Wow! What an exciting trip my son, Jimmy, and I just returned from! Our base for the last few weeks was Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, where I was on a sabbatical doing research in plant tissue culture. While there, our Skyhawk took us on several weekend trips to such northern places as La Ronge, Cumberland House, and Lloydminster.
As we loaded the plant for points south, we regretted that we couldn’t see more of the exciting north. Spring had finally arrived in Saskatoon and lilacs, crabapples, bleeding hearts and other flowers gave the city a delightful smell. We took off just as thundershowers started to move in. Flying relatively low, we moved east-southeast over very flat country that was just seeded with wheat and had enjoyed a few local rainshowers.
In Yorktown, Saskatchewan, we made our first gas and rest stop. We always got 80 octane gas in Canada, and the service was excellent. Weather checked out OK, and we took off following the same heading as before. Only occasionally did we have to fly low enough to read city names off grain elevators. Actually checkpoints are not very outstanding in the prairies. Near Winnipeg we could again use radio, omni (vor) and transponder. Again we made a quick stop, filled up with 80 octane and took off again. Weather made us change plans, and we flew directly south to land in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Customs was curteous enough, but we missed out by only 20 minutes from not having to pay the $25 late fee!
In Watertown, South Dakota, we finally got tired and met a nice rancher who took us to a motel. In the morning, though, we had to hire a taxi. After take-off from Watertown, I decided to do a little hoodflying and surprised myself by not getting lost - however I missed seeing all these nice, green wheatfields. Des Moines, Iowa, had a very busy field, but our only complaint was that only 100 octane gas was available. Soon we flew very high over a fron which covered this area till a bit beyond St. Louis. We extended our flight plan to land in Paducah, Kentucky which was clear.
After a brief stop, we hit some smog, low clouds and occasionally a little rain. At Birmingham, I was pleased to get 80 octane again. The weatherman’s word made us fly on to Montgomery where we checked the weather again. It was not very encouraging, but it sounded that with some flight-following we might make it. Dothan (Craig) was really nice to vector us (by the hand) around the worst of thunderheads. We had to descend to 2000 feet in rain, but visibility was always good enough. A bit after nightfall we landed in Tallahassee. There was some shimmying of the nosewheel after touchdown, but we were home.