The Final Legs Home

Home!

As yesterday's short entry stated, we arrived home yesterday after an amazing and learning filled trip of two weeks. Each one of will admit that although the trip was filled with lots of fun and excitement, it was also exhausting. A combination of hard flying, early mornings, extensive adventures, and sometimes late nights leads to one tired group of people!

However, now that we have had a little rest, it is time to put together and recap the final leg for you!

As we went to bed, all of knew that a clearing trend had started, and each one of us was eager to finish the final few hours home. We went to bed relatively early, anticipating that we would have a relatively early start the following morning.

Sure enough, daybreak came soon. Thanks to Kieth Toczek and the "Greater Yankton Area Cessna 152 Aircraft Owners and Student Pilot's Association Inc." we all had a great nights sleep! Kieth's gift was particularly appreciated by us since we have all spent many hours in a 152. However, we were a bit surprised to be recipients, since this blog has clearly shown that we had been flying a 172 and (gasp!) a Warrior!

After further thought, however, we all now realize that Kieth's gift was merely a reflection of the attitude of all of those who fly in the Greater Yankton Area. It isn't just about the plane that you fly or the places that you visit so much as it is about the people that you meet along the way. All these people have a similar passion and love for aviation. We share our stories and love for the sky, and that is the biggest and most important thing. Thanks so much Kieth!

We were all at the airport by 9AM. As always, Katie and Gary were there to greet us, and loaded the planes and flight planned. With the weather clearing, an assortment of planes were now on thier ramp... a couple of King Air's and a Citation X. Gary and Katie greeted each of these pilots with the same enthusiasm and big smiles that we have grown accustomed to over the past few days.

By noon, we were finally able to begin our way Northwards. As we rose above the airport, thousands upon thousands of geese were doing the same. There were patches of sky that were black with the rising birds, and although we were wary of venturing into them, we were also excited to see them heading in the same direction. Spring cannot be far away.

The winds aloft were predicted to be quite high... and as we were soon to discover, the predictions were accurate. One of the great things about a cold front is that it generally brings clear skies. There are, of course, a couple of downsides to a Prairie Cold front. Namely, it gets cold, and secondly, that the winds will blow strongly out of the north.

And they did.

At times, we were grounding only 50 Knots. That's about 100km an hour. In a car, these speeds may seem normal, but in our planes... well, we usually see speeds somewhere closer to 100 Knots across the ground or 200km an hour. We should go twice as fast as the average highway guy! Instead of a four hour journey to the border, we were now facing a four hour journey just to get to our halfway point of Fargo! This slow going was going to force us down for fuel... so Fargo was going to become a stop for us.

The turnaround at the Fargo Jet Center was relatively quick. We all loaded up on free Cappacianos and Coffee, updated our arrival time with CANPASS and Customs, and then winged our way towards Piney for Customs clearing.

Clearing Customs in Piney was uneventful, but COLD! We were subjected to a temperature of -20 Celcius on landing. When one considers that the day before departing New Tribes we had temperatures of +32 Celcius, we had encoutered a temperature variation of over 50C! This is halfway from freezing to boiling water!

The takeoff from Piney was filled with excitement and anticipation. We were less than 40 Minutes from our own beds!!! As we approached Steinbach, familiar landmarks slid into view. "The Bend" in Highway 12... The Steinbach Radio Tower, the Water Tower, and THE FIELD!!!

After touching down, a cheer erupted from our airplane... we had succeeded in completing an awesome but exhausting trip! Rick leaped from his plane and hugged the ground... Steinbach!

Now all that is left to do is the final bits of paperwork and what not. There are also a lot of thankyous to say... and we will be taking the time to do that tomorrow night... for now, a little more rest is in order...

Stay tuned!

Home Safely!!!

The boys are home!

We arrived just one hour ago in Steinbach! 7PM local after an eventful day. Headwinds again! Photos will be posted shortly (Thursday, along with the final installment!)

Thanks so much for your cheering and prayers...

The Providence College Guys!

Watching and Hoping for the Weather to Clear....

