Finally I have some time to make a quick post-purchase report
Financing came through with Red River State Bank in Minnesota. Big shout out to Larry at that bank. He bent over backwards and worked really hard to make everything happen really fast. There was a snag before closing as there was an old lien on the airplane from the 90's. The seller ended up having to pay a title company to square it away, but it got sorted. The lien had been released, but the bank either never filed the paperwork with the FAA, or the FAA lost it.
My dad and I flew his Lake LA-4 from Ogden UT up to Moses Lake with a fuel stop at La Grande Oregon. After picking up the bird, I enjoyed one of the highlights of my flying career, flying in formation with my Dad back to McCall, over Hells Canyon. Other than pretty heavy smoke, it was a beautiful flight, and an amazing bonding experience. The next morning Dad and I did about 12 landings in the LA-4 on Payette Lake to seal the deal on a grand couple of days.
So here she sits, cozily hangared in McCall while I finish up fire season before flying her home to Ogden. My Dad and I are working on making a comprehensive spreadsheet to organize the history of the bird and make a maintenance plan and keep things in order.
There's not much I NEED to do to the airplane, but there are a few items that I'll be trying to tick off as money allows (the purchase and everything involved in getting it home have me pretty cash poor). First on the list is going to be a 4 cylinder engine monitoring system. I'd really like to go STC and replace all of the engine cluster, but may end up going non-STC'd to save $. The prop on the plane is old and undocumented, and is a cruise prop at 74/56. I'd love to find a decent used borer, but haven't seen much, so may have to go new. Other than those things and a few little things, I think I'll be set to fly her through the winter and into next fire season when the overtime hose will turn back on, and I'll be able to afford some more upgrades.
Thanks to everyone for all their help here getting me here. I'm looking forward to sharing the joy of this airplane with many! 8)