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Maine to Seattle - ? possible to do it all on grass strips ?

Tim, do you live in the Maine fun zone? we are always looking for new playmates, or just heading back to the West with your new toy?

Glenn
 
I feel sorry for you guys who need all this info before heading out on a trip. Half the fun is getting a little lost and making new friends along the way

Glenn

Just carry a gas can so you can pack a few gal to the plane if need be.
 
Nearly a year later, it looks like the trip will happen!!

Hi all,

Thank you again for all the good information that you sent my way. I have a one way ticket to the East coast on Sept 14th and I have to get myself back to work about 10 days later in Seattle. I put together a rough route from the grass field data bases that were shared with me. A couple of the legs are a little long and weather will of course play a major factor. The rough route is the following: 3B5 K23 38D 3KK KEGQ KSBU KSYN 1D8 KMBG KHEI KSPF 6S8 KBZN KMSO KMSO does not have grass and the next one I could find is Harvey Field in Monroe, WA.

I would love to hear about additional grass fields with fuel along this route that would be particularly interesting to visit, that have particularly good food, or have easy access to a good night's sleep. I hope to do a lot of camping with the plane once it is out on the West coast, but do not plan to camp on this trip. Also happy to hear about any spots that I may prefer to skip over.

Thanks again for any knowledge of your local areas.

Tim
 
Instead of KMSO, go to 4U7 West Fork Lodge in Montana. Grass, gas, food, and lodging. Great stop.
 
I was just looking over your route on Foreflight and also realized Kamiah Idaho S73 has fuel and is grass.
 
Hi all,

Thank you again for all the good information that you sent my way. I have a one way ticket to the East coast on Sept 14th and I have to get myself back to work about 10 days later in Seattle. I put together a rough route from the grass field data bases that were shared with me. A couple of the legs are a little long and weather will of course play a major factor. The rough route is the following: 3B5 K23 38D 3KK KEGQ KSBU KSYN 1D8 KMBG KHEI KSPF 6S8 KBZN KMSO KMSO does not have grass and the next one I could find is Harvey Field in Monroe, WA.

I would love to hear about additional grass fields with fuel along this route that would be particularly interesting to visit, that have particularly good food, or have easy access to a good night's sleep. I hope to do a lot of camping with the plane once it is out on the West coast, but do not plan to camp on this trip. Also happy to hear about any spots that I may prefer to skip over.

Thanks again for any knowledge of your local areas.

Tim

I see your planned route takes you through Montana. There are a lot of very active fires in Montana right now. That means a lot of smoke and a maze of fire TFRs. You need something to show you where the TFRs are. My Radar is a free app that will display them. Something like 50 new starts this week in Montana. One is very close to me that started Tuesday night. Lightning strikes.
 
At Dekalb Illinois we have a grass runway south of 9 to 27 2500' x 100 the reason it's not listed as I believe the Fbo can't list parallel runways along side of the ils
 
Tim I see your first stop is Cooperstown. If you need any help I'm only a couple miles over the hill. Text me and I'll meet you over there. Three 15 Two 19 Three 944

Glenn
 
Bozeman's grass strip has been on again off again as they build a parallel runway. Livingston moves a bunch of infield due to the wind and they have gas. Three Forks, 9S5 has grass landing between the runway and taxiway, and fuel, Townsend 8U8 has a parallel gravel strip and cheap fuel and a great shagging wagon airport limo/van, Helena HLN has a numbered grass runway, friendliest tower in the west, a bunk house under the town with the self serve fuel, and my hangar if you need a wrench, or gas cans to go get autogas. So far you can follow I-90 west of Helena and avoid the TFR's, but not the smoke, cough cough.
 
Urbana-Grimes, OH (I74) has a nice grass runway, fuel, a decent diner, and two good museums.
 
