Dick was up first, and had long since checked the weather and filed his final flight plan by the time Judy saw him at breakfast. The mood was low-key and intently focused. The weather was no problem. The briefers asked us whether we were familiar with the special procedures for flying in the Washington DC area. "Affirmative," we each replied. "We're based there." We were ready to be home, and called our friends and loved ones to let them know it wouldn't be long now. Bob called up the Airport Cafe and told 'em to be ready for us. It took [View Full Entry]

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Editorial Note As we begin this day, we'd like to thank you, our readers, friends, and family for your good thoughts and wishes during our voyage. Your messages -- whether sent through the blog comments, or phoned or emailed to us individually -- have given us cheer and encouragement and helped us a lot. As primary writer, I apologize for the entries that had too much unexplained airplane jargon. I only realized rather late in the trip that our readers include many more non-pilots than pilots, and I probably should have left out some of that stuff or taken more time [View Full Entry]

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For those who can't wait.... Box Scores Three more states (Iowa to Illinois to Ohio), two flight legs, one lost hour as we are finally back in Eastern Time 266 + 241 miles -- a total of 507 miles was our achievement today. 287 miles to go. Our sights will be fixed on home tomorrow. Fort Dodge IA - Morris IL - Marysville OH The storms we had been trailing for the last few days moved through the Fort Dodge area on Friday night, and left an open path for home, with more clear flying weather than we had seen for [View Full Entry]

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Fri 30 May: Spearfish SD - Luverne MN - Fort Dodge IA We awoke to the fresh rain-washed smell of a South Dakota spring morning under nearly clear skies, with the last of the mountains we'd need to cross in stark relief on the horizon. Judy made an early morning run back to the Wal-Mart to replace her camera, which had gotten dropped in Walla Walla and had finally given up the ghost Thursday night (mercifully lasting just long enough to let her capture the Devil's Tower images!). The guys wolfed down a pretty good Holiday Inn breakfast while Judy scrawled [View Full Entry]

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Strange Vignettes... As a group, we do tend to confuse people. In response to a query about Ruth by the FBO counter staffer in Sheridan, Dick declared, "My wife? No, that's not my wife. Her husband left her in Portland..." Thursday 29 May: Sheridan WY to Black Hills / Spearfish SD Bob Hawkins awoke badly in need of chiropractic help. His back had been putting him in a lot of pain, and how do you find a good nearby chiropractor on no notice in a strange town? Judy mulled this matter while she headed out on an early run to [View Full Entry]

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Wednesday was a terrific day of excellent flying -- logging a total of about 350 miles, maybe three hours or so, the entire day made especially more pleasant by a lot more unanimity of decision-making about weather...and whether or not to fly and where. Even though we'd agreed to meet at 7 am, most of us were up much more than an hour before that, looking closely at the weather and how far we could get. We had considered Billings and Helena Montana, but Sheridan Wyoming looked like it would offer more promising weather, so we filed flight plans for there. [View Full Entry]

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Editor Note For those of you who can't wait: as you probably know thanks to relay from Anne, we landed safely in mid-afternoon at Black Hills airport in South Dakota. Account of today -- which has three minutes left in it in our time zone -- and yesterday are pending as soon as we can get to them. I had this text finished last night, but it takes another half hour to upload and annotate pictures, and it was after midnight when I got that much done. In case you're wondering what's so hard about writing a blog entry when we [View Full Entry]

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We all got out of Walla Walla and have landed safely in Missoula. We've now passed over the highest of the mountains we will cover on this trip, though we have some more to go. We decided to launch based on best available information, and to continue based on en route Flight Service weather and some local views. We had filed for S95 - Lewiston - Missoula -- Helena, with the general intention of stopping at Missoula at least to consider whether or not to go further. Just after departure We did indeed thread through scattered clouds around 5500 that cleared [View Full Entry]

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Mountain obscuration -- see photo -- keeps us grounded today. It is exotic to be in a part of the country where we can read "W CNTLDVD" in the weather forecast and actually CARE about anything happening west of the continental divide....though the thrill is officially wearing thin at this point. Around noon, Bill, Dick and Bob wandered over to the field near the Veterans Park close to the Fort Walla Walla Museum to watch the radio controlled aircraft club in full swing. The overcast skies created a real challenge to keep the aircraft in sight as they ascended. They seemed [View Full Entry]

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The first thing the weather briefers said this morning was "AIRMET for mountain obscuration: VFR flight not recommended along your route of flight." Attached picture is what that looks like. To fly, we need to get over the mountains. To get over the mountains, we need to SEE the mountains. And right now we can't see the mountains. The weather overhead is exasperatingly lovely. The other issue, after discussion with the pilot who has the most experience by a factor of at least six, remains icing. If the air is saturated, or close to it, then ice can form very easily [View Full Entry]

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