Fresno for the 4th

Jul 20 2009 // Comments

This year we decided to spend the 4th July in Fresno with family. As expected, I recommended we fly there as holiday traffic would be unbearable; especially through LA. After all, we have an airplane, why not use it, right? Interestingly enough, the first time I met my in-laws was on 4th July; so I guess spending this holiday with them again would be only too fitting. Like all trips to Fresno, we usually make the parents house home base; but this time we decided to give the parents a break and setup shop at the brother & sister in-laws new home.

The flight up was very routine. It was nice and clear, very smooth air, and little traffic. I sorta thought it would be busy over LA, but controllers were very helpful and almost seemed bored at times. I love flying when there is little traffic; get to spend more time sight seeing than constantly trying to find the inbound traffic. The temp was around 45F at FL10.5, so it was very pleasant even though at sea level it was approaching 100F. About the only interesting thing that happened enroute was being overtaken by an SR22 -- I was jealous for about 30 secs as he passed us until I remembered I'm burning 8.5/gal an hour to his 16/gal an hour;  Would be nice to have leather seats though...

The plan in Fresno was to spend the day hiking in sequoia national park and then catch a baseball game with fireworks. The trip up the mountain to sequoias was long and windy. Was expecting a 45min drive; ended up somewhere around 2hrs. The elevation was around 7000; we passed through 9000 on the way, view was amazing; weather was warm and sunny, and temp was responsible in the mid-70's. A national park on a national holiday, who would even attempt this... amazingly, early in the morning there were no crowds, and traffic was light. The interesting thing though was we felt like the only Americans visiting the park. It appeared that everyone visiting was from out of town; scratch that; out of country. For such an American holiday, there were nothing but foreigners visiting the park; go figure.

The baseball game was very disappointing; Fresno Grizzlies suck! They were playing Las Vegas and it was 8 to nothing in the top of the first, so you can imagine how the rest of the game went. I've never prayed for a game to be called by the 4th inning soo bad. In case you haven't figure it out, Fresno baseball is AAA; so while the game was boring, the stadium was actually pretty cool. The real purpose was to see fireworks though -- so with the game finally over, the fireworks started just after 9pm. The fireworks were good; although I remember being way more amazed as a kid. I suppose as you get older, the novelty of fireworks wheres out until you can share the experience with a kid. Had a good time though.

With the hike and fireworks over; it was time to pack and head home. The following morning, we got up early and headed to breakfast. We hit up the local favorite spot and enjoyed a classic American breakfast. Unfortunately (more on this later), I decided to have several glasses of ice tea during breakfast. Finished up breakfast and headed to the airport. With the weather checked, and flight plan double checked, we packed the Mooney up and said our good byes. The flight plan called for 2hr 15min because of a quartering headwind out of the south west. With the preflight complete, we taxied out and took-off with a left downwind departure.

The climb to altitude was going to take some time as expected because it was already in the mid 90's at 10am. The warmer the air, the less dense, and the longer it takes to climb up. We were climbing to FL11.5 (11,500ft) which would allow us to be at the proper altitude for the direction, and high enough to clear the LAX Class B airspace. Called up Fresno approach, picked up flight following and before we knew it, we were on course steaming back to San Diego. Everything was going to plan until we were about 15mins from Van Nuys. Remember those ice tea's I had at breakfast... yeah, they snuck up on me and it was becoming very obvious that I was not going to make Carlsbad. The little Mooney has lots of features, but a lavatory is not one of them. With no empty bottle close by...I had to make a choice. Being close to LA but not inside the Class B, I decided it would be the best option to divert to Santa Monica and take care of the now serious bladder issue. SoCal approach was very helpful in diverting us to SMO with minimal delay and we landing without issue. WIth the bladder issue resolved (thank god); we decided to stay and have lunch at the Typhoon restaurant. Food was good, and a bonus as we got to see a awesome fully restored P51 mustang depart. What an amazing airplane.

The trip from SMO back to Carlsbad was pretty standard. Departed SMO with a clearance for the LAX corridor at 3500ft. This route takes you directly over LAX, and provides very interesting views as you see all the runways and aircraft coming and going outta LAX all at the same time. Make you appreciate that you are flying over LAX and not into LAX. The landing at Carlsbad could have been better, but was glad to be home and ready to relax. Our dog was happy to see us, and another successful trip was on the books.

~cheers~