Return To L.A. – Day 2... Lincoln, NE to Laramie, WY...

Oshkosh 2022 Adventure (9) – Returning home – Day 2

The day started a bit slow. I did make it to the airport early as usual, but my destination airport was under Marginal VFR, so I decided to wait until things clear out. When you think about it, the Marginal VFR, by itself, is not a big deal, but some other airports in the area were in IFR condition, so I had to be cautious, especially since I am not familiar with the area and its local climate.

Around 7:30 AM Kearney, my destination airport, turned to VFR, so I decided to launch. Pulled the gyro out of the hangar, completed my preflight procedure and strapped in. Since Lincoln Airport is a Charlie facility, I had to contact Clearance Delivery before calling Ground and proceeding with my taxi, so I was pleasantly surprised when the same person was manning both frequencies. I was given Rwy. 35 for departure, and in typical Charlie fashion, I was given a heading to maintain until I was out of the airspace.

Nebraska is flat, so I settled in cruise mode, couple of thousand feet above the ground, just below the scattered layer of clouds. Marveling the green fields all around, I did not notice when it was time to prepare for landing at Kearney Airport.

Kearney itself is a very nice airport with large hangar for transient aircraft, and I was told it was fairly easy to make it to the local hotels.

The cycle of “Fuel, Bathroom, Go” started here, and was to be repeated at every airport I stopped that day. After departing from Kearney Airport, I followed the Platte River to North Platte Regional Airport some hour and a half away. It is interesting to notice that although Nebraska is flat the terrain climbs steadily from East to West. That same feature, in reverse was so welcome on my trip to Oshkosh, and now I was slowly but surely reminded that with every passing mile I am venturing deeper and deeper into high density territory.

North Platte is another outstanding airport with a friendly and welcoming FBO.

During the next leg I started noticing that the green fields were giving way to brownish grass land. Not all at once, but you can start seeing how the green fields were now restricted around sources of water like rivers, and lakes… and the sea of gently rolling hills was surrendered to the grass and the cows that graze on it.

My next stop was at Sidney Municipal Airport that boasted a respectable 4,314 feet of elevation.

During this stop I had to make a decision to stop at Cheyenne and wait for cooler air in the morning so I can get easily above 10,000 feet on my way to the West, or push to Laramie, which would leave the heist point behind me. Well, seeing how Hummingbird performed all day, I was confident that reaching Laramie would not be a problem. Yes, it was hot, but once in the air and at altitude, the temps came down to “normal”. Also, there was plenty of daylight ahead, and if push comes to shove, I could always divert to Cheyenne.

OK, Laramie it is then… That required a fuel stop at a small airport called Pine Bluffs Municipal (did not see any pines in the area, to be honest). As it turned out the events around that airport were to most exciting part of the flying day.

As I was approaching Pine Bluffs, I noticed a heavy rain cell to the north of my path, and as I was landing, I also noticed a somewhat unorganized rain cell no more than 10 miles to the North-West of the airport. By the time I finished my ground routine, that unorganized cell was becoming a monster, and was slowly moving to the East. Its slow easterly movement gave me enough time to take off and then set myself on course to pass to the south of it. It was a bizarre sight. The heavy rain was creating a water column coming out of the black cloud. What was very surprising though, was that there was almost no turbulence while I was skirting the storm, and once I was passed it, the headwinds returned.

Once I was West of the rain, my next goal was to climb to above 9,500 feet so I can get over the ridge between Cheyenne and Laramie. That ridge itself does not look like much, but that is because all the terrain around is already high. Hummingbird did not disappoint in her performance and right on que we hit the 10,000-foot mark and stayed there until we were over Laramie.

This was my second visit to Laramie, so I knew my way around the ramp. I asked for fuels, hangar for the aircraft, and a way to get to the local hotels. The fuel truck was there in no time, then I dragged the gyro to their hangar… and for the hotels, they gave me suggestions and a courtesy car for overnight. I call this a “fantastic service”.

As I was driving toward the city, I noticed the billowing thunderstorm clouds close to the area I just came from, so I was grateful they were not there when I passed earlier. With that thought in mind, I was satisfied with the day’s progress. Now, let’s recharge the batteries, and do it again tomorrow.