Today has been another day of watching the weather. At times, we have been watching the winds blow up to 35 knots, and we have had visibilities that are consistently lower than 2 miles. Fortunately, the storm has tracked a little further North than was originally forecast--although we have had some rain and some ice, we haven't had near the amounts of snow that was originally expected.

With the Low Pressure system that has been plaguing us moving eastwards, the temperatures are now dropping as the cold front moves in--but this should bring us a clearing of the skies.

Tomorrow looks very much like we will be able to head northwards... the weather is indicating that this clearing will begin sometime around noon. Just as soon as soon as the conditions allow, we hope to be fueling up and heading out!

Stay tuned! Almost there!

"Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help,
Whose hope is in the LORD his God." Psalm 146:5

Stuck... Still... Day 13.

Well, today has been a day of mostly waiting... then checking the weather, hoping for the best, and then waiting again. We've been seeing ceilings consistently in the 200 AGL range, and visibilities somewhere around the 1/4 mile range. Not the sort of thing to go flying in!

The weather checks have been mostly an exercise in finding out--then confirming and reconfirming that--

"Yep, we are still gonna hafta wait!"

A Low that was supposed to blow over this area with speed and rapidity has suddenly changed its mind, deciding instead to come almost to a standstill right over top of us. As it sits here, it is sucking up a big, juicy stream of moist air from way down south--straight out of the Gulf of Mexico. Of course, at some point all this moisture has to fall somewhere, and of course, much of this moisture is predicted to fall over us! As this is being written there are storm warnings for overnight and tomorrow, with estimates of snowfall in the 4 inch range. Shades of the trip of '08 and a place called Xenia, Ohio!

Our hosts, Gary and Katie Carlson of Carlson Aviation have been treating us well. Gary made sure that the planes were hangared, so that they don't end up coated in the rain (which will turn to ice on contact!) that is forecasted to fall before the snow begins overnight. As we tucked the planes into bed, Gary showed us a couple of interesting projects that he has on the go... these included an L-39 jet, an SR22, and a Taylorcraft.

We have also managed (in only a day and a half!) to become regulars at a great local eatery, JoDean's Steakhouse... This restaurant has an all you can eat Lunch Buffet for $6.95, and a supper buffet for $9.95. All of the food is absolutely yummy, and it has the bonus of being very much home-cooked! Great stuff, tasty eats, all at a good price, and it comes all-you-can-eat! Aaron is thinking that he is going to start recommending that his students take long cross countries to Yankton simply for the experience of this restaurant alone!

Time was also spent exploring the Missouri River today, and the incredible dam and parks that are a part of the Lewis and Clarke expedition...

We noted that we are not the only critters waiting to get north. It was exciting to see large numbers of geese all about, although many of them looked apprehensive at the idea of getting airborne and heading north with the winds, low vis, and low ceilings. Those guys don't have a meteorologist section, and we suppose that if those guys don't want to be flying, then it is probably best that we stay put as well!

It certainly can't stay this way forever.

And of course, we are so tantalizingly close to home.

"He rode upon a cherub, and flew;
And He was seen upon the wings of the wind." II Sam. 22:11

Day 11...or 12 not sure.

Well we ended up spending two full days in New Tribes because of winds that were gusting to 50 kts (nautical miles per hour) in the mountain passes that we were planning on going through. So we spent the day being as productive as we could, we played baseball, frisbee, slept and ate. All in all a very nice, relaxing day to prepare us for our long day of travel.

Today started, well before it should have, somewhere in the 5 am's. We got out of bed packed up what we couldn't pack the night before and walked to the kitchen where Jeff and Wonita had breakfast ready and waiting for us. After that we said goodbye and headed out to the planes.

Our flights today were long and uneventful. We flew from about 20 miles from the Mexican border all the way to Yankton SD where we now sit in and FBO with ceilings outside of roughly 10 feet as best we can figure. When we got here we called the operator and they were more than happy to allow us to stay here over night camping on the floor for which we are very grateful. The hope is that we can be up and on our way sometime mid to late afternoon tomorrow to finish up the last 300 miles of our journey. It's been a great time of fun and learning but there comes a time where you want nothing more than to be home in your own bed, I think for most of us that time has come.

