visit.  They attract a mostly local crowd and they have a good beer selection.  Two very good signs for sure.  The pizza is pretty good as this well fed dog will attest.  He has been there standing there outside the front door each time we've visited.

After lunch, we decided to drive out to the Pacific Star Winery about 20 minutes north of Fort Bragg.  By this time the sky had clouded over and it was clear that rain was not too far off.  It was little consequence to us since our plane was safely tied down back in Little River.

The Pacific Star winery is located right on the water and they have tables and chairs outside to enjoy their wine and the spectacular views of the crashing surf.

The wine hunter and her quarry:

Walking the grounds of the winery gave these views of the Pacific and the rocky coastline.  

It looked like the rain was imminent so we decided to make our way back to the car for the short drive back to Fort Bragg.  After a stop at our hotel, we were on to the main event:  The Christmas light parade.

Last year we just happened to be in Fort Bragg on the day of the Christmas parade.  We enjoyed it so much that we made a point to return this year.  There is a great brewpub on the parade's route called North Coast Brewing Company.  We arrived early and sat at the bar while staking out a table by the window.  When a window table became available, Carol sprang into action.  But, it turns out that we had some competition for the table.  Without revealing her trade secrets, let's just say the table was won by cunning and persistence.  

So I ordered a sampler and Carol, her wine.  She is just beaming after finally laying claim to the much coveted window seat.

Here's a magic trick:

Tada!

Want to see it again?  So do I :)

Uh-oh!  The shirt says it all.

Wine crisis averted.

Now it was time for dinner.  These fish and chips are the best I've ever had. I don't know if they've used the local catch or not, but they sure seemed fresh.

After dinner, the parade still hadn't started, so we ordered some dessert rather than give up our hard won window table. After much anticipation, the parade finally arrived at our end of the route. It surprises me that such a small town as Fort Bragg can put together a terrific parade such as this. Clearly, a lot of effort went into decorating these floats.

I really enjoyed this one: 'A Christmas Story' themed float

And finally, the man himself:

I wasn't able to photograph everything from our vantage point since there were people on the sidewalk outside.  I did get most of the pageantry and remained dry to boot, while it literally rained on their parade. 

The next morning the weather was crystal clear.  The bleached out colors in the photo below are definitely not due to a hangover :)  I took the camera off of auto to photograph the parade and forgot to reset it.

Along our route home, we passed to the north of the Sutter Buttes which have been called the world's smallest mountain range.  These isolated peaks stick up 2000' above the flat farmland of the Sacramento valley and are usually visible for many miles.

Back in Grass Valley on Sunday morning, the Sutter Buttes are just barely visible in the photo below at center, some 38 nautical miles distant.

I started this post with a remark about how having a plane makes the quick weekend getaway more likely.  I'll end here with concrete examples of driving vs. flying.  Our trip to Fort Bragg took a little less than 1 hour.  In the past, the minimum driving time for us to the same location has been 4 hours.

By auto, and when we consider the return trip, we find that we've turned our two day weekend getaway into a one day excursion plus a whole lot of driving. We love the Fort Bragg area, but we just didn't go very often.  Partly because of the limited time we would have at the destination, but mostly because of the grueling drive itself.

But what if 4 hours in the plane is not too much? With an airplane such as our RV-7A, those same 4 hours spent in the car could take us to much of the western United States.  And making use of the autopilot, 4 hours in the air is not nearly so tiresome as driving.

Assuming a 150 knot ground speed, we can scribe a 600 nautical mile arc from Grass Valley to reveal that Grand Junction Colorado to the east, as well as the northern and southern U.S. borders are in reach.  That's a whole lot of territory opened up for weekend exploration.

So what exactly is my point here?  That planes are better than cars?  Yes, of course, but it is also that for us, investing in travel by air has returned the dividend of time.  And with that time, we've purchased a richer life experience.

Titan Missile Museum

This post was intended to be a trip report on visiting the Titan II missile museum in Tuscon Az, with stops in Sedona and Las Vegas.  We did some of that, but this trip has actually turned out to be about adapting plans on the fly, pun intended.

