HOME!

We are home as of 9pm last night.

We started at Moses Lake early and had hoped to be in Claremore by 6 or 7, but we got off to a slow start. I was programming the GPS while the plane was running and dad pulled the mixture. Apparently Joe's plane wouldn't start. Joe took over the controls from Randy and tried again. He tried long enough the battery was getting weak, after waiting for a corporate jet to leave, we got some help and a power cart. With the power cart it still would not start, we took the P leads off the mags and could not get it to start, we took spark plugs out and looked for spark (saw very little), we put our only spare spark plug in and it started. We all thought it was flooded, but the plugs were dry. We never did figure out what was wrong, but it cost us 2 hours. We left there for Gillette, Wyoming.

Gillette was a great big hot box, temp 100 and density altitude of 7600' (the airport is only about 4300'). We fueled up for a direct flight home and Joes plane almost didn't start again. He got it started, while we watched from the ground, then stole my clearance and left us on the ground for 15 minutes. We departed Gillette with a 300fpm climb which only improved slightly until 10,000'. As our flight progressed I realized that my concern of being over gross at a high density altitude and long climb that I didn't have enough fuel to get home (15 gallons reserve is to close for me) and we had to nearly dive on North Platte, NE to land for fuel. After refueling and departure we navigated a few storms and just missed (because our fligh path was just north) of a massive cell over Tulsa. The lightening from this storm made us glad we were almost home. We did not want to come home in the dark but had run out of daylight, as we were about to touch down in Claremore a deer ran in front of us, I had enough altitude that I pulled back anticipating more and floated over two more for a smooth touchdown.

We are happy to be home, we enjoyed our new friends and our adventure to Alaska. THE END!

Ketchikan to Moses Lake, WA

We started the day with visibility that was nil across the bay and doubts in our minds that we could leave Ketchikan. A call to FSS at 7am proved our theory that the weather was a "no go", the issue icing from 9k and up. The route of flight required a 9k MEA.

More daring souls left in the morning and picked up a little ice along the route. We called those and hoped for a pilot report, but by noon we had not heard from anyone. We finally decided to go, got to the curb in front of the cab and then changed our minds. We waited another hour and finally we got a call from one of the "pioneers". The report was realistic, the temperatures had increased so we called "green light".

We departed Ketchikan with a clearance for 9,00, which was right at the freezing level. we were lucky because we were at the end of the line and benefited from everyones report. We spent the next 3.5 hours in and out of the clouds and never got any ice even though the conditions were right. We think the rain was heavy enough to help prevent ice. I thank Herschel for his experience and reports, Joe for telling me that I should make decisions that keep me flying for years and Dad for believing I was capable.

We landed at Moses Lake at about 8:40, the tower asked how many air miles it was from Ketchikan and I replied it was further than I wanted to know but it was 4 hours 34 minutes 55 seconds. FYI it was about 722nm or 830 miles for you groundlings. After we taxied we found the FBO manager had come back to meet us, give us 2 free cars and have made us hotel reservations. Herschel was ahead of us and arranged the hotel to keep the "Prime Rib Buffet" open for us. After a great meal and 2 double crown 'n sevens it is time for bed.

Tomorrow, towards home...

Ketchikan II

Today we awoke to poor weather and cold temps, we did wonder around the tourist trap (town) until we froze out. After a little lunch and a nap we did some flight planning. We left for our wildlife cruise, which we found out was just a crab show, at 4:30pm from the hotel and arrived at the George's Point Lodge at 40 minutes later. We were delayed because of road construction which we learned was normal as Ketchikan only has 38 miles of road to work on, so they are always tearing something up for job security.

Our guides took us to an estuary, there we found brackish water and crab pots. You can see me in the above picture pulling up a crab pot. The pot that Ray pulled up had a fresh soft shell crab and its former shell. The soft shell crab was very soft and it is simply amazing how much of the crabs shell is lost. We did not eat any of these crabs, the lodge only catches them for research and releases them immediately.

After returning to the lodge we had an "all you can eat" crab feast. I ate 1.5 crabs and was quite pleased with my dinner. (these are dungeness crabs btw) We did have a crab shell stacking competition that got quite out of hand when we started using other items to enhance our crab stack. We thought we had it "in the bag" when we used a chair on top of our table, but another person stood on the table and won. We also reminded Dad of his birthday one last time.

Tomorrow we all start the trip home. Don't expect your fellow pilots until Saturday or Sunday, we still have a long, long way to go. (I was forced to buy internet to get weather, so you get pictures)

Ketchikan!

We finally made it to Ketchikan after 6 hours of flying. It is now 20 after 7 in the evening, we are headed to bar and to dinner at 8 (and to celebrate dads b-day).

The weather was perfect coming into Ketchikan, it is a shame it couldn't have been like that the whole way.

