Our Southwest trip in the Tri-Pacer

We took 10 days to do a sightseeing tour of the southwest.
Just over 3,000 miles.
29.5 flight hours on the Hobbs.
210 gallons of Fuel.
Our stops and sightseeing destinations were:
Roseburg, OR - Gas and Lunch
Crater Lake
Willows, CA - Gas
Vacaville, CA - Nut Tree Airport - Overnight and Gas top off
San Francisco Bay area
Bakersfield Muni - Gas
Fullerton - Disneyland
Palm Springs - Bermuda Dunes Airport - overnight
Kingman, AZ - Gas and visit extended family. Was delayed there for a day due to convective activity all across our next destinations.
Grand Canyon - Dragon Corridor, and eastern portion
Monument Valley
Blanding, UT - Gas
Canyon Lands National Park
Arches National Park
Moab area
Canyonlands Airport - Overnight and Fuel.
Salt Lake City - Brigham City - Gas
Nampa, ID - Gas and overnight
Interesting things I learned and noticed:
Cheapest gas was in Bakersfield, CA $5.30/gal
Most expensive gas was back home at $6.69/gal
You can fly the LA basin Class B airspace on a single radio, although challenging.
Always sump your fuel after fueling. I had water in the first tank I fueled at each of the three Utah airports we fueled at. I have never seen water in my sumps the entire time I have owned the Tri-Pacer.
There was not a single location we flew over that was not somehow touched by man.
Density altitude is actually a real thing. I’ve been spoiled having flown the majority of my time around Washington. I have no harrowing story, thank goodness, but I sure could not count on an 800’ take off roll or climbing out at more than 400-500 FPM in some locations, while I’ve been use to 1,200+ FPM.
Thunderstorms are truly nothing to be anywhere near!
NOTES:
All aspects of these flights were within all FAA FAR/AIM regulations, and local and state laws.
Unfortunately, all of my GoPro footage went corrupt just as we were arriving to the Grand Canyon. Fortunately, we had some cell phone footage to share, so this is not as good as I wanted it to be, especially flying around Monument Valley.

[@jeffpaq]

Amazing!!! Thank you for sharing your inspirational adventure!

[@kvnwilkin]

Breathtaking video!

[@SunIsSon]

4:12 One of the most beautiful take-off's I've seen! Amazing video, hope to see more in the future. :)

[@goldierides9481]

Sweet! It was your videos that made me fall in love with the Tri. Sorry I missed the opportunity to buy yours.

[@jimkirkendall2483]

Gorgeous video, BTW, with great music!!!

[@Rolltide530]

Just stumbled across this video and really enjoyed it. I subbed and can't wait to watch the other videos. Be safe.🤘🤘

[@HeavyMetalHorizons]

Incredible!!

[@Eric-oh2uk]

This is my retirement dream!

[@crash812]

You can do it!

[@photobusta]

Do you have a socal mechanic referral?

[@JustinHuff_EOinDixie]

Yall ever get out east?

[@jimkirkendall2483]

What's the deal with landing and taking off on the highway? How did you do that?

[@crash812]

Did not land on the highway. used the abandoned strip for that, however, the washouts were very soft and I deemed it unsafe to take off from. Fortunately, CHP and some utility workers were there and were able to help watch for and stop any traffic that came along.

[@jimkirkendall2483]

@crash812 oh, OK. I was thinking the hotel had a deal somehow where you could land on the highway. Thanks for clearing that up!