Having camped in the wilds of Canada some years ago, I had a great desire to return. This time, though, I wanted to fly and visit several Canadian agricultural experiment stations and my brother in upper Quebec. My son Jimmy was to accompany me and act as my navigator. Original flight planning was kindly provided by AOPA from whom I also bought sectional charts.

            We took off from Tallahassee, Florida in my Skyhawk II (Cessna 172). Aloft we soon found heavy haze and on the radio heard of thundercells over Rome, Georgia. It seemed wise to land in Columbus and wait out their passage. Here and later in Tennessee, I failed to locate an expert willing to install our transponder while we waited, and during the rest of the trip had to do without this instrument. Since marginal weather stopped our progress to a small airstrip where we could have camped, we had to stay in a motel in Chattanooga. Next morning by 11:24 the clouds cleared enough for us to head out for Knoxville. We found some wet spots on the ground, proving that thunderclouds were active very recently. Still, weather did not seem too bad with some scattered clouds at around 5000 feet, so we filed for Huntington, West Virginia. Too soon, though, we found ourselves dodging clouds in mountainous terrain, and when with the help of radio we located an isolated airstrip we canceled the flight plan and spiraled down. We landed in Middlesboro, Kentucky on a beautiful airstrip flanked by lush green grass and forested mountains all around. No need to go further and take a chance, we thought, and erected our small two-person pup tent next to the woods, well away from any traffic. We got fresh water from the little airport building which also had rest rooms, took out some reading material and relaxed. Later in the day we met a few locals including Jack Colson, ex-mail carrier, ex-barnstormer and at 70 still active in aero­batics and Oshkosh fly-ins. We also befriended the local dentist as he was making an oil change in his Bonanza. He loaned us his pick-up truck which allowed us to see the Cumberland Gap and the other sights of Middlesboro. The next two days were about the same: long lasting morning fog, haze and thunderclouds in the afternoon. On the third day, in the early after­noon, we were finally able to leave Middlesboro. We followed the main road at 3000 feet avoiding a few scattered clouds and mountains in the haze. We also wanted to outrun late afternoon thunderstorms, and in fact just made it to London, Kentucky before one of them touched down. This turned out to be a short working day, only ˝ hour in the air, but we were out of the mountains. We checked with the local police and received permission to set up our tent next to the airplane.

            The next morning it was overcast and the weather in Buffalo was un­favorable, so we changed plans to enter Canada on the western end of Lake Erie. Heading north, the weather improved, and flying over Lexington, Cincinnati and Toledo was a cinch. In the last two cities we made planned landings, but in Monroe, Michigan an approaching thunderstorm forced us to rest a couple of hours on the ground. Eventually we reached Windsor in Canada in cloudy weather. Customs, in the form of a young lady, was most courteous and presented no problem. Weather in London, Ontario was said to be good, and we hoped to fly away from the bad stuff coming in from Detroit. When the tower asked me if I would accept a crosswind runway, I opted for the one headed into the wind and was allowed to proceed. After making my run-up and requesting take-off clearance the tower asked if I knew what I was doing and a bit later suggested I should sit this one out. After I accepted taxi instructions to the ramp, the rain hit and gave my Cessna a real good belting. I had my hands and eyes full just taxiing through this heavy rain. There was no let-up and my son and I got soaked tying the plane down.

            It took two days for the weather to improve, after which we flew from Windsor between the beautiful lakes St. Claer, and Erie over the cities Chatham, London and Waterloo-Kitchener to Guelph, Ontario. There a light plane was shooting landings on the small end of a T-shaped airport, which was too short for my liking. A line of trees and gusty winds made my approach too high, and I had to abort this landing. I asked Jimmy, a non-pilot, to remove flaps which he did all at once rather than gradually. Our airspeed dropped perilously low (maybe 50 mph) and instinctively I lowered the nose to pick up flying speed. To my relief I soon had 80 mph and was able to climb and clear powerlines and a factory. Waterloo-Wellington was close by, and I had no trouble landing on runway 25 in spite of 25 mph gusts.

            The next two days we visited the University of Guelph, several experimental farms, the Niagara Falls and Lake Erie. We saw the Canadian peanut fields which I had come to see, since I do research with peanuts. The orchards in the Niagara peninsula reminded me so much of my home in Switzerland and of Oregon where I lived for nearly ten years and had my own orchard.

Inspecting peanuts in Ontario, Canada, near Lake Erie.

            It was Wednesday morning when our friends took us back to the Waterloo- Wellington airport. We added one Canadian quart of Shell 100 oil which, I was told, is the same as SEA 50 oil I use in the States. It is also noteworthy that in the northern states and most of Canada we were able to get 80/87 octane gasoline which is unavailable in the South.

            The weather was nearly perfect and, after having filed the compulsory flight plan, we took off toward Toronto. I had some trepidation about flying through the airspace of such a large city, but traffic control was extremely helpful. We were directed to descend to 2500 feet and fly to the four smokestacks on Lake Ontario. This gave us a chance to see the beautiful city of Toronto with its imposing CN tower which reaches 1780 feet into the sky, higher than the Empire State Building.

            Weather and scenery were splendid along the rest of Lake Ontario. Clouds reappeared near Trenton, Ontario and we descended to 2700 feet. The radio wanted us to stay well north of the highway even though I didn’t like a few black clouds. Eventually I saw a Herky-bird (Hercules) which wanted to land and rightly deserved a great margin by us. Later the clouds thinned again, and it was sunny when we landed in Kingston to refuel. Between there and Ottawa the terrain is woody and rocky with no places for forced landings. Over Smiths Falls we contacted Ottawa by radio and got permission to use their 10,000 foot runway which proved adequate for my abilities! We felt honored that several Air Canada jets gave us the right-of-way. Ground control instructed us to park near the fence. There was no charge but no tie-down, either. Canadian airports are well-guarded, and in leaving or entering one must go through special gates.