New Tribes Mission. Day 10

This day was great to have some down time (pun intended).But this doesn't mean that we just relaxed all day. We all woke up at about 6:30 am, and headed over to Jeff and Wonita Werley's place for a hearty 7 am breakfast.

Being the only "Mexican"/Canadian on the team, I was very excited for this southern breakfast which consisted of burritos filled with ground sausage and eggs, good coffee and homemade orangejuice. After this wonderful meal we headed out to NTM's main office building and began a landscaping project which turned out quite nice by the late afternoon.

In the evening we were invited for supper at Larry (missionary pilot and mechanic) and Kim Dye's house. After another great meal, Larry and his friend Jason shared some stories and a video of their amazing and challenging experience on the missionfield in Venezuela. It was encouraging and refreshing to hear their stories and to be challenged in our faith.



Isaiah 40:31 says:
"but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint."

The Flight to New Tribes--Day Nine

We are now in the home stretch everyone!

Looking ahead, each one of us can see that the days left in this trip are less than the days that we have had exploring. Our planes are now regularly moving further eastward with each stop, slowly edging out of the southwest, and making our way towards the Great. It will only be a matter of time before we “cut the corner” and start our journey northward.

Before we start this final turn northwards however, there are still a few things that we have yet to do. Arizona and warm sunshine continue to have a hold on us. We don’t think that we are really ready to cut the corner yet—almost, but not quite. There is still something yet to do!

Our day started with all these things in mind. One of our last stops is to be New Tribes , an organization that trains and supports pilots for the mission field.
We had a late morning, after getting ourselves burned yet again at PIMA or at the ball field yesterday. Lobster in the Southwest? You bet! Although we may be far, far, away from the nearest ocean, any one of us can tell you that lobster is found here!

A quick planning session and a little bit of research had us in the air by 1PM. We elected to avoid the Controlled airspace around Tucson, and plunged southwards towards Green Valley, Arizona before cutting east for the mountains. Green Valley is aptly named, as irrigation and farmland surrounds this town that is fed by a river that runs almost directly through it. For miles and miles around, everything else is coloured red, brown, or a light shade of gray-green.

As we continued eastward, we encountered a series of mountain ridges. We followed a valley and an Interstate south-easterly, being careful to avoid the restricted military air space that was on either side of us.

Tribal Air, as the airport is called, is quite nearly in the middle of a vast plain. As you approach it, it seems to be in the middle of a huge saddle, with mountain peaks to the east, west, north, and south. All these peaks and terrain seem to slope up and out from the airport, with the peaks extended on radials in every direction and seemingly equidistant from its runways.

After landing, we met with Jeff Werely, who helped us tie down our planes and then gave us a tour of the hangars and shops. With its many shops and talented individuals, NTM has the ability to remanufacture and recreate all the parts that might be needed for Cessna aircraft! There are shops for rebuilding engines, testing avionics, and rooms complete with jigs for the manufacturing an entire airplane. With shops for fibreglass, painting, and upholstery, the detail work on the planes can also be taken care of. One thing that amazed us is the incredible degree of cleanliness... The floor at NTM shines! You can literally see your face in it, and a perfect mirrored reflection is found beneath each and every aircraft! There is a place and a bin for everything, so that nothing is lost or misplaced. It really is something to see!

After a great tour, we had a few moments to catch our breath and to settle into our rooms. Much tummy growling was heard, as quite a few of us had elected to sleep in... Missing breakfast and lunch in the process! This, however, was soon to be fixed!

We had dinner at the home of Brian and Katharine Schaadt, who served up a great batch of burgers, fruit salad, and brownies. Appreciation was heard all around, (Rory practically sang an ode to the wonderful burgers as he ate!) Hardly a morsel was left over. Brian has had some time flying in Venezuela, and we all huddled up in their living room to watch some of the flying and mission work that he has completed in that country.

Busy day! Tomorrow promises to be just as much so, as we will be helping NTM with a landscaping project. They have been waiting nearly four years for the manpower to upgrade the look around their main offices, and well, we just happen to be in the area, and we still have things to do!