We planned this trip at the very last moment, barely 48 hours before we left.  When I'm planning a trip like this I try to pack in more stuff than is at all reasonable, much to Carol's chagrin.  She sometimes asks me why we have to do so much stuff per trip.  Well here's the reason:  Plans don't often go right.  There are a million different ways a trip can be ruined if contingencies aren't considered.  I like to have an itinerary that allows some flexibility.  I'll make a stretch goal of ten items, for example.  If I actually check off 6 of them, I'll call the mission a success!

My initial route called for an overflight of the Furnace Creek airport in Death Valley.  A stop at Lake Havasu would follow, and then we would be on to Tuscon in the early afternoon.  The next day would start with an overflight of Meteor Crater, Arizona. We would then hop over to Sedona where we would enjoy most of the day before moving on to Las Vegas in the late afternoon.  After which, we would spend Saturday night in Sin City before returning home to Grass Valley.  Simple, right?

Spoiler alert: There were a few changes.  Here is the route as flown:

I wanted to get started early, but the dog kennel doesn't open until 8:00 am.  And without a lot of prior notice we couldn't get our two children, ah hem, I mean dogs, into their regular doggy spa. So, we had to take them to a new kennel where we were further delayed with forms to fill out and, of course, there were pleasantries to be exchanged.  Eventually, we made it to the airport, but the weather didn't look so promising in the direction of the Sierra mountains when we got there.  I had already received an online weather briefing so I knew that there wasn't any precipitation forecast along our route, but there was an AIRMET (AIRirmen's METteorlogical information potentially affecting safety) for the mid and southern Sierras for moderate turbulence below 15,000'.

Looking out toward the mountains the ceiling looked too low to get across and I wasn't looking forward to the turbulence.  The winds aloft were forecast to be 25Kt to 30Kt at 9000'.  That is usually enough for a bumpy ride on the leeward side of the mountains.  Since our route would be south along the eastern slope of the Sierras, we would be on the downwind side of the mountains all the way to Furnace Creek.  This is almost guaranteed to be a rough ride.  Plus, I wasn't completely sure that we could even get over them anyway because of the cloud cover.

We elected instead, to fly along the western slope of the Sierras until the weather improved.  By not crossing the mountains immediately, we could fly at a lower altitude that would allow us to avoid the high winds and we could stay on the smoother upwind side of the mountains most of the way.

We departed Grass Valley about 9:00 am and flew at about 5,500' all the way down to Fresno under a broken cloud layer.

At Fresno the ceiling was turning into a solid overcast, prompting us to fly higher.  Somewhere around Porterville we turned east and crossed the southern Sierras at 9,500' direct to Inyokern where we had previously attended an ice cream social.  On the eastern side of the mountains the weather was clear.

Below left to right: Inyokern and China Lake airports and the city of Ridgecrest.  At Inyokern, we turned east to squeak through a narrow channel between two restricted airspaces, and then we had another decision to make.  

Furnace Creek airport (elev. -211) lies at the northern end of Death Valley, which would have been right on our way had we followed our original plan. Now that we had taken a different route south, I had to decide whether or not the novelty of flying below sea level was worth backtracking 40 nautical miles? No, of course not. We decided to go direct to Lake Havasu and refuel. After a quick pit stop, we were on our final leg to Tuscon International.

Climbing out of Lake Havasu, We did spot the famous London Bridge, but we were a bit too far away to get a decent picture.  The next hour and a half had us over the Arizona desert, passing west of Phoenix.  We crossed several parachute jumping areas as well as an area congested with gliders.

About 40 miles out I connected with a fairly busy Tuscon approach control so that we could enter the Tuscon class C.  At Tuscon International, we were offered a straight into runway 11 right, which was nice and easy.  The winds were calm and the temperature was 85F.  Perfect!

We taxied to Atlantic, the FBO we selected for this trip.  There were no signs or marshalers directing us where to park, so naturally, I attempted to park on the wrong side of their building.  What followed was a discussion on the UNICOM frequency between me and the receptionist inside:

"...Where are you", she asked.
"I'm right here", I answered. "In front of your building", I added. "Where do we park?"
"I can't see you."
"I'm looking straight at your big sign right now."
"Atlantic?"
"Yes!"
"Taxi to our ramp."
"???"

