Finally a little 10 time

With the new job it seems like I have very little time to work on the airplane these days and I'm actually ok with that.  I am in no hurry to get this one done since I already have a wonderful airplane to fly.  However, Amy went to New York this weekend so I got a chance to do some work in the garage.  The Vertical is ready for some riveting but I need an extra set of hands for that so I've moved on to the rudder.  Nothing worth taking pictures of on the rudder so far since its mostly cutting out parts and deburring edges....

Ok, there it is, the first rivet of the 10.  This is one of the spar doublers on the vertical stabilizer.

And here is the vertical stabilizer ready for some skin rivets.  

Long trip to the coast today.

Today Jeff, Chad and I continued our exploration of the airports of the PNW.  Today we ticked two more off of the list.  Forks (famous as the setting of the Twilight stories), and Quileute which has a HUGE old airport that is no longer in demand.  Here are a bunch of pictures...notice that I think this is the first time I've flown out over the ocean with this airplane.

I wish the camera could do justice to the beauty of this flight but it can't.  What you see in the pictures below is just a shadow of the majesty we enjoy in the PNW (Pacific Northwest).

Jeff taxiing out for our early morning departure.

Me in trail.

Some of the low level fog in the area....what a beautiful view this morning....

The Olympic mountain range...

I've struggled over the past several months to get a good picture of my instrument panel.  This morning the light was just right so I took this picture...I think it turned out great!

From left to right..My RV-9A, Chad's RV-7 and Jeff's RV-7A sitting on the ramp at Forks Washington.

Jeff doing his pre-takeoff runup.

Chad doing his pre-takeoff runup.

This is the rundown airport at Quileute Washington.  

A few pictures of the Pacific ocean...

Republic WA trip

I've been promising my friend Gary that I would visit his home in Republic Washington for a while now.  Well that day finally arrived.  Jeff, Joe, and I launched out of Puyallup early Sunday morning (last week September 27th) and an hour an a half later we were landing in Republic.  Gary met us, took us to his place for a nice tour and then out for some lunch before we headed back to the airport.  I got to take Gary up for a short trip around the lake but I hope we get to go for a longer ride someday.  Anyway, here are a few picture.  Oh, with my new job and the flying I've been doing I haven't really worked on the 10 much.  As expected...

Jeff and I parked at Republic airport.

Gary's "man cave"...complete with kegerator and popcorn machine!  Oh, there is a wine cooler in there too.

No man cave is complete without the pool table!

Obligatory selfie with Gary.  :-)

Gary took a few pictures during his ride and the next few are the result.  His house is down there on that lake somewhere.

Nice steep turn.

Ah, I recognize the sausage house...can't see Gary's house though.