I departed Santa Rosa at about 7:00. I had checked the weather and realized that I was going to have to fly through a narrow band of light rain showers that were along my path of flight. It turned out that the band expanded quite a bit after I left the ground. I actually flew through two areas of rain. One as I passed south of Santa Fe and the other further to the north west. In all I spent about an hour in rain showers. It wasn’t long before I wished I had put my sweat shirt on. The temperature at 10,500 feet was 53 degrees and there were a few drips of rain entering the cabin. The heat kept my feet warm but that was about it.

After I flew out of the last of the rain and I was able to descend to 8,500 feet which helped some and I could also see blue sky ahead. I flew into brilliant and warm sunshine just before encountering Ship Rock. I’m not sure what caused the halo of clouds to form around the top but it makes for an interesting picture. I turned the corner to a more northerly heading after passing Ship Rock and from there it was about 20 minutes to Cortez Colorado.

This was just a fuel stop after a flight of just over three hours. In the background of this picture you can see the edge of the rain system that I flew through on the way here.

I checked the weather and had some coffee in the offices of the Cortez Flying Service, paid for my fuel and I was on my way. The next leg is over a similar route as one I flew when returning from Burning Man last year. Although the most beautiful as far as scenery, the rugged terrain in many locations gave me few options if I had an engine failure and had to land.

This year I modified the route slightly and although the scenery was still stunning there were only a few times when I did not have a reasonable place within gliding distance where I could put her down if I had to. This leg was only about two hours and I flew along and just to the east of Capital Reef National Park before turning west to cross over the park and through a mountain pass on my way to Richfield Utah.

By the time I was approaching Richfield it was nearing two in the afternoon and the ride was getting bumpy and on the final approach I realized that with the bumps that my flaps were not staying extended for landing. My flaps can be set at any setting from 0 to 22 degrees and are held in place by the friction of a leather disk pressed between two metal disks. The problem is that over time the friction becomes less and the flaps don’t want to stay down. Then I have to remove a cotter key, tighten a nut one sixth of a turn and install a new cotter key. Then after landing I saw that flying through rain had remove the paint from a small area of the propeller blades. So, it was time to make some field repairs.

I fueled her up, borrowed a courtesy car and headed into town for lunch and shopping. There were still a few things I needed plus some paint to repair the propeller blades.  The trip was a success and after completing the flap and propeller work I covered her up for the night. Heavy rain was expected with clearing by late morning. While I was working on my plane one of the local pilots came by and invited me to their usually on Saturday but this week on Friday evening party at his hangar. Food, beer, margaritas and good company.

As the party broke up I could see the weather moving in from the west. I was able to sleep in the airport lounge and was woken up around 4:00 AM by the sound of thunder and heavy rain. Just as forecast.

So, this morning the rain has stopped and the storm is clearing out. There is a pancake breakfast at the airport this morning that I am looking forward to and then hopefully I will be on my way to Winnemucca Nevada for one last night before the airport at Black Rock City opens on Sunday morning.