I was just about to try the other side of the building when a marshaler arrived in his cart.  OK, now we're making progress.  We followed him to the other side of the building and where we were met by the ground crew.

To my delight and surprise, they had special adapters to fit their rather large tow bar (which was accustomed to moving business jets around) to our little airplane.  After we unloaded, they moved our plane to covered parking.  Our rental car was waiting for us when we arrived and everyone was super nice, making our arrival a very low stress affair -- at least it was once we figured out where their ramp was hiding.

I had originally planned to go straight to the Titan Missile museum thinking that we would do the museum this afternoon and have the entire next day for Sedona.  It was now about 3:00 pm MST.  I failed to account for the switch to the mountain time zone so we had already lost an hour, but I thought we could still just make it. Their web site informs us that the last tour is at 3:45 pm and that they close at 5:00 pm.  Since our timing was tight, we decided to call the museum from the Atlantic lobby.  That is when we were told that the museum actually closes at 4:00 pm.  Since it's a twenty minute drive from the airport to the museum, that was that.

Well, on to plan C.  We will go to the museum in the morning when they open and still try to get to Sedona afterward.

Now our attention turned to checking into our hotel and finding a place to have dinner.  Once we were settled in, an internet search provided many possibilities for brewpubs as has become our custom on a trip like this.  We selected two since it was still quite early.

We drove into a business park not far from the center of Tuscon to find the 1912 Brewing Company.  From the outside, one would have never suspected that there was a celebration going on inside.  When we entered, there were balloons and party decorations on the tables.  U.S. Marines in dress uniforms were milling about looking very sharp, as were their wives and girlfriends.  I felt a bit out of place being dressed so casually as we wound our way through to the bar.  Before we sat down we asked the bartender if this was a private party?  "No", he said, "We're celebrating the Marine Corps 242nd birthday."  Awesome!  I have often marveled at how we run into the best stuff by pure chance.

I had the "Weapons Check" red ale and then Carol and I shared their sampler while we snacked on chips and salsa.  We were having a good time, but we needed to get on to our dinner location, which was Thunder Canyon Brewery in downtown Tuscon.

We had a pleasant dinner and I sampled their Wheat and Blonde ales.  Everything was fine, but I enjoyed the 1912 brewpub a little more than this one.  After dinner, we went for a walk through downtown, which at 9:00 pm, was just beginning to come alive on this Friday night.  I was wearing just a tee shirt and was very comfortable in the warm night air.  I remember remarking to Carol about how we would be wearing coats right now had we been back home in Grass Valley.  After stopping for some Ice Cream, we circled back to our car and then made our way back to the hotel by 10:00 pm.

The next morning we headed south out of Tuscon on the twenty minute drive to the Titan missile museum. The museum is located at the site of an actual ICBM silo and control center. When you arrive, what you see first is this building.   Inside the building is a small display area, a gift shop, and a class room like setting where you watch a short movie explaining the basics of the Titan II missile and launch complex.

Behind the building is a fenced off area that encircles the missile silo and the control complex's top side infrastructure.  The silo is behind the Jeep.

This is the silo door:

On entering the main building, one signs up for a tour and can then browse the exhibits until the tour begins. Here Carol stands next to a W-63 thermonuclear warhead that once sat atop the Titan II ICBMs. At 9 megatons it was the largest nuclear weapon in our arsenal.

When it is time for the tour to start your tour group is invited into a classroom where the scope of the tour is explained by a docent and then a short movie explains the history of the Titan II missile system. In the movie, we learned, how this base came online in 1963 and how it was upgraded while in service, and then finally became obsolete and was decommissioned in 1983. When the movie ends, the docent answers any questions and then the tour begins.  The group exits the rear of the building which is inside the fenced area.

We then walk across the graveled silo area to a simple staircase that leads down into the underground missile complex.  We descend four or five flights of stairs ending at a set of two 6000 lb blast doors.  Beyond the blast doors, the passageway tees into a long tubular hallway that connects the control room with the missile silo.  Turning left at the tee, the hallway ends in the control room.

The docent spends a fair amount of time explaining the function of the various control panels and security the measures that were in place to protect the nuclear missile and to prevent an unauthorized launch.  There were also elaborate physical measures taken to enhance the survivability of the missile in the event of an attack.  The huge blast doors previously mentioned, and the suspension of the entire complex on springs for seismic isolation.  Note the spring behind the docent (red shirt).

The control room portion of the tour concludes with a simulated launch of the missile, beginning with the reception and decoding of the launch order, and ending with the turning of the launch keys.

In this file cabinet, the launch codes were stored.  When a launch order is received, the two officers on duty would each use their private keys to open the cabinet.  If the received order matched the security code stored in the cabinet they were to proceed with the launch.



Looking down the length of the long hallway towards the missile in its silo.

When the control room presentation was complete our tour resumed at the missile silo.  Here the Titan II was visible up close from an open access door to the silo and from a window cut into the silo wall.  Here is the view standing in the access doorway looking up at the missile warhead with the half open silo door behind.

After a discussion about the missile that included topics ranging from the guidance platform to vehicle maintenance,  we were guided back out of the missile complex the same way we came in.  We were then allowed to finish our tour self guided within the fenced in area where there are several exhibits in addition to being able to look down through the half open silo door:

Note the square cut into the side of the warhead: This was explained as a requirement of a Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty with the former Soviet Union. As a part of that treaty, we (USA) destroyed all of these Titan silos, save this one.  The hole in the side of the warhead allowed the Soviets visual (satellite) assurance that the missile was not armed.  Of course, now that this is a museum, the Russians can just take the tour.

After looking down into the silo we briefly stopped at a Titan II engine exhibit.  They also have a  display showing how the missiles were fueled.

It was already beginning to get hot so we wasted little time getting back to the Tuscon airport.  We turned in the rental car and paid our fuel bill.  The overnight fee was waived because we purchased more than 15 gallons.

It was now approaching noon and nothing had gone wrong yet today.  Clearly, we were due.  OK, so here it is:  It turns out that I failed to turn off my landing and taxi lights when we shut down yesterday.  And, in my haste to leave, I didn't notice they came on when I flipped on the master.

I like to call clearance delivery and ground control before I start the engine because I can leave my tip up canopy open to stay cool a few minutes longer, and I can hear the radio more clearly without the engine running.

This turned out to be a big mistake this time because it took quite a while to get my turn with clearance delivery.  When I went to start up, nothing happened.  Then I noticed the battery voltage was low and that all of my lights were on. Doh!  I was having a flashback to our 48 state trip and all the battery issues we had then.  After that trip, I changed out our battery for a lithium Earth X battery that had been working great until now.  It surprised me that after only about ten minutes of lights on the battery would be so depleted.  It seems that the battery is either run down or broken.  The Atlantic ground crew was very helpful and offered to recharge our battery.  Since it would cost me nothing but time to recharge it, we opt for that and go to lunch.

After about an hour and a half, we return to the airport and attempt to leave once again.  Did the battery take the charge?  I turn the key and the plane rumbles to life.  Yea! Carol and I had already discussed skipping Sedona when we bumped the museum from Friday to Saturday.  Now that we've blown two hours on a dead battery we are in jeopardy of missing Meteor Crater as well.

This time I started the plane before I contacted anyone on the radio.  I wasn't going to take any chances.  The airport was less busy at this hour and I breeze through clearance delivery and ground control.  I'm next in line for departure at runway 21 behind a King Air.  When the King Air starts rolling, I call the tower and announce we're ready.  Nothing.  I call again. Crickets.  I call a third time without a response.  I look up at the tower and fully expect to see a light signal, but see nothing.  There was a Citation waiting behind me and I was feeling a lot of pressure to get going.  I hear someone, probably the Citation, call the tower and say something to the effect that he doesn't think the RV hears you.  At this point, I'm thinking that my radio has failed so I tune my second radio to the tower and call again.

The tower responds right away and has us line up and wait on 21.  While we were waiting, the tower mentioned that he heard all of my transmissions.  I let him know that I couldn't hear him (which I'm sure he had already guessed) and that I had switched to COM 2.

As soon as we were on our way and had achieved our cruise altitude, I switched back to COM 1 and asked Tuscon departure control for a radio check.  Loud and clear.  At this point, the only thing I can think of is that the wing or possibly a landing gear was blocking the radio signal from the tower, but not the Citation.  I guess I'll never know for sure.

