Continuing where we left off last September, Cindy and I are headed back to Alaska to resume our "flight of a life time" adventure that was, well, interrupted last year.
We bought Mighty Mouse, a Cessna 150-150 with the intentions of flying him home from Big Lake, Alaska to our home base in Rogers, Arkansas. We arrived in Anchorage last August 27 to start our adventure but the weather kicked our collective butts. Consequently, Mighty Mouse spent the winter there and we flew home via American Airlines with our tail between our legs.
Those days are behind us and this is a new year. This Saturday, May 31, we'll board American Airlines yet again and head to Anchorage with the intentions of picking up where we left off.
You can read the history from last year but briefly, we were to have a flight of two, us in Mighty Mouse and our very good friend and mentor, Terry Dickinson in his Cessna 152, "Skeeter". The weather didn't cooperate so we folded our hand, closed our briefcase and called it quits.
Terry helped us secure a winter hangar for the Mouse, he made arrangements for Skeeter to spend the winter inside as well and we went home. A weather window did open up for Terry so he loaded up and was able to successfully reposition Skeeter down to Nevada where Terry and his wife, Charlene, have their winter home.
The annual inspection on the Mouse expired in February so Terry made arrangements for the inspection which is now done and Terry has flown the Mouse a couple times, post inspection. Most everything is locked and loaded for the trip.
After we arrive and weather permitting, Terry and I will fly the Mouse from Big Lake to Tok, AK in order for me to gain some mountain flying experience and instruction from Terry and also to put the Mouse through his paces to verify all is running well. It's about a 5 hour trip to Tok and back and Terry advises that this will be rather representative of what the trip will be like for us regarding the terrain that we'll be flying through as we follow the Alaskan Highway from Tok through the Yukon Territory and British Columbia to Dawson Creek.
From Dawson Creek, the Canadian Rockies will be in our rear view mirror and we'll venture through Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba where we'll cross into the lower 48 on the North Dakota/Minnesota boarder where we'll then head south across Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri and home to Arkansas.
There you have a quick snapshot of what we have on our horizon. It was a disappointment having to leave Mighty Mouse up there last year but it was the right call to make. Besides, here we are getting ready to have all this fun this year.
We hope you stay tuned and follow us on our adventure........an adventure that so few folks will ever have a chance to experience. We feel so fortunate.....excited, too.
I'll update the blog as time and access to the internet allows, hopefully daily....with pictures of course.
Jim, Cindy and N63082.....Mighty Mouse.
CESSNA N63082 "MIGHTY MOUSE"
THE FLIGHT OF A LIFETIME
This is my very first attempt at blogging so I hope this flows smoothly and we can all enjoy it.
This week, we (my best friend, co-pilot and wife) will be flying from Northwest Arkansas to Anchorage, Alaska via American Airlines to pick up Cessna 63082...a Cessna 150.
This plane was nicknamed "Mighty Mouse" some time back as this is no ordinary, run of the mill Cessna 150.
This is a 150-150 which means the stock Continental, 100 horsepower engine was removed and then upgraded to the Lycoming O-320 with 150 horsepower.
Additionally, Mighty Mouse has the full Horton STOL kit installed and 39 gallon long range fuel tanks.
Another big plus with this conversion is the 160 gross weight increase.
Mighty Mouse is a 1976 model with about 2,500 hours total time on the airframe and a new, zero timed, Lycoming factory rebuilt engine.
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| Here's a picture of Mighty Mouse in Alaska. |
Cindy and I will be flying with (following actually) our good friend Terry Dickinson from Big Lake, Alaska.
Terry has two planes. One is a Piper Super Cub (on floats this time of year) and the other is a Cessna 152 which is affectionately known as Mosquito or......"Skeeter" for short.
Terry has a need/desire to reposition Skeeter to his winter home in the desert of Nevada and we (Cindy and I) have a need to travel with a highly experienced bush pilot (who also just happens to be a CFI) from the Alaskan wilderness, through the Canadian Rockies and on home.
Our generic plan will have us crossing back into the lower 48 at Great Falls, Montana and at this point (probably) we'll separate where Terry will turn right to the southwest and head to Nevada and we'll turn left to the southeast and head to Arkansas.
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| Here's Mosquito (Skeeter) parked next to Mighty Mouse at Big Lake, AK |
All three of us consider this to be the ultimate flying adventure of a lifetime and we'll do our best to document this trip for not only our enjoyment but yours as well.
Jim & Cindy
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