Beautiful skies, no wind and 70 degrees has to add up to a Kitfox afternoon. Work done early so to the airport for some winter flying. Top off the fuel tanks. $4.54 per gallon. Ouch!! Makes me wonder a little about the logic of the 912S 100 hp. over the extremely frugal 912 80hp. Rotax.

My mission this afternoon: Fly west about 110 miles to an air park community called Indian Hills. Friends from S. Minnesota have places on that air park and reports were that they had arrived from the frozen great North and were thawing slowly in the warmth of the Arizona sunshine. If I kicked it into high gear I could get out there , visit for an hour and get back just as the sun disappeared below the White Tank Mountains on the western edge of Phoenix. For a Tuesday afternoon , that was an ambitious goal. I had smooth air to play in today. GPS showed 3 mph headwind going west at 4,500 feet above sea level. 115 mph was my ground speed so a little less than an hour I would be touching down on runway 26. The desert scenery on the route consists of cactus by the thousands, washes, gullies, small mountains, some with exciting jagged peaks, some tilled cotton fields and lots of abandoned mines . Eight miles east of Indian Hills I call intentions.

A Luscomb reports left downwind for 26 and is doing touch and go's. He is very cordial on the radio and by the tone of his voice and the professional sounding radio call outs, he might could be a retired airline captain living out his post-professional aviation days in the desert S.W. Doing all the fun flying he'd promised himself he'd do once he hung up the uniform. Every touch and go was therapeutic. No schedules to keep. Just flying for the sake of flying.
He turned base to final as I called 4 miles east on a straight in for 26. I felt like I interrupted his therapy session when he taxied full length and cleared the active. Not to worry. He can take another session tomorrow. It sounds like it will be even better flying conditions then.

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(Short final 26 Indian Hills.)



A full length roll out and a turn south on the taxi/driveway and then a quick left and 5 hangar/homes and I'm at Tim and Barb's place. They'd just completed an addition to their hanger. They doubled the hangar so he could fit his new Super Cub and his Bonanza in with room for the new fishing boat. This guy has his priorities right.
BTW, the Cub is just about completed except for seat cushions after an eight year build back in Blue Earth, Mn. Tim flew it down a month or two ago. 30 mph plus headwinds most of the way. The cars on the freeway were going faster. Maybe I'll get to fly it this Saturday if I can get back out there.
Well the Sun dictates how long I can stay so the visit while fun, was short. Back in the Kitfox and this time the "wind", 3 mph, was on the tail.

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(Departing Indian Hills.)

I chased my shadow all the way back to Phoenix with some deviations from the Direct-To route. There were some mountains, hills really, that just had to be played in and flown around and climbed over and dived down the other side.

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(Playing in the hills.)

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(Back at Deer Valley just as the Sun sets in the west.)

Nice winter afternoon. You know why I live here and put up with the 100 degree plus days from May to October? It's for this time of year. Wish you were here.

P.S. I set my GoPro HD camera on (photo every 5 seconds) for the whole flight instead of on video. I have over 1,600 photos of today's flight. These things are a blast.