Now with even more time wasted, we decide to forego Meteor Crater and just head directly to Las Vegas.  Our route takes us directly over Phoenix, and in a stroke of good luck just in time for Vegas, we are cleared through the Phoenix class B.

In about two hours we are landing at Henderson Executive airport which is about 14 miles from the Las Vegas strip.  The cab ride from the airport to the strip was about $40 plus tip.  Ouch!

After we settle into our hotel, we happen across a nice brewpub called Beerhaus behind New York New York casino.  Later we had a really great prime rib dinner at Lawry's.  I've always loved dining there, it's an experience that should not be missed.

The next morning I parted with another 50 bucks in cab fare to get back to Henderson.  Ouch again.  The forecast looked reasonable so we elected to chance the strong winds and turbulence and go more or less direct back to Grass Valley.  Here is a photo of Las Vegas as we skirt the inside ring of the class B airspace.

The trip home was about 340 nautical miles which we covered in about 2.5 hours with 10kt to 15 kt headwind all the way.  We received a few bumps over the Sierras as expected, but most of the flight was smooth.  

In the end, we visited the Titan missile museum, sampled some fine beers in both Tuscon and Vegas, and we had an awesome dinner at Lawry's.  Yes, we had to skip Meteor Crater and Sedona, but we had a great time anyway.  It's hard to believe that we managed to pack all of this into a trip lasting just a bit over 48 hours. This trip was a success for us in part because we visited some very interesting locations, but also because we were able to do it in a plane that we built ourselves.  

McMinnville, Oregon

I've been thinking about visiting the Evergreen Aviation & Space museum at McMinnville Oregon for quite some time.  And now that the story of our 48 state trip had hit the newspaper, I felt like it was only a matter of time before the paparazzi found us. Better to lay low in Oregon until my 15 minutes are over...

The flight up to Oregon was smooth and fairly clear.  Although there were lots of fire related TFRs (Temporary Flight Restricted areas), but there was no smoke anywhere which was a welcomed change. Along the way, I snapped this photo of Mt Lassen and Mt Shasta. 

I planned to fly over the TFRs which extended up to 11,000', but there was a 25 knot headwind at that altitude.  Instead, we flew lower at 8,500' where only 12 to 15 knots was blowing against us.  Of course, we had to fly around the TFRs, but the avoidance only added a few minutes to our flight.

As we crossed the Oregon border we flew under an overcast ceiling about 1500' above us.  It was almost like the clouds knew they weren't allowed in California.

A few minutes before reaching McMinnville the overcast ceiling broke up.   It was a nice sunny afternoon as we passed by the city of Salem.

After 2 hours and forty minutes we completed the 377 nautical mile trip.  The McMinnville airport is conveniently right across the street from the museum.  If one were planning just a day trip, one could easily walk the short distance.  However, we were going to spend the night, so we rented a car at the FBO.  Near the airport and museum, there were two hotels that were in the $180 per night range.  Just a couple of miles further, there were more reasonably priced hotels for $100 a night.  Renting the car actually saved us about $35 over walking, allowed us to see McMinnville, and gave us many more choices for dinner that night. 

Heading across the street to the museum, we found that it is composed of 3 large buildings and some outside exhibits.  To the left is the aircraft museum, in the center an IMAX theater, and to the right is the space museum.  We decided to start on the aircraft side.  The admission was $27.00 per adult, cough, cough.  That includes both museums and the theater.

Inside the expansive building, huge glass walls at either end admit streams of sunlight washing over the collected aircraft that are scattered haphazardly across the polished floor.

I suppose the big draw for the aviation museum is the Spruce Goose (Hercules H4).  The famed aircraft from Howard Hughes certainly is large and must have seemed awesomely large in 1947 when it made its one and only flight.  It still ranks with the A380, AN-225, and 747 as the largest aircraft ever to fly.  There are quite a few aircraft on display and consequently, it is difficult to get far enough away from the Spruce Goose to gain a vantage where its enormous size can be truly appreciated.  It's a little like sitting in the front row of a movie theater.

