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Atlincabin
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# Posted: 17 Mar 2022 11:07
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Wow, 1 hour, 5 hours, sounds like a dream. My cabin was 2500 miles away until I recently moved, now it's only 1500 miles  . Minimum 3-day drive in the camper. But worth it when we get there. We stay for the summer. A significant part of the drive is 2-lane.
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paulz
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# Posted: 18 Mar 2022 10:53
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Any pilots here? I've thought about getting a plane. No, not for my 18 mile cabin commute, but selling the city house and buying something in Nevada and keeping the cabin on the coast. Went there and looked around last year. Could get a pretty nice 5 acre spread for what I got for my house.
Couple of problems. One, I am not a pilot, two, it's expensive to own and operate a plane and three, crossing over the Sierra mountains is not for the rookie pilot.
On the plus side it would be an adventure and a good way to blow my life's savings. I'd be worried though that once I got settled in I may not want to bother coming back to the cabin.
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gcrank1
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# Posted: 18 Mar 2022 11:44
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Got a friend with a small 2 seater. Its been a money pit (inspections, rebuilds, insurance, hanger rent, av-gas, etc) and when he has had a couple of minor 'incidents' and some health issues the FAA has been justifiably 'unhappy'.
Imo the best way is to have a friend with a plane 
Otherwise hire one for the odd trip?
My big reservation on me 'piloting' is Ive managed to eventually 'crash' every type of conveyance Ive operated this far.......
A man best know his limitations.
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deercula
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# Posted: 18 Mar 2022 13:46
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I was on the interstate for the 60 mile ride to my cabin. Another pickup truck was next to me beeping his horn. They were yelling that my tailgate was open. Holy crap, I figured that I lost everything from my bed. Unbelievable that nothing had fallen out! My lucky day. Now I check it 3 times before I leave the house.
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Atlincabin
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# Posted: 19 Mar 2022 11:14
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Paulz, I have a plane and have flown it to our cabin a number of times (two easy days flying vs. 5-6 days driving). Fortunately we're not far from an airport and have a ground vehicle at the cabin. Planes can be expensive to own and operate, but don't have to be. We built our plane and are therefore allowed to do all the maintenance/repair on it, which saves a huge amount of money and hassle. Gets around 25 mpg, and that's straight line miles rather than winding highway miles. I lived in Reno for 20+ years and hopping over the Sierra is no big deal, although one needs to pick their day and time to avoid weather.
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paulz
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# Posted: 20 Mar 2022 12:59
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Thanks Atlincabin. It'd be a pretty big step for me but the way California is pushing me out you never know. Sure was a fabulous place for many years.
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ICC
Member
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# Posted: 20 Mar 2022 14:38 - Edited by: ICC
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I haven't looked at this thread for a while and was pleasantly surprised when the airplane showed up.
Atlincabin, what did you build?
We have had a Piper Cub or something along the same idea, but different mfg or size, in the family since Dad came back from WW2. He flew the L-4 military version as a spotter over Europe. He managed to buy one as surplus after that war. (FYI, the military version of the Cub only differed in color of paint).
That first one was eventually traded for a newer Super Cub and a then there were number of small planes bought and sold through the decades since then. It was justified as a legitimate ranch expense. The taxman agrees.
My brother has a Bearhawk LSA (2 place tandem seating like a Cub). I have a Bearhawk 4 place. We built both under the FAA 51% rule. So, we can do our own maintenance as well. Both are built for backcountry use; big tires, big engines. Both are hangered here on the ranch. We have a grass field.
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gcrank1
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# Posted: 20 Mar 2022 16:59
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When we moved here some 35ish yrs ago Id ride my mc past a small country airfield fairly regularly. One day a hanger door was open, fellow messing about with a cute little yellow high wing plane. I pulled in and he was glad to chat. That one was a Piper J and he had another one inside that was 'up on all the inspections and for sale'. $3k as I recall.....but we had just bought a house that needed a lot of love & money.
Looking back that might have been a life-changing opportunity that didnt work out. Ive had a lot of enjoyment with my motorcycles, met a lot of interesting people, expect it would have been similar with a plane.
Yet that 'Ive crashed everything...' has nagged me.
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Atlincabin
Member
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# Posted: 21 Mar 2022 11:18
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ICC, it's an RV-9 that I added some big tires and a few minor custom modifications. Has been everywhere from Texas to the Arctic coast (wife did an article in Kitplanes in 2019 about our arctic flight if you're curious). Not a lot of baggage capacity, but pretty fast (I cruise around 165-170 mph). I almost pulled the trigger on a Bearhawk kit a couple years ago, but the cost of building is getting prohibitive (new Lycomings are now north of $40k!) and it was hard to justify a second plane for us.
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jsahara24
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# Posted: 21 Mar 2022 13:36
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Quoting: Atlincabin wife did an article in Kitplanes in 2019 about our arctic flight
Just read through the article, looked like a pretty cool trip! My friend has a plane and has been nudging me to ride along with him up to our cabins in NY state, but I'm a little hesitant. However like that article said they can glide pretty far to find a place to land so maybe I should go for it....
