Days 4-8 – Spending time with friends

Everyone had a great time staying with the Harwoods. The kids got along very well, and it was just a lot of fun. Some pictures from our visit:

Lots of playing out in the yard. The weather was fantastic.

Harley the big fat cat:

Trip out to Minnesota’s largest candy store!

Buddy the “Fun Police”:

The Carver County Fair:

Hornets nest (hornet colony killed and burned by Scott and Ben after this photo was taken):

Spending the day at Lake Rebecca Park:

The girls had a great time just playing around the house.

Day 7: Scott and Ben’s side trip, fishing lake Superior from Deluth, MN

Ben and Scott flew to Duluth, MN on Wednesday night. We camped at the airport and woke up early on Thursday to take a charter out fishing. Fishing was slow, but we did catch 4 or 5 lake trout and a steelhead. We flew back to Glencoe the following afternoon.

Day 9 – Time to start heading home. Glencoe, MN to Bismarck, ND

Saying farewell to our friends.

The flight was mostly uneventful, planned to fuel in Aberdeen, SD again but it was socked in with fog so instead we pointed the nose north and did a quick stop near Fargo, ND. A short day, only 310 miles. Again, we had to fly on top of a solid cloud layer for a short time before landing at Bismarck. We didn’t really have a specific reason for stopping at Bismarck, other than there isn’t much else around. We wanted to go for a ride on the paddle boat up the Missouri River, but sadly it was not operating that day. While grabbing lunch, our waitress recommended the Dakota Zoo, which the kids really wanted to do. And it was a great zoo where you can really get pretty close to the animals.

Bald Eagle nest:

One exhausted porcupine:

And the other exhausted porcupine:

Day 10 – Bismarck, ND to Bozeman, MT

We left Bismarck around 9am with a forecast of isolated thunderstorms along out route. We decided to see how far we could get as the skies looked friendly enough at least for a while. While we saw no thunderstorms, a front was definitely coming though, which made this flight quite bumpy. You need a bumpy flight every now and then to appreaciate all the smooth ones. At least that’s what we told ourselves as we bounced around in the air. Luckily we could get internet via cell phone the whole way, so we actively watched live radar to stay well clear of storm cells.

Nearing our fuel stop, Miles City, MT, we dialed in the weather station frequency. I knew the landing would be no walk in the park from how we were getting tossed around, but didn’t think it would be this bad. Winds were blowing 50 degrees off the runway heading, at 18 knots gusting to 28!

NOT what you want the windsock to be doing…

Of course you are trained for this stuff but normally if I was planning on flying on a day like this, I’d probably just stay at home and fly another day. I concentrated on doing the best landing I could do and we made it down safely and refuelled.

About two more hours of getting jostled about, we finally had Bozeman in sight and called the tower to get clearance to land. The airspace was busy and the tower controller was hurried and impatient. We parked the plane with all the big planes and jets and got a car to use for the day.

And “smallest plane on the ramp” award goes to…… US!

Eating lunch at a pub in downtown Bozeman:

After lunch we checked in to the hotel, rested for a bit, then went to the Museum of the Rockies.

Ava and Lisey on the moon:

Not sure where Ava went. She is in there somewhere.

Day 11 – Home Stretch. Bozeman, MT to Nampa, ID

This morning we were firing on all cylinders. On the ramp before sunrise, and in the plane ready to go by 7am.

Tri-Pacer in Bozeman:

I like to start as early as possible when flying though mountains. The weather forecast looked typical for our area, sunny and clear skies. Only challenge today would be limited visibility from smoke. Lots of fires burning in western Montana and Idaho.

Yuck.

Flying in smoke isn’t my favorite thing to do, but it’s the only way to get home.

A quick fuel stop in Blackfoot, and we are on the home strech. After passing the fire near Hailey, visibility gradually improved.

And finally, we made it home with hungry stomachs and a dirty little airplane. What a memorable trip!