Lifted off from Albuquerque New Mexico just after first light, into calm, cool air. Turned south to pick up the road to Winslow Arizona and kept climbing slowly to stay at a constant 1000 feet above the rising terrain.
Just as factory test pilot Carl Dye had said, the voltmeter could be kept within the maximum limit by turning on the landing lights, the taxi lights, the navigation lights, the strobe lights, and the pitot heat, along with all the other electrical gear on board. Problem solved, but I still kept a wary eye on the electrical output, and I stayed very close to the road all the way.
The road kept rising up until I passed over Gallup New Mexico, at an elevation of 6500 feet, and then started downhill again. Flying low over the road somewhere past Gallup, it was good to see a sign "Welcome to Arizona" on top of a roadside gift shop. Probably not meant for aerial traffic.
Coming into Winslow was easy. The only other traffic was a Cessna pilot who had announced his position about 10 miles out, coming in from the west. We traded position announcements on the radio as we got closer and since he was already aligned for a downwind approach, I radioed for him to go first. The calm winds in Albuquerque had grown to 15 knots headwind on landing in Winslow, but it was right down the runway. You have to be very creative to make a bad landing with a good headwind.
I pulled up next to the Cessna, which was taking on fuel by the time I got to the ramp. The pilot, another Mike, was coming in from Bullhead City Nevada and going home to Colorado Springs, with his wife and two young daughters. Mike really liked the Waco, and we talked a good bit about the plane while he was refueling. As they reboarded to continue their trip, his wife gave me a most excellent and appreciated homemade muffin. Flying people are the best, aren't they!
Winslow Arizona is the closest town to the Meteor Crater, a one mile wide hole in the ground created 49,000 years ago when a meteorite made a visit from outer space. It's also the place where the film "StarMan" was filmed. I have flown over this crater at least twice in the Waco on other trips in the last three years, and I have always wanted to get closer to it. So this time I was determined to check it out in detail.
The problem was that there were no rental agencies open in Winslow on Sunday, and there was no courtesy car available at the airport. Basically, I was stranded at the airport, with no way to get to the crater, except fly over it again.
So here I am eating my great homemade muffin, with a cup of coffee, wondering how I'm going to get to this crater which is about 20 miles out of town. I'm sitting outside just looking at the Waco, and thinking that, just maybe, I'm trying too hard to get to the crater. Maybe if I let it go, the crater will come to me. Real Zen stuff like this is going through my mind and out of nowhere comes this guy dressed in a flight suit walking out to the Waco for a look-see. He checks it out thoroughly and comes walking back across the ramp and asks me if that's my plane.
Captain Mark Sims flies for AirEvac and just got off duty on the other side of the airport and saw the Waco so he just had to get a closer look. We talk flying for a while and find we have a lot in common, not the least of which is the fact that he is completely nuts about the Waco! He asks why I ever chose Winslow to land, and when I mention the crater to him, and the lack of rental cars, he says he's lived nearby for years and never saw it, so how about if he and his girlfriend Judith drive me up there and we can all check it out. Just like that! The mountain came to Mohammed, the crater came to Mikie.