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Fanman
Member
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# Posted: 21 Mar 2022 17:56
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Mine is a Hatz Biplane. Not really a practical traveling machine at 80mph, especially with the airport being a 45 minute drive from the cabin, but a lot more fun.
Atlincabin, I'll have to look for your article... Kitplanes has published a few of my articles too, including the story of flying my Starduster (that I later crashed on the way to the cabin  ) back to CT from Memphis.
Not to the cabin, but this was a backpacking trip in the Hatz.
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ICC
Member
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# Posted: 21 Mar 2022 17:58
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Nice RV-9 and a super trip!  I like the color; I used a similar yellow. I think it is the most visible summer & winter for a small plane which was my reason.
Lycoming 310 hp turbo injected O-540 can barely be overhauled for 40K now I went big because I wanted to be able to jump off the ground at the high altitudes.
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Nobadays
Member
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# Posted: 21 Mar 2022 22:20
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Quoting: Atlincabin wife did an article in Kitplanes in 2019 about our arctic flight if you're curious
Great article... great trip! Are you still up in Leadville? We are south just outside of Monte Vista.
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Atlincabin
Member
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# Posted: 22 Mar 2022 10:52
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Noba,
We were in Reno for many years then retired to Delta CO (near Grand Junction). Have recently moved to Sequim, WA for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is it's closer to the cabin (one day flight, 3-day drive).
ICC,
Yes, visibility was a prime factor in the color. Wife used to fly along with her father in CAP and learned it was difficult to spot most colors of planes - yellow & red stood out best.
Fanman,
Would love to fly around in a Hatz! But you are correct, it's not really a traveling machine like the RV.
Great to learn that there are other pilots on this forum.
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ICC
Member
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# Posted: 22 Mar 2022 14:39
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Quoting: Atlincabin ....and learned it was difficult to spot most colors of planes - yellow & red stood out best
Quoting: Fanman Mine is a Hatz Biplane
I missed seeing your post until I checked back. (wish this board had a notifier that someone else made a post prior to the one we just made. I keep forgetting to look).
A Hatz! What fun! I enjoyed the video.
Quoting: Atlincabin Wife used to fly along with her father in CAP and learned it was difficult to spot most colors of planes
In past years I spent many hours as a search participant. One needs a lot of luck at times. Nothing is as hard to find though, as a L-19/O-1 painted army olive drab in the jungle. The only crash I ever had had me watching the jolly greens fly right over me without seeing me. They saw the smoke though when I set fire to it the next time they came by.
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paulz
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# Posted: 22 Mar 2022 19:36
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Quoting: Atlincabin Great to learn that there are other pilots on this forum.
You're welcome.
One of my best friends is a commercial Captain. Flown all his life, brother is a commercial pilot, dad was a commercial pilot... It's the exact opposite of my life, single, gone all the time to far away places, has a hard time getting anything done at home.
Anyway he flew the Jelly Belly Stearman at shows for awhile. Took me up in it... Never again! 
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moneypitfeeder
Member
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# Posted: 22 Mar 2022 23:50
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I can only dream of having our own helicopter. I was a helicopter mechanic and hubs was an instructor pilot. The 5.5 hr drive to our cabin seems to get longer each trip! My favorite copter is a Huey. Unfortunately, his piloting days are over. Apparently teaching soldiers to crash land safely takes a toll on one's spine.
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KinAlberta
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# Posted: 13 Apr 2022 11:47 - Edited by: KinAlberta
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Love this:
Driving Habits - BBC Top Gear - 1992 - with Jeremy Clarkson - YouTube
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1sxZP5SkmIE
.
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KinAlberta
Member
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# Posted: 3 Dec 2023 11:32
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I’ve witnessed this:
Old guys in their old pickups on rural roads that drive down the middle or well onto the wrong side of the road doing so while driving over hills and around blind curves!
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ICC
Member
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# Posted: 3 Dec 2023 13:06
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Quoting: KinAlberta Old guys
Not just old guys; any age group from what I see.
I get passed on blind curves by many young-ish drivers here in NM. It's like double yellow lines are invisible to them.
-izzy
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Fanman
Member
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# Posted: 3 Dec 2023 20:14
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Quoting: ICC Not just old guys; any age group from what I see. I get passed on blind curves by many young-ish drivers here in NM. It's like double yellow lines are invisible to them.
"Young Men's Immortality Syndrome"
The road to our cabin, which runs along the far shore of the lake, has unfortunately made it onto some lists of the "10 best motorcycle roads" and some youtube videos. So nowadays our peaceful weekends are filled with what sounds like the infield at the Indy 500. And when driving it's not unusual to be passed by half a dozen crotch rockets screaming by in a no passing zone (pretty much the whole road) around a blind curve.
The police can't or won't do anything about it, except for scraping the bodies off the rocks on a regular basis, about one per week in the summer.
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