The Home Stretch-21

As amazing as our trip had been, it felt good to be back in Alaska. Although still far from home, it was familiar. Even the dance with planning flights around weather, something we really hadn’t dealt with in the lower 48, was a welcome sign of being in back in Alaska.

We left the blue skies of Haines and were soon being blown about by wind coming down valleys, off mountain tops, and swirling around over lakes below. This time, with thin wispy clouds signaling even stronger winds and turbulence in higher elevations, we opted not to climb up.

After passing Kluane Lake and just before crossing back into Alaska, a beautiful and new landscape presented itself. Large hanging glaciers capped mountains that plunged down to greenery, with white patches scattered here and there. At first it looked like snow remained packed in at the bases of the mountain, but as we looked closer we realized it was sand. Small patches of sand dotted the foothills of the rugged peaks creating quite the mesmerizing site.

We turned towards Skolai pass for more breath taking views and soon we cruising down the familiar Chitistone valley and passing Glacier Creek. We marveled at how familiar we were with the area, yet had never went through Skolai Pass or beyond.

Just fifteen more minutes and we were flying over McCarthy and landing at our friend’s home and runway.

The kids walked in the door and went right to the toys.

We had been visiting McCarthy and making the social rounds at least once a summer since we started dating, so in many ways McCarthy felt like being back at your friends house down the road. Ellie poured me a cup of coffee and I melted into the couch.

We went to bed thinking we might have to spend two nights to wait out weather, but with the kids happy, friends to hang out with, and the new king size bed Ellie had just put in their guest cabin, I was content to wait out weather.

By the afternoon the weather was trending to clear up, so we packed up, said our goodbyes, and loaded up in the airplane one last time. Next stop, home!

As we passed by Lions Head and neared Sutton, the airplane traffic grew intense. Despite radio calls and ADSB, we saw three or four planes pass close by that we were unaware of. After giving weather info to another pilot over the radio, we realized that this was the first time the weather had lifted enough to fly in the last two days. That mixed with the fact that the hunting season opened the next day, made for a surge of traffic, and possibly the most dangerous circumstances of our whole trip.

We kept our heads on a swivel (as they said at Oshkosh) and made it through safely.

We landed, pulled the airplane in the hanger just like we had done so many times before, and that was it.

We did it! We had flown our family of six in our own plane to Oshkosh and back.

It was a bit anti-climatic, kids played, threw fits, and we cleaned out the airplane then headed to Bearpaw River Brewing company for dinner.

For the second half of our trip I’d been asking Woodsen if this trip fulfilled all his Oshkosh dreams. I was hoping to hear a definite “yes” and rest in confidence that we won’t be leaving Alaska in the summer anytime soon, but I can’t say I’ve received the response I was hoping for.

On the flip side he hasn’t mentioned any future trips to Oshkosh which is good, but he did share the idea of flying an airplane around the world.

Maybe he is saying that to keep me on my toes, maybe he means it.

Time will tell.