I got up and met Randy at the airport. The visibility was fine, so we decided to go to Oroville.
We flew up the Feather River, and for whatever reason the ADSB tracker didn't pick us up the whole way. Did have to avoid a helicopter who came around to look at us at one point though.
The ADSB tracker saw even less of us on the way home along the other side of Beale Air Force base.
When we got back, I was at the point where I need to do a service, so I changed the oil (it needs to be warm) and called it a day there - I'll do everything else tomorrow, methinks.
I did get a little time to tinker with some stuff in the garage :o)
I decided to do some maintenance on the Bolt, meaning that I filled the washer fluid bottle.
I figured I'd wash the worst of the crap off it, so I pulled it out and did that. Then Vic made me feel bad for not washing the van, so I pulled it out and washed it too.
I went to the airport and flew for a while, but the visibility was awful - Auburn said 5 miles, Lincoln said 7, but with the haze you couldn't see much. As I was toddling towards Folsom Lake, I watched an unidentified aircraft on the ADSB display approaching from the South - it turned out to be a Blackhawk, and he flew around behind me, then alongside, about 3/4 of a mile away before heading back South :o)
In the evening, we went over to Randy's for cherry pie - he gets it from a place where they're so busy you have to order it :o)
I've taken the week off to do things and stuff, and I kicked off the day by taking Tillamook for her annual inspection. She was very happy to get into the van, less so when we pulled up at the vet. You call in and tell them you're here, and the vet tech calls back for a chat, then they come and get her. You then play Flappy Bird until the doctor calls you back for a chat, and then they call you and deliver her back so she can grumpily ride home again. She got a couple of vaccines, and was feeling sorry for herself for the rest of the day, but they said she's in great condition for being 13 years old. They did point out the muscle wastage on her back legs, which is due to the arthritis, and took blood so we can look at NSAIDs if necessary in the future - they're hard on the liver and kidneys so she'd be getting blood tests every 6 months or so.
I ran around trying to get some stuff done, but mostly ended up getting a package of Oreos and posting some fuel valves back to Aircraft Spruce.
I went to the airport and took the plane out for a bit - I timed it perfectly as the GPS flicked into "night" mode while I was on finals (I'm allowed to fly to the end of civil twilight - usually about 30 minutes more, but I like putting the plane away in the light.)
As it was dark when I got home, I could see that some of the neighbours have their Xmas decorations running - while Tilly ate her supper, Vic and I went and watched them for a little while. My phone didn't pick up the sound as well as I'd hoped, but whatever.
Randy was supposed to be looking after the kids, and Wings was closed, so I flew over to Cameron Park to fly friends of Chris'.
So it looks like I wasn't on the ground long enough to take it as two flights :o) On the way there, I flew over Chris' house, and watched him drive down his driveway, so I flew back out towards the lake, then went and landed at Cameron Park so I didn't have to wait for him.
We flew his friends over the lake and back to Cameron Park, then tinkered around with his RV-6A for a while - we've taken off the exhaust that has a crack in it, and the fuel tank that has a slight leak, so hopefully things can be done to rectify both of those. Then I flew back to Lincoln, meandering around to look at things.
Randy was flying slowly when we left Lincoln, so I flew alongside to make sure he was awake, then cut back behind him. He'd been peering at his EIS, as the warning had come on for the EGT - we think it's a bad connection or a bad sensor.
Wings was closed, so we flew back down the Bear Creek canyon, then had lunch at Mary's.
I shot some video using the digital zoom on the GoPro - I don't think it's as sharp as the wide angle, but you can see more of Randy.