            The next two days we visited with agricultural scientists in Ottawa. There was also time to visit museums of science, arts, and aviation. All of them were free and highly interesting. Among the old planes we saw were a Spitfire, Hurricane, Liberator, Tiger Moth, Mustang, and a Lancaster.

            Only too soon did we have to leave Ottawa. This time, we flew over Montreal to Quebec. Radio communications were in both French and English. After refueling in Quebec, we checked out the weather along the Saint Lawrence River up to Forestville. The flight was beautiful, and I thought there was nothing to it! Airports became scarce but navigation was easy. The situation changed about 10 miles down from the mouth of the Saguenay River where we hit some rain. Mont Joli said Forestville was VFR. Mean­while the rain fell much harder and radio transmission got bad just when we needed it the most. That did it, and I started a l80, but in the excite­ment forgot how to make a well-coordinated turn. Since I wanted to avoid the mountains on my left, I decided to turn toward the river which at this place is over 14 miles wide. For awhile the grey sky and the water merged into one, and Jimmy noticed that we were losing altitude. Bad scene! It was a relief to see the mountains reappear now on my right and to turn straight and level again. For almost an hour we retraced our flight to Charlevoix. This is a rather isolated airstrip, but nicely paved and 4500 feet long. There was brush and some small trees all around it, and to my surprise there was an attendant who charged us $2 for tie-down and $1 for each landing we were to make. He allowed us to set up our tent, but it had to be outside the fenced-in airport area. Next morning the weather was marginal, so I called my brother who lives in Les Escoumins to come down the 80 miles and pick us up. After a short two days visit we were back in Charlevoix again waiting for the clouds to lift so we could cross the Saint Lawrence River. The airport attendant recommended we climb to at least 5000 feet for crossing the 10 miles of open water. Before flying south we landed in Riviere du Loup where we checked the weather and by phone filed a verbal flight plan to Fredericton, New Brunswick. We headed over very woody and scenic country which was only slightly mountainous. Some clouds pushed our flight path to 2500 feet at times, and we were glad when the country opened up along the Saint John River which we followed to Fredericton. After resting for about an hour and changing our watches to Atlantic time, we flew East to Moncton where the Moncton Flying Club let us spend the night. We had hot dogs and beer there rather than going downtown to eat local lobsters.

            The usual morning fog kept us down till around 10 A.M. It was actually cold, and I felt comfortable in my fire-red AOPA jacket. We filed for Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island (P.E.I.), giving 7000 feet as altitude. There were solid clouds over Northumberland Strait, and since VFR on top is illegal in Canada, we had to alter our course eastwards. We then had a smooth flight and were always visual even after we met scattered clouds between Summerside and Charlottetown. P.E.I. is a beautiful island, and we could see both coasts easily. The island is well-farmed, and our agri­cultural scientist friend showed us well-tended fields of peas, potatoes, tobacco and cereals.

            In mid-afternoon we took off again, adding a 230 westerly variation to our true heading. Below us we saw four ferry ships and after 14 miles made landfall near Pictou, Nova Scotia. On we flew to Truro and along the Minas Basin, an arm of the Bay of Fundy which is famous for 50 foot tides. The water there was rather muddy and the beaches red, and briefly I thought I’d hate to land there and get stuck in the red mud . . . I would have liked to land in Greenwood which has long paved runways but this military airport denied us permission to land, and we had to choose Waterville. This is a rather rustic place with a 2300 feet airstrip surfaced partly with grass, partly with gravel including fist-sized stones. The trick is to land and take off in the grassy area. Apparently I accomplished this to the satisfaction of myself, Jimmy and the Skyhawk. Nobody objected to us setting up the tent there. Our agricultural contact came to pick us up, and we spent the next evening and morning visiting apple orchards and straw­berry fields in the Annapolis Valley. We even managed to get a taste of lobster. Late into the night a crop duster was tinkering with his airplane so he could continue spraying orchards for codling moths, aphids and dozens of other pests.

            The following day after lunching on blue fillet, we wanted to fly to Saint John, but weather was IFR with the Bay of Fundy fogged in. The FBO in Waterville suggested we fly around the front to Fredericton instead. This made sense, and subsequently we enjoyed a pleasant flight to the capital of New Brunswick. Despite the few scattered clouds and a little bumpiness, a nice landing was accomplished with power off. I was ready to taxi to the ramp when the engine quit. It would not start again, and we had to be towed in. The most obvious cause appeared to be lack of fuel, but as it turned out, the left magneto was torn up. Charles Randall of Diamond Construction was most helpful in getting a new magneto. He even let us spend the night in an empty room next to the hangar. Everyone felt good that it happened on the ground. We found out other planes had troubles with Slick magnetos, too, and wondered.

            By 10 A.M. next morning a new magneto was installed. Clouds were around 3000 feet, and we dared to fly over the rather rough terrain of New Brunswick and Maine. After easily passing customs in Bangor we con­tinued our flight South by way of Pougkeepsie, N. Y., Lancaster, Pa., and Charlottesville, Va., missing all big cities. The flight to northern Georgia on the next day presented no problem, but it took us two more days to fly to Tallahassee because of stationary low clouds and thunder­storms. The trip ended pleasantly three weeks after it started. We were safe and sound, saw all the exciting places we wanted to see, and I got some excellent flight experience. Just wish I could do it again soon.

            P.S. This trip was made June 1977, I.have since gotten an IRF_rating and still own the same skyhawk (1975)