Airplane: PA-22-150
Crew: Me, wife, 2 kids
Mission: Have a fun journey on the way to and from visiting friends in Minnesota
Flight Rules: VFR the whole way, baby!

Route:

Way there: Nampa, ID - Driggs, ID - Cody, WY - Buffalo, WY - Custer, SD - Aberdeen, SD - Glencoe, MN (west of MSP)
Side trip: MSP area to Duluth, MN to fish Lake Superior
Way back: Glencoe, MN - Fargo, ND - Bismarck, ND - Miles City, MT, Bozeman, MT, Nampa, ID


SpotWalla - Trip Viewer - KMAN-KGYL - Mozilla Firefox_2013-08-21_10-19-49 by scottf, on Flickr


Day 1: Nampa, ID to Driggs, ID

As we pass by Boise, we get a good view on the forrest fire status. Yeah it seems like the whole state is on fire and there is a big green monster cloud in our planned route so we give it a wide berth. We get a front row seat to numerous pyrocumulous clouds forming. Lots of fire fighting chatter on the radio.


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Cool field not too far west of Driggs:


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Landed at Driggs, saw this amphib take off as we were putting the plane to bed.


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Goodnight Tri-Pacer, see you in the morning. Off to get some dinner and sleep.


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Day 2: Driggs, ID to Custer, SD

We got to the airport as early as we could, 7am, which was pretty good considering a 3 and 6 year old to get ready. Forgot to lean when taxiing and had a fouled plug during runup. Oops. Ran full throttle on the ground for a while and it cleared up so off we went. Climb rate was a tad low given our weight and DA, but we had all the altitude we needed (I wanted 10.5k before entering the pass) by the time we got to Sylvan Pass. I let the Tri-Pacer keep climbing and we went all the way up at 12,000 where we leveled off.

Yellowstone Lake:


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Crossing the Rockies through Yellowstone... 20 minutes of nervous elation


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Finally coming up to Buffalo Bill Reservoir, signifying the end of the big rocks.


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Now just have to cross the Bighorns. We stayed at 11,500' and followed a road through a pass.


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Went 20 minutes out of our way to catch a glimpse of Devil's Tower. Quite a sight.


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Finally landed in Custer. Great flight.


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The girls think this rock is pretty neat.


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What the heck are all these bikes doing here? Oh. It must be Sturgis bike week.



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Mt. Rushmore. Worth stopping by.


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Clearly, Rushmore was designed to be viewed from the ground. Looks tiny from 2500' AGL.


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Day 3: Custer, SD to Glencoe, MN

The morning looked good near Custer, but there were low overcast skies in the forecast. Still, we thought we could make some progress. We saw a cloud here and there, and they were getting closer and closer together.


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And finally we reached a point where it was just a solid cloud deck. This was only 30 miles after takeoff.

We radioed Flight Watch to see if they could tell us how far this overcast condition went on. Turns out it went on for hundreds of miles. We were at a decision point, since we had Rapid City airport in our view, but after that all we could see were clouds. Flight Watch advised us to land at Rapid City, and I was glad to comply. We’d much rather sit on the ground than wonder how to get back down to it. We sat at the FBO (fixed-base operator) lounge in Rapid City for a few hours, watching the weather and drinking coffee and eating cookies in comfy recliners. And they even had a play kitchen and some toys for the kids. After a few hours we grabbed the courtesy car and drove to town to grab lunch. So much for waking up early.

After lunch things were starting to improve and some of the clouds were burning off. I called a weather briefer and he said we could probably head north over broken clouds, but the clouds would dissipate after 40 miles, then after that the skies should be mostly clear. We decided to go for it and get out of here.

So we flew for 40 miles “VFR over the top” on top of this:


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Of course the plane doesn’t care where it is flying, but the pilot gets a bit nervous since he has no landing spot in sight. Luckily the briefer was right and soon the clouds started to thin out.

In the mountain states, our plane can only dream about flying high over the clouds and above the weather. However in the midwest, the clouds are much lower and so we spent much of the time cruising over them in smooth air.


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We made a stop in Aberdeen, SD, by this time it was nearly 3PM. Still two hours of flying before our Minnesota destination. But Hangar9 at Aberdeen did have some cool furniture. And cookies that just came out of the oven.



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And about 3pm we took off for Minnesota. Easy to see why it is the “land of 10,000 lakes”.


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And we finally made it. Our friend was just driving up to pick us up as our wheels thunked the ground. We were all glad to pile out of the plane and be done flying for a bit.


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Day 9 – Time to start heading home. Glencoe, MN to Bismarck, ND

The flight was mostly uneventful, planned to fuel in Aberdeen, SD again but it was socked in with fog so instead we pointed the nose north and did a quick stop near Fargo, ND. A short day, only 310 miles. Again, we had to fly on top of a solid cloud layer for a short time before landing at Bismarck. We didn’t really have a specific reason for stopping at Bismarck, other than there isn’t much else around. We wanted to go for a ride on the paddle boat up the Missouri River, but sadly it was not operating that day. While grabbing lunch, our waiter recommended the Dakota Zoo, which the kids really wanted to do. And it was a great zoo where you can really get pretty close to the animals.


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One exhausted porcupine:


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Day 10 – Bismarck, ND to Bozeman, MT


We left Bismarck around 9am with a forecast of isolated thunderstorms along out route. We decided to see how far we could get as the skies looked friendly enough at least for a while. While we saw no thunderstorms, a front was definitely coming though, which made this flight quite bumpy. You need a bumpy flight every now and then to appreaciate all the smooth ones. At least that’s what we told ourselves as we bounced around in the air. Luckily we could get internet via cell phone the whole way, so we actively watched live radar to stay well clear of storm cells.