Tomorrow a wildlife cruise and all you can eat dungeness crab dinner. Sorry no pics from Ketchikan, I refuse to pay the hotel $16 per day for internet. I paid in Anchorage, they cut me off and everyone received multiple emails.

Cordova???

Cordova is not one of our stops, but we are here. Awful weather finally made us land 1.5 hours into our flight. We tried to stay under th clouds, but after getting down to as low as 200' above the water. We all landed at Cordova and then made a plan to get on to Ketchikan. Most aircraft decided to file IFR and those without tip tanks followed Dale along the original route.

Those that went with Dale made it to Yakatat for a burger, fries and a drink, the rest of us were stuck waiting for clearance from ATC. After a 560nm flight we landed with Dale and his group just behind us. We did get to see gorgeous scenerey at altitude and as the clouds broke we had wonderful view of the coast.

Next report...Ketchikan!

Seward II (Glacier tour)

Today we took a tour of the glaciers in the Kenai National Park via tour boat. It was a long tour of about 9 hours, but enjoyable and comfortable. We saw many different types of Puffins which can dive several hundred feet underwater to catch fish, otters, seal lions, whales and a lone black bear.

I ate some glacier ice. If you think that statement was random, so was eating glacier ice. It didn't taste like anything abnormal.

The glacier pictured is about 700' high and we drove within 1/2 mile to watch is "calve" into the water. When pieces would fall it sounded like thunder and huge pieces the size of cars would fall into the water. It was gorgeous, very cold and simply amazing to see nature at work. The dark line you will see in the picture is the last volcanic eruption from who knows when.

One item I have failed to mention is that we are still celebrating Dad's birthday. Most restuarants have given him free cake and today the ships crew sang "Happy Birthday"

Enjoy the pictures, tomorrow Ketchikan!

Seward!

We had a gorgeous flight down today from Anchorage. Clear skies and a smooth ride made for great glacier viewing. We started out of Anchorage and returned the way we came slowly climbing up this valley, then a right turn and a slow climb to 7,000' AGL and come up on the top the glacier, the next few moments are amazing as you fly down (down as in to the end and down in altitude) the glacier that spills out into a river of glacier water flowing into the ocean. Flying with this scenery is amazing, you transition from ragged peaks and glaciers to lush pine forest on extremely steep slopes that go right into blue ocean water. The colors and shapes of the mountains would remind you of the South Pacific.

We are now in Seward where the airport elevation is about 22' MSL. Our hotel is on the ocean, but none of us have water views. Tonight we have a group dinner at 7:30 at a resturant that is an art gallery and Thai food that serves American also...I thought it was a little funny sounding myself. Tomorrow Glacier Tour!

Anchorage II

Todays bear watching turned into a $600 nap for me, as we didn't see one bear over a 5 hour period. Some in our group, on another boat, saw quite a few bears. We did have a great flight, lunch and excellent weather. On our return flight we saw 4 moose and several seals. The best thing we saw were whales surfacing while feeding.

I added this picture, that I of course did not take...

Next stop...Seward!

Anchorage!

Leaving Fairbanks was quite a challange, as you can see the ceiling and visibility was very bad. We waited several hours for it to lift, then the weather improved, as we left the field went IFR. We flew about 400' off the ground for about 20 miles before the ceiling lifted. Along our route it was pretty good, but (as you can see in the next picture the mountains were obscured. All those on our trip didn't get to see Denali. What everyone saw was this (see first picture), but they should have seen this (second picture).

After our arrival in Anchorage we parked in the "aircraft campground", the route to the campground required us to cross a road that had a gate. There was a huge gate, like a toolbooth, that opened automatically and each plane taxied across individually. The drivers of the rental cars left to retrieve the cars and those of us who remained got a much needed nap.

Our lodging is at the swanky Millennium Hotel which sits on the shore of Lake Hood. Lake Hood is the largest seaplane base in the world and is also next to Anchorage International, it is not uncommon to sea a floatplane taking off at the same time as a 747. The hotel is a "pilots paradise" because the outdoor deck allows one to watch the seaplanes take off and land while enjoying a nice cold "Alaskan Amber".


For dinner we went to Phylllis's Cafe for crab legs. Phyllis's serves up huge portions of crab and only those who refuse to eat go hungry. I ordered 1lb that came in two crab legs. Joe Edmonson joined us for dinner, he and his wife have travelled from Alabama in their RV and have been gone since May 15th. We met Joe on our first trip to Alaska. At the time Joe walked up Frank Lewis was trying to make a picture of the group, Joe offered to make the picture (remember very few people in this group know Joe), Frank handed him the camera and I yelled "He'll steal your camera!" at that very moment Joe took off running with Franks camera. The look on Franks face was classic, he didn't even know what to do, he tried to chase him but didn't know where he went. We all got a big laugh out of this and of course Joe was an instant hit with the new group.


