I'm back in the U.S.A.

well bo let the cat out of the bag. :haha:

yes i stopped by the desert rat and introduced myself to bo on the way past st. george enroute to bullhead. i just couldn't go by without stopping.

i have moved back to the US after living in new zealand for a lot of the past 8 years. it was fun being down there working as a scenic pilot but now it is just as good to be back hear in bullhead working doing flight instruction.

i got into anchorage on the 17th of october and had to spend two weeks working on my truck getting it ready. new shocks, new upper and lower ball joints, new front brakes, headlights, wiper blades, cv boot were all done by me, and the new cam belt, idler, water pump etc... and a wheel alignment were done by a professional. also had to buy a trailer and rewire it and replace the coupler and get a spare tire and rim, build a rack for my canoe and roof box for it.

i left anchorage on the 1st of nov and went up to fairbanks for a few days to see one of my sons there. on the way to fairbanks i had a bearing go out on a bracket the the fan mounts too, the unfortunate thing was that it was at night and i was 130 miles from fairbanks. my son came to get me and by the time he showed up i had the problem diagnosed and the offending bracket removed. i found a replacement part the next morning and hitched back to the truck and replaced it and was back on the road. it was great having the chance to catch up with my oldest son for 3 days. really enjoyed that.

then down the alcan highway. just outside of beaver creek yukon i had a cv go out on my 4runner. (i knew i had heard it going out on the way to fairbanks, which is why i went to the wreckers and bought two replacement drive axels before i left fairbanks. kind felt like i was a genius for that.) i tried to swap it out in the parking lot and found that i just could not get some of the bolts to budge so was forced to spend the night in beaver creek. in the morning i met my newest best friend forever "carl". he is the mechanic at the far west garage in beaver creek. he let me use his heated shop and loaned me his 1/2" impact wrench which made short work of the six bolts that i couldn't get undone myself. with his help we got it all back together. two hours and $80 later i was back on the road.

considering it was a winter trip and the roads were snowpacked and icy the rest of the trip was uneventful, other than watson lake being completely shut down at midnight and me out of gas so i was again forced to stop when i didn't really want to. i did stop at liard hot springs the next day for a soak for an hour or so. that is the one place you do not want to pass up if you ever make the drive.

so after 5 days and 3200 miles i am now in bullhead city, or more accurately in fort mohave at the sun valley airport. if you ever travel in my direction give a shout and stop in.

This really sucks, now who are we to visit in New Zealand.:ne_nau:

But really, Welcome back Les:nod:

welcome back, denali.

cool road story! that's great you got to hang with your son. and sounds like you missed that massive storm!

Yeah very cool story. Welcome back to the USA. :flag:

I wondered where you had been lately. I figured a trip, but that was one helluva trip. :cool2:

:hail2thechief::nod::clap::friday::feelgood::party ::ahh::killen::jump_nutt::five::nomystery:

Party foul! You need to be in New Zealand this time of year, then come out here for summer. Aren't all your cherry trees in bloom right now?

Regardless, it's good to have you back, welcome!!!!!

Welcome back to the northern hemisphere, Les! Sounds like quite an adventuresome trip. Good thing nothing like that went while we were in the Maze... :haha:

Happy flying to you!

:2thumbs:

@Deathcricket. you don't know how much i will miss the cherries this year. at 10 bucks a kilo i picked and ate 200 dollars worth last season. the big orchards were only 30 minutes from my house. and after the cherries were the peaches, nectarines, plums and apricots straight from the orcanrd.

but it is good to be back.

:cool2:very cool man - glad to see ya 'round:nod: