A week ago Wednesday, I drove Donna to the Cortez Munipal Airport as planned. She was flying out to San Diego for a long weekend with her sisters to attend her nephew’s high school graduation commencement. Her flight out of Cortez was on a regional airline, Boutique Air, in a Pilatus PC12 aircraft. These are small, single-engine turbo-prop planes built in Switzerland. They have an excellent reputation and safety record. Boutique Air configures the planes to carry eight passengers and two crew – pilot and co-pilot. The co-pilot doubles as a flight attendant.
They have two filghts between Cortez and Phoenix daily as well as four flights between Cortez and Denver.
In the photo above, the plane arrived from Phoenix and is being made ready for the flight back to Phoenix. The Cortez Municipal Airport has one runway (3/21) that’s oriented roughly northeast/southwest – 30 degrees northeast and 210 degrees southwest. The prevailing winds are from the southwest so most takeoffs and landings are on the 210 degree heading.
The airport was made famous in 1959 when a USAF Lockheed U2 reconnaissance plane made a forced landing there after its engine flamed out at an altitude of 70,000 feet above sea level. The pilot was a Chinese (ROC Taiwan) Air Force Major on a night training flight from Laughlin AFB in Texas. He flew to Salt Lake City and turned back on a secret flight path. The U2 was a highly classified secret aircraft at the time. When his engine quit, he didn’t have much of a plan.
He glided to a lower alitude and attempted to restart, unsucessfully. It was dark and he didn’t know his precise location, just a general idea. He knew the area was mountainous and didn’t know of any airports in the area. By a stroke of luck or the grace of God, he ended up gliding between mountains in the high desert valley and spotted runway lights. His glide path and speed coordinated perfectly to line up a landing at the Cortez airport! If he had been a few miles east or west of the valley he would have slammed into a mountain in the dark night. It’s quite a story.
I had an uneventful four nights as a bachelor while Donna was away. I played pickleball, read books and took care of Ozark the cat. Donna had a nice time with her sisters – she hadn’t spent time with the three of them together in years.
Sunday afternoon Donna flew back to Cortez, backtracking her flights to San Diego. The Boutique Air flight from Phoenix landed at 3:36pm. She said she enjoyed the small aircraft – she hadn’t flown in a Pilatus before.
In the photo above you can see Donna in the doorway exiting the aircraft and get a sense of scale for the small airplane.
Sunday evening we went to J Fargo’s Family Dining and Micro-Brewery on Main Street. We had dinner and a couple of brews and discussed our future plans. The water leak situation is only a minor leak, but fixing it is problematic. Our friend and fellow Alpine Coach owner Lynda Campbell told me she found an access panel in the back of the cabinet in the kitchen behind the shower wall.
I hadn’t seen this panel because it’s behind a wire rack where we store canned goods. I emptied the cabinet and removed four screws and pulled the panel out. This wasn’t going to help much. First of all, the guys that built this coach covered half of the access point with lauan plywood. This could be cut away without too much trouble, but there were still two concerns. It wouldn’t access the shower valve if that’s where the leak is. If the leak is at the shower head, I would need arms about a foot longer than I have to reach through the cabinet to fix it.
The leak is really small, but over time it will create water damage. Water damage is an RVer’s worst fear. We’ve been minimizing the leakage by only using the onboard water supply and turning on the water pump as needed. When we turn the pump off, we leave a tap open to relieve the water pressure and stop any subsequent leakage. This had been a tedious process and uses a lot more water than we normally use.
We need to get the coach into a shop where they can create a better way to access the shower plumbing. If we continued on to New Mexico as planned, we could probably find a competent shop. But we would need to have an open-ended stay at a motel while the work was being done and would have to bring Ozark into a motel room. Been there, done that and it wasn’t good.
We decided to leave Cortez a week ahead of schedule and go back to Mesa, Arizona. Here we have our own home and I can research repair shops to see who would be the best fit for this work.
At that point we agreed that moving forward, once repaired, we would sell the motorhome. Donna always said we would know when our time on the road was done. We’re done. Our future travel plans will probably involve B&B stays around the country in the summer months and we’ll stay in our park model home at Viewpoint Golf and RV Resort the rest of the year.
When I started this blog nine years ago, the stated purpose was to keep my family and friends informed of our whereabouts and our activities. With the RV lifestyle in the rearview mirror, this may be the last installment of this blog.
Sorry to hear the blog is coming to an end. I have really enjoyed going on your travels with you. Thank you for taking the time to share your adventures and experiences with everyone. My husband and I used to travel a lot – no reservations anywhere, just drove in our Mercury Marquis until we decided to stop somewhere. No GPS back then, just AAA Guide books and maps. Some of our best trips were not having any plans and just seeing the sites along the way. Wishing you safe travels in the future and enjoy your new home in Mesa. Take care.
I sure hope it’s not your last blog. I love keeping up with you and Donna.
Wow! It’s been fun following you all these years.
We recently had a water leak very recently, it was down low and very hard for hubby to access. The back panel removes under the sink. Had to disassemble the shelve that is installed under sink.
I also read (I think on IRV2) that there is access to shower behind the second mirror panel. Now how you remove that without breaking is a mystery.
Best of luck to you both. Feel like we know you & Ozark.
I will miss reading your blog. I have been following you for quite some time and have really enjoyed reading about your adventures and hobbies. I have learned so much about RVing through this blog. Wish the best to you and Donna.
I love the clarity of the statement, “ Donna always said we would know when our time on the road was done. We’re done.” For some reason I felt a little heaviness in my when I read it… and it not even the end of my RV adventure (which didn’t last nearly as long as yours and Donna’s). You both absolutely made the very most of the Rv-ing lifestyle! Your new future plans sound more relaxing and still filled with adventure. Thanks for the nine years of allowing friends to follow you two. 🥰
I’d still like blog and dinner updates!!!!
Oh no, say it ain’t so. I’m going to really miss reading your blog.
You guys take care.
Mark & Emily
I have so enjoyed reading your updates through the years, and I will miss reading about your nomadic travels. Best of luck to you both!
Oh noooooo. What a shocker.
I do hope you have good fortune with 1) fixing (& selling) the motorhome; 2) your road -warrior B&B plans; and 3) you future at Viewpoint in Phoenix.
I will miss hearing about your & Donna’s adventures, photos of the good food she prepares, and here & there some news about dear Ozark.
I began reading your blog after Donna announced it in her old newsletter, and I and my husband Matt were certainly fortunate to meet you and Donna in Phoenix for dinner & a beer a few years ago. !
And, since Matt & I are headed to Ireland next week for a short visit, I leave you with an Irish blessing:
May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face.
All the best to you & Donna!
I am sorry to hear you won’t be blogging anymore. I have followed you since day one and can’t believe so many years have gone by. I’ve enjoyed reading about your travels and of course the dinners cooked by Donna and yourself were a highlight.
Thank you for all the wonderful posts and I hope you and Donna enjoy the next nine years as much as you did the previous nine. Good luck in all of your endeavours.
Mike,
Thank you so very much for publishing your blog. I had always planned on going on the road in our RV like you and Donna. I retired 18 months ago after you but it didn’t work out for us but I got to experience the lifestyle by reading your blog.
All the best to you in your next adventure!
Craig
Hey Mike, I discovered you through Donna’s blog several years ago, and I’ve enjoyed reading about your life on the road ever since. Thanks for sharing your adventures and all the beautiful photographs, as well as your detailed explanations about all things technical. You are truly a man of many talents. As an aside, Donna and I share the birthday of May 27th, which I always found interesting. Also, I love Ozark!
Best of luck to both of you in your future endeavors.
As you can tell there are a lot of disappointed people hearing that the blog might end. Count me in that group. It has been enjoyable following you & Donna all these years. Hope you drop all of us a line now and then just so we know your doing well. Take care and safe travels how ever that might be. P.S. Have Donna write a cook book.
I’ve always enjoyed reading about your travels and life in a motor home. Good for you two!
Donna, hope to go for a bike ride with you, when it warms up!
Sorry to see you go, I always enjoyed reading your blog.
Thank you for all your posts! We’ve learned a lot about our own Alpine Coach from you and learned a lot about many other topics. Enjoy your next adventure!
I hope you change you mind and continue your blog, even when you weren’t traveling your posts have always been interesting. I have followed you for years, once I started I went back and caught up from the beginning of your posts. Either way, best wishes to you, Donna, and Ozark.
I wish you and Donna the very best. I’ve enjoyed your blogs for many years. They were interesting and well written. Enjoy and may God bless you and Donna.
For us, it was a hard decision to sell the motor home. We had it for 24 years and really
enjoyed our experiences on the road. Hope your plans for travel works as well as the
the good times you’ve had for the last 9 years
I will sure miss your blog. It was fun to see and hear about your travels (and pictures
of dinner) It’s been fun following you on your adventures, maybe you’ll share your road
trips? – oh and your dinners . . . it was always a treat to see your dinner plate.
God Bless you and Donna as you go on to new escapades.
Good luck to you. I have enjoyed your blog.