Sunday we go bear watching with Rust's Flying Service...

Fairbanks II

After some much needed rest (most of us slept 8 hours), breakfast and laundry we decided to tour. Our first stop was the Akyeska pipeline, more than half of the 800 miles of the pipeline are above ground. It was started in 1975 and completed in 1977, was privately funded at a cost of 8 billion dollars, it carries 1 millions barrels of oil per day which is about 5.2% of the US daily consumption. The above ground portion of the pipeline runs in a zig zag fashion, this allows for the pipeline to move on its supports and to help protect it from earthquakes.

Our next trip was to the Chena River Hot Springs. On our drive we saw 4 moose and some beautiful views of the Chena River. We arrived after a 50 mile drive at the hot springs and were rewarded with the smell of sulfur and a man made pool of hot water. We all expected hot water bubling naturally from rocks, we had lunch and went back to Fairbanks.

Tonight we celebrated Dads (now belated) 60th B-Day at Pikes Landing. This restuarant has a huge deck overlooking the Chena river, while were there a paddle wheel went by, several boats docked and a float plane landed. We had a great time teasing Dad with a very special birthday cake. Afterwards I stopped in the parking lot of our hotel and took a picture of this 1946 Aeronca, the plane isn't notable the time is. I took this picture after 11pm and not flash.

Fairbanks!

Departure from Whitehorse, YT was not what most of the pilots envisioned. Dad and I had seen this before, but not quite this low. We delayed our departure by about an hour after receiving a PIREP (pilots report) of 300' ceilings. On departure we took off in the opposite direction of this picture and then turned left, went around a hill to the right of this picture and then around to to what would be the front of this picture and the ceiling began to lift. I would suspect we were 500' off the ground. This is the way people fly up here, we even had to watch for traffic. As the ceilings lifted we had more room to enjoy the views as shown in the second photo. Dad and I dropped down by the Alaskan Highway to look for moose, but the only thing we got was comments from the rest of the group to not get mud on our prop.

We cleared customs in Northway where they serve a cheeseburger that is probably one of the best ones around. The price is a little high, but there is nothing around for miles and miles. This airport gets 6 to 8 planes a day for customs, so they got a real treat having 12 at once. We spent 4 hours longer in Northway than expected due to an airplane issue, but left after it was resolved. Ironically, as it got later, some in our group began to get concerned about daylight and become much more calm after I informed then it was light until about midnight and then only dusk until about 4 am.

We made the final leg into Fairbanks, loaded up our rental cars and went to the hotel. Everyone was so tired that we ate bar food, had some drinks and went to bed. We did not have a big birthday dinner for Dad, but maybe we can have one tonight. Today we will sightsee and relax.

Whitehorse (and lemons)

The flight to Whitehorse was work, we had rain and quite a bit of turbulence. Dale (our leader) decided to take a shortcut to save bumps and it worked pretty good. On landing the tower informed us that two RV's (kit built planes) were ahead of us and to watch for the last one that was yellow. Dale called "I have the banana in sight", apparently the RV driver was offended and responded somewhat tersely. Dale then asked that our flight be cleared for the "long" runway, which moved the RV's the small runway. Those who were ahead of us, were now waiting on the ground for us to clear the big runway...

The above picture is the "windsock" at Whitehorse, this old DC-3 will point into any wind over 3kts. After waiting for the second van (I might add Dad and I had our baggage on the first van, but got booted off) which was to be back in "5" and actually came back in "20", the remaining 17 of us piled into a 10 passenger van.

Whitehorse is a small town of 23,000 and is the largest nothern town in Yukon territory. Apparently it was founded in the gold rush days as a supply town, Jack London wrote about it referring to the Klondike. Today it survives on tourism and must be popular with Germans as the city tour guide is in English and German.

We arrived at our hotel to discover that our two reserved rooms was now one and that no other rooms were available. They were kind and comped our room, but the room is so small that we have to take turns passing between the beds. The hotel also comped our dinner, but Dad didn't receive his and had to eat after everyone else. Remember those lemons? I guess they caught up to us.

For now the wind is howling, there is light rain and 55 degrees. Tomorrow we head to Fairbanks and celebrate Dad's 60th B-Day (those of you who have his cell phone, give him a call about 5pm CST).

Watson Lake

Watson Lake is our first stop on a 693nm trip and will be our longest day. We are flying along enjoying 20 degree C temps compared to yesterdays 36 degrees C, the lower temps are helping keep bumps to a minimum, engines and tempers cooler The scenery is gorgeous as we are flying along a 75nm long lake with mountains on either side.

We are now at Watson Lake, it is partly cloudy and cool. It is such a relief to be in the cool and have our longest leg behind us (485nm).

Our hotel last night packed a lunch for each person, they gave us a choice of sandwich and drink, then included a piece of fruit. Dad and I opened our lunch bags to find two lemons...strange, maybe they thought we had scurvy (spl)

After fuel and food, onward to Whitehorse!

