Tent up on the grass at the edge of fueling paved area, we had beef jerky “steak” and water for dinner and loved it. Awake just after dawn we heard what sounded like sprinklers. Poking my head out I noted heads right along the edge of the parking area, pointing directly at our tent. We quickly drug the tent out of range, mere seconds before the sprinkler cycled on! Saturday June 5 Day 2. Left Coeur D’Alene (M flying) shortly after dawn, landing at Thompson Falls (THM) MT for breakfast. We were delighted with this small airport featuring open approaches, good runway, pilot lounge, fuel and courtesy car.
Breakfast consists of bottled water and breakfast bars while we studied the sectional on Isabo’s elevator. It felt like heaven to be off on this amazing trip, doing the “classic map on elevator” thing. Departed for Ronan (7S0) (J flying). After fueling, flew southeast past Helena, MT arriving at Three Forks MT (9S5) where I made a landing at pattern height over 5,000 feet. Hot and breezy. Attendant at FBO told us “Little ladies, in this part of the country we fly early in the morning and by now are settling into a hotel to spend the afternoon around the pool” It was around 1:00 and we discounted his advice labeling him a “sexist”. We are woman, we are pilot, we can fly when we want. A little heat isn’t going to stop us. Departed about 1:30 (M flying). Heading through flathead pass and out over a valley toward the Crazy Mountains. We found them aptly named. We flew just over their southern trailing edge finding the entire route to be hot, very turbulent and thoroughly miserable - Crazy. Michelle was exhausted from trying to keep Isabo straight and level and I was nearly airsick. Arrived Columbus, MT (6S3) about 3:00. Total distance 98.7 nm and it took us 1.5 hours. I called Mike to announce our location by saying “We have officially arrived in hell”. A courtesy car, good food, gallons of water and a motel with good beds, quickly improved our opinion.Sunday June 6 Day 3 Decided to eat a full breakfast, thinking that part of the reason we were so tired the day before is because we had not eaten. Departed Columbus about 7:30 am. (M flying)
Flew over Big Horn Canyon taking many photos. At Sheridan (SHR), WY. Spent time fueling, checking sectional then left for Devils Tower (J flying). 
We flew around and around the tower taking pictures from every angle. It was like being in the movie “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”. Continued on with Black Hills-Clyde Ice, SD (SPF) as our next stop. Elevation is 3931, but we learned upper 90’s temp has density altitude at 7,400. I made my first grass landing of the trip, second in my career, with base turn right over I-90. Not a beautiful landing, but nothing to be ashamed of either. Greeted by a young man who offered to “top us up” an offer in retrospect, that we should have declined.
We took a long break, studying a huge aeronautical map that covered all of one wall in the pilot lounge and featured a measuring string which fascinated us as we’d not seen such a thing before. Density altitude had not changed when we departed, but Isabo took to the air smoothly and efficiently. (M flying). Our plan was to pass Sturgis and climb southeast to Custer County, SD (CUT) Elevation 5602, where we would stay the night. Since it was early afternoon, we would have plenty of time to be tourists and see Mt Rushmore from the ground. Here is where our fueling decision came into play. While Isabo took off handily in the density altitude, she was not climbing well and began to overheat after we passed Sturgis. We stopped the climb and circled, but the needle continued to rise toward red. A quick mutual decision turned us for the 5-mile trip back to Sturgis (49B) SD. We landed in horrible heat and the place seemed deserted. Eventually we found a mechanic who directed us to the pilot lounge, and we stepped inside. Its air conditioned! Oh heavenly cool air. There were two recliners so we settled in, reading, napping and keeping a sharp eye on the outside temp. We kept expecting it would cool down so we could depart. Temp rose from mid to high 90’s and held. We used the courtesy car and drove into town, sight-see a bit (too dispirited to even remember to take pictures) got a meal and a room and spent the night. Monday, June 7. Day 4 Now we had well and truly learned our lesson about early flying so were pre-flighting in the dark,
and took pictures of the sun just breaking the horizon as we headed SE to take a look at Mt Rushmore from the air We found the mountain without problem and marveled at it as we flew past, (M flying) Me taking photos. We also circled and get some good shots of the huge rock carving of Chief Crazy Horse. I vowed to return and enjoy these monuments doing the tourist thing on the ground. 
We turned east to overfly Bandlands National Park. Amazing. Stark. Stunning. We could hardly contain our excitement, constantly urging each other to “Look at that!” We circled and took pictures and I found myself imaging what it would have been like to be traveling west in a covered wagon and find yourself confronted with this seemingly impassible, tortured land! Our next stop is Wall (6V4) SD where there are no services, or people. A short stop and we’re on our way. 
Our route follows I-90 across miles and miles of flat South Dakota and on into Minnesota. Its farm land that all looks alike. Little towns popped up on either side of the highway, each with water tower, grain silos and clumps of tree, all as identical as the land around them. As we move into Minnesota the lakes increased, but there were so many we could hardly determine which one’s were passing. Our planned stop was Worthington MN (OTG) but high winds across the runway changed our plans so we continued on to the next airport along I-90. Jackson (MJQ) offered a grass runway right into the wind now at 32 knots. M was flying and I was damn glad she was! The wind is so strong that tall grass is laying down flat. On the base turn it felt like the wind wanted to tip Isabo over. I could tell that M was a bit nervous herself, but she made an excellent landing and Isabo came to almost an immediate stop – with no application of brakes. The combination of grass and high wind simply stopped us. We taxied in with great care, the wind buffeting us like we’ve never experienced. The only tie downs were right out in the open, tail into the wind. Fortunately the guy running the FBO came out and offered us parking on the leeward side of the FBO, encouraging us to cozy in as close as possible where he double-chocked Isabo. We were happy to be down and safely secured. Offered the courtesy car, we headed into town for lunch. The wind continued to blow so hard that birds could not fly – I do not exaggerate! While we were eating a small bird was blown into the bushes near the window and hung on for dear life, seemingly grateful for a bit of respite. Realizing that flying was not going to happen we used the car to explore the area and ended up driving south into Iowa visiting Spirit Lake. Back at the airport, we inflated the bed and slept in the FBO lounge with the wind trying to blow the door open. Tuesday, June 8, Day 5 Continuing along I-90 the route was long, flat and boring. To break the monotony I dropped down to 500 feet and 500 feet from the freeway and zoomed along for several minutes enjoying the feeling of speed and imagining the response of people in cars. “Hey Pa, there’s a plane right over there!” I envisioned photos of us appearing in family albums. Our first stop was Prairie du Chien (PDC) in Wisconsin. We had not realized the airport was over the state line, so inadvertently added another State!
Departing, I was thrilled to fly southeast along the Mississippi. I’d always pictured it being a wide river and it is, but it’s so dotted with islands and swampy areas that it seems much smaller or like several individual rivers. The 158nm on to Joliet (JOT) IL was long and difficult, with visibility lousy, ceilings low, lots of haze. The entire area is riddled with huge radio towers that are 3-4 thousand feet high (AGL) with invisible guy wires spreading a mile around them. There are no hills, to put towers on here. Its flat flat flat. I was flying and M followed carefully on the sectional alerting to upcoming tower hazards. We were both tired when we reach Joliet, but took a short break and M took the pilots seat. We were anxious to reach our final destination. Humidity and heat rose as we rounded the end of Lake Michigan and turned north for our final miles. We were getting good at spotting airports now and had little problem finding the green jewel that is Watervliet (40C). M made her usual excellent landing and we were guided to a parking spot by our host. We had just flown 1,697 nm and the first half of The Great Adventure was complete.
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