Date:      Thursday, August 7, 1997
States:    (UT), CA, AZ, NV, UT
Weather:   CAVU
Altitude:  10,500 ft MSL
Dep Time:  7:37am MDT (1337 UTC)
Arr Time:  2:02pm MDT (2002 UTC)
Airtime:   5 hr 35 min
Distance:  736 nm
Avg Speed: 132 kts
Fuel Burn: 70 gal

    Bill made our takeoff and we followed the VORs south via DTA, MLF, MMM, then to Needles (EED). We flew at 10,500 feet and had a nice, cool, and smooth flight. When we got to Needles we were still a little high and fast, so we did a big 360 out from the airport a ways and then came in on runway 11. Bill's landing here was a 2.99-point pronger and we giggled a little. We parked near the pump and got the envelope out. The guy that fueled us also flew a Mooney, an older C model, and he told us how he's slowly putting the mods on it and making it faster. It's a nice comradery that Mooney pilots have one with another.

    Away we went for the very short trip to Bullhead-Laughlin (IFP). The flying time was only 18 minutes and we were cleared for runway 16. We flew over the hotel-casinos on the Nevada side of the Colorado River and turned back for final. What a unique airport! When we turned off the runway, we were cleared to the GA terminal which is 50 feet down the hill from the new, big runway. We took the taxiway down and parked at the terminal. What do you know, right through the fence was a Chevron convenience store gas station. I guess if we had needed Mogas, we could get some there! We got some fuel, not a lot, and paid up. When we mentioned that we were headed to Henderson, NV he young lady at the FBO asked us to say "Hi!" to Jim in the Henderson tower when we got there. We taxied back up the hill and set up for departure.

    Again, our flying time was short, and on our initial callup to tower, the controller answered with "Bullhead-Laughlin Tower," not "Henderson Tower." On our final approach we called tower with ‘greetings for Jim from Bullhead-Laughlin.' The tower controller replied that he was Jim saying that he works a few days a week down there, too, so that explained his mis-stated tower name. We landed and parked. There are a lot of planes at Henderson, and Vegas Air, the air tour guys that fly out to the Grand Canyon. We went into the terminal and got a card and mailed the letter ourselves at the outdoor mailbox cluster. We were going to give $5 to the young lady inside but she was pretty busy, and it was just as well that we mailed it ourselves. We didn't get fuel, just loaded up and departed.

    Bill got us off the ground and tower cleared us for a southward downwind departure, even though we wanted north to Provo! Anyway, we contacted Las Vegas departure and they cleared us to 4000 feet on a heading of 070. Unbelievably, this took us right to some jagged peaks, and we had to dodge them a little. Of course, we were always safe and well clear, but the controller needs to go fly that particular route sometime and see for himself what he points people at!

    Our route back home was just the reverse of coming down: MMM, MLF, DTA, then Provo. We had occasional bumps but mostly smooth air, and at 9,500 feet we were cool enough. Bill tuned the ADF to local AM stations as we flew home. We listened to Rush Limbaugh for a while, then we tuned in KDYL and listened to the old classics from the 50's and 60's. It was fun. On into Provo using runway 13.