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2010 Johnson Creek Fly-In

idaho taildragger

Registered User
Its been a couple of years ago,but my wife and I flew to the fly-in in our 1953 Tri-Pacer, I was so excited because this was my first airplane, which I thought I would never have anyway, it took me several years to get my private lic., what with a big family (4 girls 2 boys) and fairly low income, extra money is always hard to come by....let me go back in time.
I always had a love of planes and flying but, it always seemed to be out of my reach...in the 70's I took up hang gliding, then in the 80's and 90's I found Ultra-lights very cool but so limited....So a couple of hours at a time, and hey 15 years later I got my ticket....now the plane...well i have always loved many things one of which was sailing....I got hurt at work once and got a small settlement, could'nt buy a plane, not enough money so, i found a sailboat, used it for a couple of years and put it for sale or trade on Craigs list, I traded my sailboat for a 1956 Buick convertible (in pieces)was putting it together and a guy traded me for a 1994 Harley, then a few months later I saw the old Tri-Pacer at the airport with a for sale sign....we traded...my first plane !!
I have always loved taildraggers, Super Cubs my favorite, old school i guess, so my first thought was to turn the Tri-Pacer into a Pacer...found out the price...NO WAY..
Now back to the fly-in, I was on the Super Cub web site and was reading about the fly-in and decided to go, what a great time and cool bunch of people, got there on friday left on Sunday.
We got there set up our tent then checked the gas situation out, I was concerned I wouldn't have enough gas to get back to Idaho Falls, so we counted our money and decided to fly to McCall and get fuel...that was an adventure all by itself,( a person flying a low horse power plane has to be on his toes) good thing I had a decent climb rate of 150 feet per min.
To make a long story short, we got back and I found out Sue was selling Raffle tickets...problem was we were about out of money....but my beautiful wife of 21 years said go ahead buy a ticket...I did...so i was sitting there watching all the prizes given away and the grand prize came up......i could not believe it !!!!! I WON.....more to this story coming.
 
Cool. Off to a good start, I am looking forward to ....."The Rest of the Story"
​Bill
 
What a great story... we've told lots of people since, but it is great to hear it in your words.
 
Makes me appreciate the opportunity I have to fly!

Man, a Tri-pacer, Johnson Creek fly-in and wife that wants to go with you... You had it made!

Will be waiting to hear the rest.

Oh, and never underestimate the greatness of flying your shortwing...
 
Now for the rest of the story, in order to finish this story, again I must go back a few years, my mother raised my sister and myself after my father left when I was in Fourth grade, shortly before he left my mother she was diagnosed with M.S. so we scraped by, fast forward to 2010 and my dear mom passed away, and as far as my sister and I knew penny less, that dear woman scraped and saved for many years not for herself but for us, she was always like that, thinking of others before herself.......well we both inherited some money, my wife thought I needed a better plane, so I started looking, again not enough for a Super Cub, well i looked for months before deciding on a 182, now it wasn't a tail dragger but, living at 4800 feet I needed something with power, again I couldn't believe how fortunate I was, Wow a dream come true, and i had planed on flying that plane to Johnson Creek in 2011, the problem was I lost my job and had to work in Wyoming and Montana, now after thinking about having a Super Cub for so many years I just couldn't seem to get them off my mind, I have worn a Super Cub Brass belt buckle for 15 years, I went to Johnson Creek the first time to see if I could get a ride in one, unfortunately I didn't get one, but it really didn't matter, I have been reading about them since I was a kid and know what they can do. Actually I got my tail dragger sign off a couple of years ago. Now I was thinking if somebody had a S.C. that had some damage maybe I could trade the 182......low and behold months later I got a call from a guy in Montana that told me about a guy in Oklahoma, well we talked and negotiated for a couple of months, and My Wife and I flew to Oklahoma to trade our 182 for a project Super Cub, it was a beautiful trip, nine hours of flying, got there rented a U-Haul and stuffed all the parts and pieces in and headed home the next day with my Cub !!!!!!
at this point the wings are done and ready to bolt on, all the tail feathers are done, I have a 0-time 150 hp. narrow deck ready to bolt on, I just got thru covering the fuselage and have 2 coats of primer on and hopefully paint this week......
 
oh I have to apologise, it was Wendy that sold me the winning ticket in 2010....well I never was good with names.
and hopefully I will get to see everybody in 2013 photo (2).JPG
 

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My middle name is Sue, so you got it right. That was the best raffle ticket I ever sold. I hope to see you and your supercub at the 2013 Johnson Creek fly-in. You probably need some bushwheels for your Cub!

Windy
 
YES I do need tires, I would love the Bushwheels but, I cannot afford them at this time.I'm not exactly sure what I am going to do about tires, And yes that was me on the 2010 video at 6:20
 
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