Tehachapi Convention

[170C]

Those who were unable to attend the 170 convention missed out on an outstanding event. Miles and Karen, along with all the volunteers and those who donated time, items, hangars, etc. , really put together a super good time.

THANKS MILES & KAREN FOR ALL YOUR EFFORTS!

The next 3 conventions are shaping up to be great places to visit also.

Frank & Becky Stephenson

[Harold Holiman]

I second Frank's comments. A great convention. I made it home last night. Weather was much better coming home than it was going out. Much more leasurerly flight.

Harold & Carolyn
N92CP

[AR Dave]

Share with us guys!
Horald did you travel route 66?
How long did it take to fly out there?
Had to be some funnies? George was there! What about Gar?
Frank after Dearborn, where are the next two convention going to be? Randal and I are sure hoping for a location near us!
Did you trade back for your Bass Pro Shop portable chair yet?
Dave

[170C]

Dave, it was a fun trip. It took us 12.2 tach hours to get from 42XS to TSP. Becky & I flew "Ole Pokey" on Friday to our good 170 friends, Tom & Lyn Benedict's airpark in Dexter, NM, spent the night & on Sat. the 4 of us were joined by their son, Larry & grandson Baxter (also 170 members) and two '55 170's & one 172 TD headed out to Calif. We went down to near El Paso to clear the White Sands area, then by Las Cruces, NM & out to Wilcox, AZ for fuel followed by a final leg into Blythe, CA. What a difference in the 45 degree temp at 10,500 ' & the 400 feet & 100+ temp in Blythe! Sunday morning we departed for Tehachapi & while enroute talked to fellow 170 ers Craig Martin & Jay Baten who had spent the night in Bullhead City on their way to TSP. We were able to cut across Edwards AFB from Apple Valley, CA and what a site to see all those long runways out on the dry lake. One of them is supposedly 7 miles long! Then after 2 hrs (total flt time) we overflew the Tehachapi wind farm--boy do they have a bunch of windmills! Among the interesting things we did was a visit to one of the windmill generating companies, a visit to NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards AFB Museum & a flight line tour. Neat stuff. Also on the poker run we stopped at Mojave Airport & got to see some vintage aircraft, F-100, F-4's (being set up as drones) & a peek inside Burt Rutan's Scale Composite's hangar where the White Knight was sitting. Interesting visit to the Vintage V-12 overhaul facility in Tehachapi. Sure glad we 170 types don't have to use those beautiful old engines---they are super expensive to overhaul and 500 or so hours is about all one can expect to get on a overhaul. Lots of other interesting activities over the week.

Yes, George made it to Tehachapi as did Ole Gar. George started out about a week before the convention and got there on Sunday. I don't know if he is back yet or not. Joe is going to have to give him some tips on speed!! HA! You will have to ask George how much fun he had at the auction!!!!!

About 25 or so 170's + a vintage 182, Harold's 180, a L-19 Birddog and my bird. The person who owned the large hangar at the airport where most of our on site activities were held is a prince of a guy who moved his C-195, Republic Seabee & C-177RG out of his hangar for the week to accomodate the convention bunch. (His C-170 & a PT-17/19?) were still left in the hangar. The 170 being on one of those devices where it was up above the PT for space savings.

Return trip was uneventful as we left Tehachapi early Sat am, flew to Gila Bend, AZ, Casa Grande, AZ & overnighted @ Las Cruces, NM & back to 42XS after a fuel & lunch stop in Sweetwater, TX. No problems on the entire trip except when we got back to 42XC I had been in the dry country for over a week and misjudged a ditch that I thought was dry. WRONG! Had to enlist my auto to help pull Ole Pokey out of the mud. Now I have a wash job to do. A really fun time with a lot of good 170 types to be around. Wish I could join you guys at Oshkosh.

The convention in 2005 is in Detriot, Mich (w/Dave & Marsha Mason as hosts)--2006 is to be in British Columbia (Dave & Amy Millar are the hosts) & 2007 is to be in Galveston w/ George & Jamie as hosts. Still got that green chair from Petit Jean & someone has a blue one from Bass Pro.

