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.




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.




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

Friday, June 13, 2014

Watson Lake to Fort Nelson, BC June 13, 2014 - Part 1

Drum roll please........we are in Fort Nelson and the Canadian Rockies are behind us.

I woke up this morning at 3:00 am and looked out the motel window and witnessed the same gray, gloomy and wet sky that we've been witness to for a week now so I gave up on today and went back to bed figuring, "what's the use"? 

I woke up a couple hours later to crystal clear, blue skies and immediately called for a weather briefing which was a thumbs up for the entire route for the entire morning but with a caution for afternoon build ups again so it was now or never and off we went.

We departed Watson Lake about 8:30, climbed to 5,500' and headed out via our cozy friend, the Alaskan Highway.......2.6 hours later, we landed at Fort Nelson grinning from ear to ear.  I have not counted the days lost but I think we spent a week in Watson Lake waiting for this weather opportunity to cross our path and we jumped on it.

We're spending the night here though as a solid to broken line of thunderstorms already existed between Fort Nelson and our next stop, Dawson Creek.  Tomorrow morning is forecast to be good and we'll really start putting some miles behind us now that the Rockies are behind us and many more airports (with fuel) will be available to us.

We feel soooooooo good to have made it this far and we will not have to battle the fickle mountainous weather anymore.  Cindy just told me that today is Friday the 13th........I guess we really beat the odds.  It sure didn't look so good at 3:00 this morning.



Jim and Cindy

Wasn't sure what this brightness was this morning....it was gloomy and wet a couple hours earlier.

With our Watson Lake Departure this morning, it's back to following our friend, the Alaskan Highway, from our perch at 5,500'.

You don't need a lot of snow on top to enjoy the rugged beauty of the mountains.
I didn't catch the name of this lake, if a name even exists, but it's epitome of what I believe a mountain lake should look like.  Cradled in the mountains like it belongs there and no where else.



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