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Nearing our fuel stop, Miles City, MT, we dialed in the ASOS. I knew the landing would be no walk in the park from how we were getting tossed around, but didn’t think it would be this bad. Winds were blowing 50 degrees off the runway heading, at 18 knots gusting to 28!

NOT what you want the windsock to be doing…


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Thankkfully we landed without issue and I stopped at the pump watching the airspeed bounce from 0-40MPH. Fueled up and got out of there.

About two more hours of getting jostled about, we finally had Bozeman in sight and called the tower to get clearance to land. We parked the plane with all the big planes and jets and got a car to use for the day.

And “smallest plane on the ramp” award goes to…… US!


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Ate lunch then went to the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman.


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Day 11 – Home Stretch. Bozeman, MT to Nampa, ID

This morning we were firing on all cylinders. On the ramp before sunrise, and in the plane ready to go by 7am.


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I like to start as early as possible when flying though mountains. The weather forecast looked typical for our area, sunny and clear skies. Only challenge today would be limited visibility from smoke. Lots of fires burning in western Montana and Idaho.

Yuck.


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A quick fuel stop in Blackfoot, and we are on the home strech. After passing the fire near Hailey, visibility gradually improved.


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And finally, we made it home with hungry stomachs and a dirty little airplane. What a memorable trip!.


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Great TR and good to see another family traveling in a shortwing!

Ok, I think I FINALLY got my computer fixed so I can reply to a post!! I have been trying to contact and reply to guys since this new site was implemented without any luck. Hope it is working for me now.

Anyway............I wished I would have know you were 'in the area'. I would not have been to far out of the way from your flight to Fargo to stop in to my place. I am located right on the east edge of Itasca State Park, next to the Mississippi headwaters and it would have been a treat for the youngens' to see where the mighty Mississippi begins its trek to the Gulf of Mexico.
Looks like you had a great time. Next time you come this way give me a shout. Plenty of room to camp, may even have room in the house, at least have a toilet and shower available for the women folk.

Fantastic trip report

Solid work! Fun to see a family fly together and roll with the weather. Thanks for sharing.

We need more of these trip reports! Wish I was going somewhere fun in the near future.

Awesome TR! This is what it's all about. Traveling by small plane with the family is really the best.

It always seems to turn out that those unexpected/unplanned stops for weather etc. end up creating the best memories.

Thanks for sharing!

Hey, nice job in a vfr bird. i've flown all over heck in mine, and it is a great way to make it happen. i know a lot of people in far bigger birds that never take a fun trip like that...good JOB!

One thing I learned is why people get instrument ratings. We are blessed here with VFR weather and high ceilings almost all year round. I didn't realize how low the clouds are over the midwest and how often large OVC layers hang around. Would be nice to punch through them. Still, was really cool to cruise in the afternoon, above scattered clouds at 7500 or 9500 and perfectly smooth air. Don't get to do that in Idaho.

Oregon180 wrote:Awesome TR! This is what it's all about. Traveling by small plane with the family is really the best.

It always seems to turn out that those unexpected/unplanned stops for weather etc. end up creating the best memories.

Exactly!

Being flexible is key when flying with the family...and having the right attitude to be able to make lemonade when handed lemons!

Nice TR. glad you had a great trip!

Years ago, Wife 1 and the kids and I (and our 62 lb dog and parakeet) used to make annual vacation trips from Laramie to Painesville/Concord, OH in our partnered 182. Only once in several years were we able to do the whole trip both directions VFR.

Flying above a solid cloud deck without the equipment/skill to get down through it is scary, I think. I wasn't current this year going to and from OSH, so I had to do exactly that, figuring if I absolutely had to go through it, I could, even if I was rusty on instruments. I didn't have to--but within a week after returning, I got up in the air with my CFII and completed an IPC to make me legal again.

You might oughta consider getting your IR ticket--makes it a lot more comfortable on long trips, even in poky little birds like yours and mine.

Really enjoyed your trip report, though. And your kids are pretty darned cute!

Cary

Yeah I hear you on the instrument rating. If these types of trips become more common it will really be something I will consider (as well as how the airplane is equipped).

Awesome trip!

If these types of trips become more common it will really be something I will consider (as well as how the airplane is equipped).

You'll probably be surprised at how little equipment is necessary to make an airplane IFR-equipped. There's a tendency to think mini-airliner, but that's not necessary at all. Mine's really over-equipped for the IFR flying I do, and very few SEs should be going into really hard IFR (even with all the bells and whistles). But being able to go through a layer, shoot easy approaches, etc., sure adds to the comfort (and safety) level.

Here's a really good example. Some years ago, we had a short (2+ hours) VFR flight planned from Fort Collins to Holdrege, NE. Long about the NE/CO border, clouds started filling in below us, although it was a gorgeous sunny day when we took off with a prediction to continue gorgeous and sunny all day, and still gorgeous sunny at our altitude, which was 9000' (we were on an IFR flight plan). By the time we were within 20 miles of Holdrege, there wasn't a hole to be seen anywhere. But it was an easy instrument approach into Holdrege, so we completed our flight without a hitch. It took a little bit longer because of having to shoot the approach, but the VFR alternative would have been to turn around and go home.

Cary

Excellent post and pictures. Thanks for sharing!

I will echo the above sentiments on acquiring an Instrument Rating.

After I received mine I wondered how they could have allowed me to fly with just a PPL.

With such a precious cargo as your entire family on board the rating is priceless.