Alaska Trip Prep Underway!

Well, I finished up my last tailwheel student today and I started prepping the Super Cub for the Alaska trip. I began by washing the mud and bugs off the airplane. Then, I removed the rear control stick and rear seat cushions to make more room to store the massive amount of stuff I seem to think I need.  I then installed the cargo pod and began loading some of the gear. Figuring out the weight and balance is certainly part of the effort, but it is made more complex because some items have to be accessible while others will not be needed as often. I suspect I’ll pack and unpack the various boxes and bags several times before I feel like everything is where it belongs. My plan is to do some test flights in the next couple of days just to see how the airplane performs with everything aboard. The guys at Faulkner’s will bring the airplane into the shop on Monday to change the oil, change the main tires and give everything a final “look-see” before Friday morning’s planned departure.

The planned route is Burnet to Levelland (fuel stop), Santa Fe, NM (fuel stop) to Alamosa, CO on Friday, June 7th. I’ll spend the weekend with my son and his family who live in Ft. Garland. Sunday morning, June 9th, I plan to head for Idaho where I will meet the rest of the seven pilots who have joined the Alaska adventure. We will meet at Johnson Creek, which is a famous backcountry airport in central Idaho. I will try to upload photos and e-mail updates as I can. Internet access will certainly be spotty, so some of the entries will probably be out of sync with the calendar, but please post comments as you wish. When I return, I will clean up the blog entries and add the best photos and videos. For anyone interested, the website for tracking our progress is https://share.delorme.com/kenwittekiend. That should allow you to see where I am throughout the trip.