Business and pleasure mixed nicely during July and allowed me to log almost 50 hours of flying in just two weeks. Starting from home base in Leesburg, Virginia (KJYO), I flew the first day to Bozeman, Montana. The next morning, I flew on to Portland for the Schulte Family Reunion in Sunriver, Oregon. Sunriver has it's own airport and after picking up family members at KPDX, the resort airport became my base for a week. A board meeting in Billings, Montana took me back over the mountains and past a growing number of forest fires....and, the during the trip back the next day to Sunriver the smoke from the fires was even worse.
Some sightseeing flights were part of the agenda and then Mary and I flew to Denver. From Denver, it was on to a meeting in Nashville (KJWN).
The Bonanza took mountains, heatwaves, kids, baggage and smoke in stride all over nearly two weeks.
It was my first general aviation experience in Oregon and I must say, I can't wait to get back one day.
Exceptional service was provided by the good people at the Sunriver Airport (S21). They even managed to have a fly-in pancake breakfast that provided some great entertainment on the day of our departure. Also, the multiple "shuttle flights" could not have been easier into KPDX. Portland really treated this general aviation aircraft well. And, the FBO, Flightcraft, picked up my passengers just as soon as they called from the main terminal.
Hope everyone is enjoying their own flying this summer.