Quesnel!

Today we made the hottest flight that either us can remember. It was close to 100, bumpy and we couldn't use the A/C due to flying in the group. Everyone did well, but we are tired.

When we landed it took nearly 2 hours to fuel all 12 planes, including moving then to parking by hand. We now are riding in the taxi to town (there are 2 cabs for 27 people and bags).

It's time for a cold drink, dinner and some rest at thr Billy Barker Hotel and Casino (it looks like a riverboat).

Tomorrow off to Whitehorse!

Abbotsford (is hot!)

Almost 100 when we landed, we are burning up and the air is very bumpy.

Everyone did pretty well flying up, but it is hard to keep the group tight on the first flight. We were stuck in our planes for a few minutes waiting on customs, just long enough for it to get really hot inside.

After a brief rest we will be on our way...

Canada Here We Come!

We are prepared for a twelve plane border crossing, the flight service station (where we file flight plans) was a little overwhelmed from all the calls. Hopefully all goes well and we cross without incident.

Our flight today will leave 11am PST, travel 125nm to Abbotsford, BC where we will clear customs and have lunch. Our next leg is 275nm which will take us up to Quesnel.

Cell phone and internet coverage is said to be sketchy to nil, so don't expect to hear from us.

Weather is great, we are briefed and waiting departure. The adventure begins!

Olympia II

We took a little drive today, well actually we drove 2.5 hours to get 45 minutes from our hotel. We ended up in Hoodsport on Hoods canel, there we stopped for lunch on a small pier. We enjoyed beautiful weather, the ocean, Joe talking on the phone and a pesky seagul trying to steal our food. For now, some pictures for everyone...

Olympia!

We are now at our starting point for our trip to Alaska!

We have found a few things here; cool weather (65) and gorgeous scenery. Our flight was uneventful after a little of corrective action last night. We went to airport in hopes of picking up Ray, as you know he didn't make it, and found that "fill the mains" meant we filled the plane with all the gas we could stuff in it. After much debate we asked the manager to drain 40 gallons from the main tanks via the sump drain. For you non-pilots, the fuel was a problem because of weight. It put us overweight at a high altitude airport, which is a bad recipe.

Todays flight was a little long due to wind and weather concerns, but as we got closer the clouds lifted. The decent through the clouds was easy and we were welcomed with the beautiful landscape of the Seattle area (we are on one readers home territory).

Todays picture is Mt. Ranier, this picture was taking at 10,000' with the mountain still 4,400'+ above us. We are now enjoying the hospitality of the "Lets Fly Alaska" hangar...more to come.

The Lamplighter

Here we are at the famous "Lamplighter" which is famous for Prime Rib! Randy and Joe
didn't seem to belive how much food they serve you. (Ray, et. al. didn't get to enjoy this because of weather)





To start they bring shrimp cocktail, then salad with bread, then spaghetti and ravioli, THEN YOUR PRIME RIB, after that a little ice cream. We all said, we don't want that much, but ate it all anyway. The portion show is the smallest prime rib available (they claim 10oz)

After our "little meal" we traveled around town in our loaner van. The van has a large "NO SMOKING" sign in it, the van does all the smoking so there is no need to smoke yourself. While touring the local pizza delivery lady stopped in the middle of the street and gave us a history lesson. She informed us that in Butte they mined for copper, gold, silver, moly and some other things I'd never heard of. Today they have the largest moly mine in the U.S. and it runs 24 hours a day.


Tomorrow...Olympia which will become our starting point for the Alaska tour.

Butte, MT

We are here, just ahead of the afternoon thunderstorms. We excited the plane hoping it would be cooler, but it wasn't. We are 1104 miles from home as the crow flies and still have not found cooler temps...

Randy and Dad just left to walk around Butte, I'm sorry for them because there isn't much to see. Butte has this huge hole, that was once a copper mine and is now full of water and over 1800' deep. It is now a superfund sight that is set up to retain the 36 billion gallons of toxic water it holds. You can now walk out and look down in the hole (we think if you tossed something in water it would begin to boil)

Tonight we will try to get into the "Lamplighter" where they serve huge prime ribs (the smallest is 10oz).

More later...

Alliance, NE

We made it to our first stop, there isn't much here. We are 3 hours from home and have not escaped the heat.

Good sandwich, Thanks Mom!

After fuel we are off to Butte, MT if the weather holds...

Departure!!!!

Today started after 5 am, not our departure time, but the time noone could sleep any longer. Weather this year is great, last time we went we were in the clouds for 6 hours.

8 am is here and it is time to go! First fuel stop, Alliance Nebraska!

See you then!

Welcome!

Welcome to our blog! We will be leaving Saturday July 7th, weather permitting, we hope you can follow along as we explore Alaska!