Closing out my west coast adventure I headed to Ramona, California for the first in person development meeting with my team since before Covid. Long overdue to see the guys. My plan had been to visit my friends who bought SV Strikhedonia for a few days and some formation flying in Oxnard before mother nature decided other plans for us. Blerg. Sad to get so close and not get to spend time with Allan and Alison. Next time.
Decision made the next challenge was getting home before the sunset (I’m not much for mountain flying, rather landing, at night). Oh and did I mention overcast in Ramona too. Whelp, the clouds did start to break up and by the time I returned the rental car it was clear skies. I never do performance climbs from Steamboat but with mountains close I climbed out at 100 knots (normal is 120 kts) which brought up the CHTs while not exceeding 390 degrees.
This is a very scenic flight and so I took a bunch of pictures of areas that I really did not want to lose an engine. Thankfully it was smooth sailing and I beat the sunset by a good forty-five minutes with the help of a tremendous tailwind (started a 35 knots and increased to 45 knots about 2/3rds of the way home). Clocking in a descent at 250 mph, gotta love that!
So sorry to miss you! As you say, next time, whenever that is. The guest cabin has your name on it. Merry Christmas!