11 May 2006

Trip #17

Next Friday I'll be headed back to California to ferry home another helicopter.
This time, it will be an R22......the smaller of the two helicopters I bring back East.
This will be my 17th trip back from L.A..

I thought it might be fun to see if any of you have ideas about things to see along the route.
Take a look at a map......
I'll be taking off from Torrance, California, then following I-10 Eastbound past Banning and Palm Springs/Palm Desert to Blythe......Then across the Colorado river to Phoenix, then South to Tucson. Continuing on I-10 all the way to El Paso.
From El Paso, I can go pretty much any way I want......North and East, toward Tulsa, Oklahoma.


If you can suggest anything along that route that might be interesting to see, I'll consider flying by and using my new digital camera to get a picture to share with you.

So folks, your mission, (should you decide to accept), is to get out your maps and use your imagination.
I'll get my nose in the instruction manual for the camera, and maybe we can work as a team to do something neat! You guide me, and I'll go take a look, and record what I see, then report to you.

I look forward to your comments.

6 comments:

Dave Starr said...

Snap aphoto of the tallest structure in Schleicher County, Texas. See:
http://www.fas.org/spp/military/facility/eldorado.htm

I re-built the commercial leased netorks into this site for several years and saved a lot of money ... until the USAF decided to save even more and put it in caretaker status. never got to see it ... all 'work' was done from my cubicle chair .. that's why we were known as "swivel servants" ;-)

Avimentor said...

Hmm ... There's the Chiriaco Summit Airport, just north of I-10 (as I recall) and south of Josuha Tree National Monument. This was the airport that Gen. George Patton used while playing war with tanks in the desert.

If you'll be staying in Tucson, there's a great Mexican resturant - La Indita 622 N 4th Ave.

Other than that, be sure to avoid that tethered balloon 80nm or so east of El Paso!

Greybeard said...

Coincidence, John.....
My last trip, the owner needed the practice at hot/high airports, so we turned a few circuits at Chiriaco Summit.
A pretty desolate place, actually.

Gen. Patton was all over that area with tanks....if you recall in my diary of the last trip home, I pointed out that they probably damaged the "Blythe Intaglios" with their maneuvers before realizing they were hurting antiquities.

The amazing thing about the area there around Chiriaco Summit is the flow of rocks out of the mountains.......
The outflow of eroded rock looks almost exactly like water flowing downhill......
Thinking of the years it has taken for that to happen makes your head swim!

Thanks for the suggestions guys!
I've already opened the Atlas and I'm takin' notes!

THIRDWAVEDAVE said...

OK, GB. Giant Rock Airport, Landers, Ca.

I was there a couple times while playing war games in the desert. By the way, MG George Patton brought his tanks to town, 2nd AD, to play with us. (7th ID).

Anyway, since I was an MP, I had a little more freedom to rome around, so we'd sneak into the airport where they had a little cafe. We'd load up on cheeseburgers and bring them back to camp. And, of course, we got into trouble.

The airport has a long history revolving around UFOs, ect, but it was an interesting place to see.

Anonymous said...

Not sure if it's too far out of your way, but the Very Large Array would make a neat photo:

Latitude: 34° 04' 43.497'' N
Longitude: 107° 37' 03.819'' W
Altitude: 2126 m (6975 ft)

Anonymous said...

You could fly over El Zarape (Sal's to you) in Cypress, CA to take a picture that would commerrate all the times Larry and I have eaten there with you!! It would be nicer if we could go there with you this trip.