[Harold Holiman]

We were finally able to leave laFayette at 3:45 PM Thursday afternoon in very poor/marginal weather. We made it to Olive Branch, MS where we were forced down by poor vizibility and waited for TS to pass. We then made it to Russellville, AR where we arrived about 15 minutes before the big floods. Spent night and ate supper there. Friday morning again TSs and low ceilings. FSS said we might could go south to Texarkana then head west. We only made it a few miles to Mt Ida, AR where weather again forced us to stop. In the meantime my MK12D at died. I think it may have gotten water from the flood rains during the night. After second TS stopped we flew along the lake/river, as it was too low to clear the mountains, to Hot Springs to the radio shop. They loaned us a MK12D that was awaiting repair on the nav side but was good on the com side. While driving to town to eat it again rained soo hard you could hardly see the hood of the car. Next break in the weather we headed west and made it to Route 66 at Elk City, Ok. We were real impressed with Elk City. It is a very clean town and has more public areas, parks, ball fields, etc. than anywhere we have ever been for its size. It has the National Route 66 Museum along with a Regional History Museum, and a Farm Museum, all of which we toured and enjoyed. We left there about noon Saturday, the weather was decent but rough, and landed at Alberque for food and fuel. We decided we would check out Alberque on the way home. After fueling us and the plane we headed west. We were going to look at the metior crater near Winslow, AZ but smoke from forrest fires forced us to go about 50 miles north of our route to get over it. We arrived at Kingman, AZ at dusk. Everything was locked up and most all of the motels were full. We got a cab to a motel we definitely will not recommend. The next morning we called the FBO and they came and got us and loaned us their courtesy car. We toured their Route 66 Museum which is in an old power house. It was interesting but it was not as expansive as the one in Elk City. The town also was not near as well kept as Elk City. On the flight to Tehachapi we flew right over Edwards and the windmills, both of which were interesting. The convention was great. We did everything that was available which will have to be written as another story. Our trip home had much better weather. Our tfirst stop was Winslow, AZ where we circled the metior crater then landed for fuel and food. The airport cafe has been closed for about three weeks so we borrowed the courtesy car to eat in town. The town is kind of junky, not showing town pride like Elk City. The Posado Hotel was nice though. We just looked at it. We then flew to Albutuque to spend the night. It is a delightlful town. The downtown has been fixed up like Chattanooga and Old Town is expecially cute. Next day we flew to Roswell where we went to the National UFO Museum and Library. It was interesting if you like that sort of thing. We then flew to Georgetown where my Brother picked us up to spend the night. The next day we rode around and one thing we did was find Bird Nest Airport which is near RoundRock. it is like a time warp. The road to it is no more. You now drive down a rutted turn row of a corn field to get there. At one time it had pavement, taxiway, and lights. The pavement is now non existant. There are a couple of burned down hangers and some enclosed t hangers which I don't know if they are occupied or not. At one time it had a real nice FBO. Looking in the windows there are still Cessna Polot Center signs and fifteen year old magazines laying around like they just locked the door 15 years ago and left. The strange thing is it had a new wind sock and is still in the phone book. Part of the weeds were cut but it doesent look like a plane has landed there in several years. We left Georgetown about 5:ooPM and flew to Greenville, MS to visit my Mother. Next day left there about 5:00PM for home. Total flying time including Poker Run and side trips was 32.1 hours.

Harold

[cessna170bdriver]

Thanks for all the good words on the convention. I don't think either Karen or I ever worked so hard on any one project... or one so rewarding!
It was so great to see everyone just sit back and have a good time. I can't say how many of the locals have mentioned to me what a nice, fun-loving group the 170 conventioneers were.

I've had several convention-goers tell me that they never dreamed that there was so much to see and do around Tehachapi; but the truth is that we could have kept everyone busy for most of another week (whether Karen and I would have lasted that long is another story! ).

If any of you have even an inkling that you might like to host a convention, go for it! It is a lot effort, but this 170 bunch always seems to show up primed to have a good time. Your local area will appreciate it too. As 170 conventions go, this was a small one and relatively inexpensive compared to others I've attended, but by the time all the money spent here during the convention turns over a few times, the Kern County economy will have benefitted to the tune of close to a million dollars.

Now that we have demonstrated that we can pull it off, the local pilot group here is considering inviting other type clubs to hold conventions here, hopefully making Tehachapi a well-known aviation destination.

To all of you who were here, we enjoyed having you and hope you had a safe and pleasant trip home. To all of those who weren't, if you are ever out this way, look us up and we'll show you a bit of what you missed.

Miles & Karen

[n3833v]

I know I didn't fly mine, but it was a great convention and many thanks to Myles and George for his hanger. Thanks again for everything.
John