Mountain Flying

This past weekend, I attended the Official Visit in Susanville.  For those of you who do not know where that is, from the San Francisco Bay Area, you drive four hours to Reno and then you turn north on 395 and drive back into California and an hour and a half later or so, you get to Susanville.  It is in a lovely vally with very friendly people, but I can understand why they feel just a little isolated.  Basically, from there, you have to drive at least an hour or two to get to somewhere from which you can go to somewhere else.  There is no easy way.

Of course, I did cheat a little because I just can't sit in a car for five hours any more without serious pain.  My hips are uneven, so sitting straight with my feet on the floor without crossing my ankles or my legs is tough for me for more than a couple of hours and sitting in a car for five, even with a meal break or something, is just torture.  At work, I have an ergonomic chair, but even then I try to get up and walk around every hour or so, which you just can't do on long drives if you actually want to get where you are going.

So I flew myself from San Jose to Susanville, a total flight time of about two hours because the roads in the air are very straight.  The only annoying part about doing that is that you have to fly over mountains and there are very few radio navigation aids in that part of California.  But if you can look out the window, you can use pilotage, which means watching the ground and steering based on what you see.  I chose to fly from San Jose to Oroville and when over Oroville, turn up the river valley and fly from there to Lake Almanor and then turn right and fly into Susanville.  It is always harder to go than to come back because the first time into a strange airport, you have to find the airport, but coming back, you've already seen the terrain and you are flying to somewhere familiar, so that is better.

When I got there, a very nice young lady gave me a lift into town and dropped me off at the Masonic Center and her dad fueled my plane while I was gone, and afterwards, one of the brothers kindly volunteered to give me a lift back, so that was all very easy.  That part of flying is really cool!  But no one wanted to go up or come back with me.  I guess with little planes, you either love them or hate them.

All of the members at the Official Visit were very welcoming and they were very touched and pleased that I had made it.  I was very glad I had made it also.  The members there really appreciate how long and hard a drive it is for anyone to get up to visit them and I appreciate that it is a long and hard drive for them to get to visit anywhere else.

There is also a perception, which I hope to help dispel, that lady Grand Line Officers never visit the far away places until they are Worthy Grand Matron.  I don't think that this is true, but it is a persistent myth.  I do appreciate how isolated and alone some of our areas must feel when most of the state seems to give the impression that California only goes from Sacramento to San Diego and east only as far as Fresno, Bakersfield and Riverside.  So if my visiting can help our members in the North and East feel welcome and appreciated, I am happy to do it.

The only other puzzlement for me on these far away Official Visits is whether it is better to put only one or two in a group, or put them in a week long trip where you go from one to the other each day, whether the Official Visits are better during the day or at night and what we can do to get the most members to attend.  This Official Visit was on a Sunday afternoon and it looked to me like there were about sixty local members there.  I don't know if that is the total, active membership in the District, or if there are more members who would come in the evening or on a weekday or on a Saturday.  I wish my Lucky 8 ball had those sorts of answers on its little float. :-)

Next weekend, I will be in Los Molinos and Yreka.  I  will not be going to Oregon.