After some discussion and preparation along with weather watching, we decided to leave for Whitehorse, Yukon from the Salmon Arm airport on July 30, 2008. Our first intended stop was Williams Lake, BC which is about 250 miles northwest of Salmon Arm.

At 0630, we left Salmon Arm….the rain had stopped and it looked good to go. We found a nice black cloud, gave us lots of lift…even Allen at the helm of his RAF Gyro got a free lift. We were also facing some headwinds and so Allen decided we should land at 108 Mile as he was concerned about fuel levels so off we went and landed at 108. There we fueled up our airplanes and our stomachs and headed back to our airplanes. By this time the wind had picked up quite a bit and some pretty big black clouds loomed over, so we decided to take advantage of this time to have a nap…us, old retired guys are in no hurry and need our beauty sleep (don’t you know).

Around 12:30, we got back in our planes and we continued our route north and headed for Quesnel, still dodging a few rain clouds. Once we landed in Quesnel, I needed to replace my wheel bungee which was a quick fix as we had brought some extra for the trip. All set, we headed further north to Prince George. As luck would have it, we were met by the President of the Prince George Flying Club and he kindly offered us use of the club house for the night. We decided that we should fuel up that night so we would be ready to go first thing in the morning…$ 1.98 a liter – ouch….headed back to the Club house, made a wonderful meal of spaghetti and meatballs and after some chatting, we were off to sleep.

The next morning we were up with the birds, had a quick bite and we left for Chetwynd at 0640. Chetwynd is about 190 miles northeast of Prince George. We had a good tail wind leaving Prince George. When we got into the Pine Pass, our ground speed picked up. This pass is very narrow, mountains are 6500 asl and we had ground speed of 107 mph (not bad for our Chinooks). Al’s Gyro was best at 110 mph with a 50 mph tail wind. We were in Chetwynd before you knew it. Landing there, we met a helicopter pilot and his wife. He let us tie down next to his hangar to get away from the traffic. There are lots of helicopters working at Chetwynd as there is lots of bush country and logging in this area. Enjoyed a coffee and as usual Harry felt a nap coming on. As the wind sock was straight out, we were in wait mode at any rate. Jim took note of a fuel leak from a fitting from his wing tank, so he drained the fuel and had a quick fix with a little Seal All.

Still ready to get moving, we decided that the wind Gods were in our favor, so at 1740 we left for Fort St-John which is about 110 miles north of Chetwynd but much shorter as the crow flies. We landed at Grand Haven which is a small grass strip about 5 miles west of the main airport. We met a nice young man, by the name of J.J. Fellows who offered to take us to the gas station to get some fuel. We made a few trips for fuel and then set up our tents for the evening.

As usual we were up at the break of dawn, called in for the check of the weather and were told it was good to Fort Nelson. So with those encouraging words, we packed up and left. We were about half an hour into it and it began to rain. Harry was ahead of us and radioed he was turning back and heading back to Grand Haven (probably just wanted another nap) so we all followed suit. We got our tarps out and set them over our wings. It ended up raining all day…so much for the weather report!!! Our new friend J.J. brought us the weather report for the next few days, and then we decided to head east. There was a huge low sitting over the west coast so we felt our best option was to head east.

The next morning, we decided to head slightly south east and go to Dawson Creek where there was to be an Air show on Sunday. 40 minute flight and with a decent tail wind, we were in Dawson Creek. Got our planes tied down and watched as the clouds built and the wind picked up. Al being the guy with the nose, thought we all were pretty smelly and deserved a good hot shower so we settled into rooms for the night.

Next morning with our bellies full from breakfast, we left for the air field and decided to stay for the Dawson Creek Air Show. I hadn’t seen the Snowbirds in years so it was all the more reason to stay. There was also an F18 parked at the show. Chris Peterson, the owner of the airfield at Grand Haven, arrived at the air show so we took the opportunity to thank him for letting us stay camped out at his air strip. The show was good but we decided to make some tracks after the show and we headed further southeast to Grand Cache, Alberta at 1700 hours. It was a beautiful evening with just a slight tail wind and as we flew along, we could see the incredible Mount Robson just off to our right.

When we got to Grand Cache, my son in law Todd had left us his truck at the airport and steaks in the fridge so we got the barbeque lit and had a great supper. The next morning, Todd made us breakfast and we left for the airport for the last leg of our trip. By now, we knew that our journey to make it to Whitehorse would have to wait for another year when Mother Nature cooperated more kindly and so we headed for Hinton, Alberta. Once in Hinton, we landed and fueled up. While there we met some folks who had just come through Jasper from Valemont and said it was not too turbulent as the valleys are very narrow and converge from different directions which can make it more difficult flying through with a light aircraft. Off we went in about 2 hours, we were in Valemont. As always we enjoyed our hot dog lunch and headed for home. After 2.7 hours, we landed in Salmon Arm…good thing because by that time my behind hurt and I needed a cool one. Big Al in his RAF Gyro was last in, he doesn’t much care for water so while we went over it, he went around it (sort of)…Gyros don’t glide well (LOL).

After 19 hours of flying and 1220 miles logged, we were all home safe and sound. Had encountered no real problems but had a real fun time. We didn’t get to our beloved Whitehorse destination but we always know, there’s always next year!!!!