There are other interesting aircraft like the ME-262 parked under the Spruce Goose right wing.  I also enjoyed the Wright 1903 and Curtiss Model D replicas.  Even though they were not the actual articles, it was nice to see them in person, full size.  Although there were a lot of famous aircraft on display, I would guess that most people were there to see the Vans RV-6 prototype.  Just kidding.  I was a little surprised and delighted to see it there with such good company.  Sorry, no picture.

After a couple of hours we had seen every airplane, and in the interest of time, we skipped the helicopters.  The space museum is just a short walk across the parking lot, on the other side of the theater.  

The right half of the space museum is laid out roughly chronologically going counterclockwise from the main entrance. A replica of Goddard's liquid fuel rocket and a V-2 began our tour.  There were exhibits on Sputnik and some other satellites followed.  An unflown Mercury capsule allowed us a close up examination.  I was amazed that NASA was able to convince anyone to climb into one of those things.  It was much smaller than a sports car cockpit -- more like sitting in a single seat aircraft without all the windows and elbow room.  

There is a Titan II ICBM standing upright in a deep well that allows the one perspective of seeing the missile in its silo.  Another Titan missile is displayed on its side.  I'm guessing that the museum caught a two for one sale on the Titans.

A Soviet Lunokhod (moon rover).

We worked our way to the back of the museum and found this mock up of a lunar module.

On the left hand side of the space museum are some more aircraft that didn't seem to have a 'space' connection including an SR-71, which admittedly flew pretty fast and high, but not actually in space.  I never did get a photo of the SR-71 because it was so jammed in with other exhibits that no photo opportunity was forthcoming.

We finished with the space museum after about an hour and a half.  Then we drove into town to find our hotel.  After some zig-zagging and battling of one way streets, we finally arrived and checked in.  It was about dinner time so we didn't settle in, instead opting to go back out to a brewpub that we noticed when driving through town.

We ate a nice dinner at Golden Valley brewpub which was fairly busy and then we sampled some of the McMinnville nightlife on N.E. 3rd street, where there are many bars and restaurants.  We would like to think that we didn't stay out too late because we needed to get going early the next morning, but the truth is -- we're just getting old.

The next morning the weather was clear and again there was no smoke evident.  After availing ourselves of the continental breakfast we were on our way back to the airport.  The rental car return process might have been painless had we not been in Oregon.  It seems that in the Beaver state, pumping one's own gas is deemed too dangerous for us mere mortals.  Instead, they allow their most renewable resource, the pimply faced teenager, to do the dirty work.  Fortunately, I already knew about Oregon's peculiar fueling proclivity from my previous travels to the state.  All of which brings me to my embarrassing moment of the day:

Driving back to the airport I instinctively felt the need to top off the tank.  That is what you do in rental cars just before returning them. Right?  I pulled up to a pump at the first service station I saw.  I rolled down the window and smiled at the attendant. "Filler up, please", I beamed. For some reason, I felt that going to a full service station was not only a novelty, but somewhat amusing.  I'm odd that way.  Then I offered my credit card and in a few seconds, I heard the fuel begin to flow.  And then right away it shut off.  Just like that.  I heard the attendant try it again a few times, but the car wasn't having it.  By this time my amusement had turned to embarrassment as I realized that I probably didn't need any gas at all, having only driven a few miles to and from the airport and around town a bit.

The attendant returned and asked if I thought the car should take more than a gallon.  "Nope, that sounds about right", I answered with a straight face.  The attendant handed my card back slowly and  I signed the slip without any further discussion.  

Back at the airport we dropped off the keys and loaded the plane.  The morning air was cool and calm and soon we were in the air and headed south.

I punched in direct to Grass Valley and then we climbed up to 11,500' letting the autopilot log the PIC time.  The wind up there was still blowing pretty hard from the north giving us a nice 25 knot tailwind.  After about an hour we were in the vicinity of Crater Lake. There was still an active TFR over the lake although there was no fire and no other aircraft in the area.  At 11,500' I was over the top of it anyway, so we diverted a little to the east to fly by the lake.

The tailwind along with the slightly more direct route home allowed us back into Grass Valley in only 2 hours and 13 minutes.  Another quick trip made possible by the little plane that could.