The Last Back Home

Possibly the the to get last back home after OSH 2021. Got stuck in Worthington, MN that Thursday of OSH due to heavy smoke, then general weather, and with the prospects of things not clearing up, I found a hangar and took the human mailing tube back to Seattle. Finally had time to go get the plane this weekend, and other than weather hold at Worthington for most of Friday, managed a great return to Seattle via Scottsbluff, NE, Burley, ID, and back to Seattle. The trip across WY and ID was probably the nicest I've had with little headwind, no bumps, and generally, great visibility, which is a big contrast to trip to OSH; from Columbia River, through ID, WY, NE, to WI, I probably saw the entire trip through a ground swath about 10 miles wide. Good to be home for sure!

Sunrise at Scottsbluff, NE

WA smoke from Yakima fire, Mt. Adams to left and Rainier to right.

Always nice to see the home volcano!

Congratulations on getting back home. That smoke can be brutal.

3 years ago, plus or minus a few days, I purchased my RV-3 near Boise. The forest fires were in full bloom for my flight back to northern Colorado. I'm an airline guy, so I'm used to flying on instruments, but even in a fantastic little 3 with plenty of gizmos to keep me right-side-up, the flight home was no fun. I still think about that flight anytime I consider launching into forest fire smoke.

Agree, autopilot is pretty much necessary! With only a chunk of ground to the sides, and basically a homogenous sky, it's some tough flying.