Kevin K asks
> Some <good> questions:
>
> 1. What was the Prop set-up.  wind milling?

Yes, windmilling. I have not stopped the prop to determine
the change in glide angle. Will do that someday when I'm
over Castle air force base (MER) and its' 11,800 foot runway.

> 2. What was your decent rate in FPM?
About 500 fpm wings level, and 700-1000 fpm in the turn.

> 3. Fuel situation?

Low fuel, about 8 gal in the header and wings about 3 gal.

> 4. One or two passengers?

Pilot only, no passenger.

So gross weight was about...

1030 empty
  66 fuel
  10 oil
  25 airplane's junk
 130 pilot
  10 pilot's junk
=====
1271 lbs, well below the max gross of 1700 lbs.

At 1700 lbs, expect to be 15% faster and to have a flatter climb
angle. The flatter climb angle will actually improve the situtation
by reducing the need to fly away from the field before turning back.
But it will also degrade the handling and the landing speed considerably.
Until I check the actual turnaround with a heavy load, I will round
the altitudes up a bit.

Again, at my home field, the straight-ahead options are not very
attractive. A partial return is no worse than crashing straight
ahead as long as the descent is arrested and the speed minimized
at impact.