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I am on my way. Current location: Show Low, AZ. Landing was exciting, 20-30 kts gusty wind, but almost on the runway. Made it on the ground in one piece.

Show Low airport, elevation 6400 ft.

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I got to fly this RV-6, a new-to-me airplane, for my flight review, which is required every 2 years.

It belonged to the instructor, Josh.

The panel is nice and simple. It has 180 hp and a constant speed propeller, which gives it good performance. It is very light on the ailerons and has a great roll rate. It was really fun to fly, a bit similar to my Pulsar, but more stable on rollout after landing.

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I had a very early start for this flight to at least enjoy for a while the lower temperature in the morning. My destination for the day was Lampson, about 1.5 hours flight to the west, in the coastal mountains. First I had to cross the large valley, which was quiet before 7 am. Hardly anyone else was in the air.

I flew out over the shore to let another airplane takeoff and leave the area before landing myself.

I am on a right downwind, the runway is visible in the center of the picture. The airport is surrounded by fields and walnut plantations.

Several old airplanes are patiently waiting for their fate to be decided, scrap or restoration?

This large amphibian is lucky, the process of rebuilding it was at least started. In the 1950’s Clear Lake was used as an alternate landing site for the huge transpacific flying boats when they could not land in San Francisco due to fog. Lampson is surrounded by mountains that shield it from the fog.

View east towards the airport looking east towards the mountain at the end of the lake.

After takeoff I flew out over the lake for the climb to gain enough altitude to tackle the mountains.

Flying past the mountain at the east end, not yet high enough to go over it and still too early for thermals to help with the climb. Houses were built partway up its side.

It was really hot by now, and everyone else was up and flying. The area between Sacramento and Travis Air Force base, and between Yolo, Davis and Franklin was very crowded. I saw many other airplanes in flight, some of them airliners, a C17 in the Travis pattern, a skydiver plane out of Yolo, a helicopter and a lot of flight training planes. I even had to maneuver to avoid one at the same altitude on a converging heading.

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The dry season has started and the grass has turned to straw. Which also means that there is plenty of flammable material everywhere. Please don’t start fires.

If you look closely, you can spot a private dirt strip in this picture.

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The Calaveras Airport Day was a success this year because the weather was fairly good. I made a short video showing some of the activity:

https://vimeo.com/1081168617?share=copy

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It is becoming warmer and I went a local flight in Caro 1.

View to the southeast, the air is humid and it is a bit hazy. Only over the higher mountains were some thermals.

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