You need to turn north a bit earlier after you pass Chicago. Lots of great grass strips in Wisconsin to explore. And don't forget to do some low and slow between the airports. Following the Wisconsin river west from Madison is a very scenic flight. Here is a map of almost 50 grass strips in the Madison area. Swing through Wisconsin and you won't be dissappointed.

Jeff

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Don't ignore the northern route through Canada.
So long as you have a passport and not on a pink, temporary registration going through Canada is a bit of a PIA but worth it.
The scenery when flying low and slow on the shores of the Great Lakes is spectacular.
Flying over the White and Green Mountains on the way to the St Lawrance Seaway is not bad either.
 
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This past week I flew part of that route as I brought my plane from Alaska back to Tennessee. I encountered 5 to 10 miles visibility in smoke just south of Grande Prairie, Alberta and didn't get out of it until about 200 miles east of Rapid City, SD. That was about 1000 miles of marginal VFR in smoke. I spent a day on the ground in Great Falls as the visibility varied from 6 to 2. It was so bad even some of the firefighting planes weren't flying. A lot of the great plains are relatively featureless and without a distinct horizon it turned into work instead of pleasure flying. A more northern route through Canada might be a good idea.
 
I see you're flying in on the 14th what day and time are you departing Twitchell's? Is this 18 a new purchase? I'm about 35 minutes north and could meet up with you also give Jim C another reason to check on the spuds. Douten
 
Let us know your plans when you get to Maine. I suspect we could get a group together and cook some lobster drink a beer. My strip would be 1/2 hr northeast of twitchells. Douten strip is the prettiest in Maine and even closer
jim
 
Thanks for all the great information. I can see that once I get retired this bi-coastal thing just might require two airplanes!. I grew up in Presque Isle so I know how wonderful Maine is for flying, especially on floats. I am currently living in Seattle with family in Camden so I know I will be spending time on both sides of the country. Commuting with the Super Cub will be quite an adventure!

I will certainly check into the fire situation. I previously spend a long day flying in smoke in the Northwest Territories returning to Maine from Alaska. It certainly takes the fun out of flying low and slow.

Thanks,

T
 
If you land at Paullina IA (1Y9) you can land on the grass either side of the 30 wide asphalt runway and if you land on the east side, you can avoid taxiing across any hard surface getting to the gas pump. State park with cabins right next also.
 
Maine to Seattle - Completed

Thanks to all who contributed to this thread. 5 Days and close to 40 hours in the SuperCub completed a successful coast to coast. I can not thank CubCruiser enough for helping make this such a fantastic trip. Starting with the encouragement to land on the farm field road where my Dad and Uncle grew up for a final visit with my Uncle (I have a memory of being about 3 years old landing on the same spot back in the late 1950's in a 170) to staying low enough for accurate navigation by reading the town names on the water towers. While we did not stay on grass for the whole trip - I realized that with only a week to complete the trip and a bit of weather to work around that was a little ambitious planning - we did, however, find a number of charted and uncharted lovely grass strips along the way. Lucky a little snow fell in the mountains that helped with the possible smoke.

I hope to do the trip again at a more leisurely pace with shorter flying days and much more visiting.

A couple photos to share. Thanks again

At the farm
View to the East for takeoff
Proposed rough route
Actual route
Tucked in in Washington

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Very cool, thanks for sharing!! Where is the end of the trip-track? Ellensburg or close? No wait, somewhere north of Seattle? Paine??
 
Harvey Field S43 with a lovely grass strip for most of the year. I am told it it closes during the wettest part of the year.
 
Glenn,
I didn’t know you were based there. Just visited Cooperstown last week with my wife. We thought it was a great field, and Rick seems to be a very involved owner. Met Dave/TwitchellCub and checked out his Cub plus new Ford Galaxy - quite the beast!
Johnny
Tim I see your first stop is Cooperstown. If you need any help I'm only a couple miles over the hill. Text me and I'll meet you over there. Three 15 Two 19 Three 944

Glenn
 
don't know if you are still going, but 1S3 has three grass strips and gas, just aren't on the chart. SE Montana.
 
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