Update

Yesterday morning, I was lying in bed when the text alert on my phone went off.  "Brian canceled his planned flight this morning so the plane is free if you want it," from Bob, one of the partners.    

For months (even years), I've been hoping to take Dad on a nice plane ride.  He went up with me once but it was when the variable prop control quit working so the ride was short--and a little stressed. For much of this summer, the plane has been down or I was too busy or the weather wasn't good and I was afraid it wasn't going to come together. 

There has been a high pressure system over the area for the last few days and Saturday the weather was perfect! So I scrambled to get ready and headed south to the Spanish Fork airport where we keep the plane now.  When I pushed the button to raise the large, bi-fold door, the morning sun filled the hangar sweeping a line of light across the Mooney.  

A quick pre-flight and taxi over to the self-serve pump to fill it with fuel. Planes had been taking off every couple of minutes with the Diamond Flight School in full force but as I taxied to the end of the runway, there was no one ahead of me.  I called Mom, sticking my iPhone under one of my headphones, and told her I was heading north and hoped Dad would be up for a ride.  

As I've talked to him about it recently, he told me that his flying days were over.  He didn't really feel like he had the stamina or endurance and wouldn't enjoy it.  Still, I felt like it was something that I wanted to do--if not for him, then for me to fulfill something I had thought about a lot--and maybe he would enjoy it.  

The day was perfect for flying.  Air was cool and still.  I was at 9500 feet by the time I reached Provo Canyon and by Park City was at 11000 with a straight course for Soda Springs.  On that route, I'm over mountains most of the way.  Eleven thousand is an altitude that I could hopefully find a flat place to land in either Morgan, Logan or Bear Lake on the other side if anything were to go wrong.  

Just west of Franklin, I make out the base of Soda Peak and adjust the trim to a long gentle descent.  The airspeed picks up from 155 mph to 185 and the end of the powered glide puts me at just a few hundred feet off the deck as I fly over the ranch.  I see Mom hurriedly walking up through the yard to (as I later find) get Dad out of the coop where he's feeding chickens.

I fly out over the brown earth of potato and grain fields that have been made ready for winter after harvest and climb to a thousand feet over Grace and on around Alexander and over the reservoir to Soda Springs.  That runway always looks so small from the air--at least compared to Provo and Springville--but I land safely and taxi to the tie downs.  

Within minutes, the Cadillac comes out of town past the end of the runway and turns in to the airport.  Mom had texted me that they would just come pick me up but I hadn't tied down the plane just in case.  She rolled down the window and I asked Dad, "Are you ready to go?" 

"Can Mother go with us?" he asked.  "YES!!!" I said to myself.  With in a matter of minutes, Mom was in the back seat and Dad was next to me and we were tightening seat belts and I was going through the checklist.

We took off to the south, banked left and then again to the north.  Dad suggested we fly out towards Caribou Mountain and Grays Lake.  We climbed out over Agrium with and expansive view of the top of Woodall Mountain where Dad had spent so many years working for Simplot. It's top is carved away and the swaths of mining pits are still open with a ribbon of haul road from the bottom to the top.  

With the cruising speed of the Mooney, we were soon coming in on Grays Lake and Caribou Mountain.  We could see Bear Island clearly and pointed out the Lindstrom place that Kent leases and my place with the two exposed trailers and three shops.  

Circling around Caribou Mountain was a treat as I had never seen it from the north and east sides.  Huge stands of pines and massive rock slides with snow.  The air above the valleys was severe clear and we could see the Tetons to the north and the Wind Rivers to the east.  We flew over Palisades which looked to be nearly empty of water and then turned south over Star Valley Ranch and on to Afton, Wyoming.  

We flew south and at Montpeiler angled west with a view of Bear Lake and the Bear River running north.  It was mid day by now and a few thermals were developing over the mountains so we hit a few bumps.  I was worried about Mom but she just closed her eyes, leaned back, did a little pressure breathing and was fine.  

We came out over Ant Canyon and then banked north in a descending turn that brought us right down over the house again.  Back out across the farms, over Grace, Alexander to Soda.  

This time, we landed from the north flying right over Monsanto as one of the pot trucks was dumping its molten orange load down the side of the slag mountain.  Landing was good and we back-taxied back to the car.  All had gone well and it had been a beautiful flight.  I was glad that Dad had enjoyed it, looking at the scenery moving underneath us.  Every time I asked him if he wanted to head back he said, "Not really."   Here's a short video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOxB-JQoBKw&feature=youtu.be

No sooner had we landed than Don rides in on his motorcycle.  "I saw you fly over! That plane has a distinctive sound." In a few minutes, he was back with Grant and Abbey as they had never been up in a small plane.  We took off to the south, flying directly up Eight Mile between Sherman and Soda Peaks and then down over Ant Canyon, over the farm again and back to Soda. 

Dan had seen us fly over and was on his way to Soda for parts with Flint so they were waiting when we landed.  Flint had never been in a small plane and we were soon flying past Woodall and then over China Hat and Dike Lake with Flint at the controls.  

I had to teach Sunday so headed back south after dropping them off.  A quick fuel stop in Logan.  Where I debated calling Ben but I didn't want to push my luck with so many rides in one day so I just texted him to look up as I flew over his house!   I  left Springville at about 9:45 am and was back on the ground with the plane in the hangar a little after 4 pm.  It was an awesome day!!! 

In other pictures on my phone this week, Brian Voigt was here for a couple of days and stayed with me.  We had a delightful time as we dropped in on Lisa Leavitt, a friend of ours from college who many of you know.  Brian's daughter Gillian had Lisa as a professor at BYU which was news as the last we had heard of her, she was working as a morticians assistant in Calgary, Canada and doing hair for the deceased! Well, she is now a full fledged psychologist and working at the counseling center at BYU as well as with her own clients with a speciality in pediatric trauma.  She has 38 nieces and nephews (from family of 9) helps her family who many live in the area (parents are still in London) and has been the relief society president in the same ward the Richard McClendon lived in after he got married.  Very fun to catch up although I should have gotten a picture of the three of us.  She said that she had been called to help a suicidal student at 3 a.m. in the morning once and it turned out to be in Brian and I's old apartment! She said it still had the same carpet--and mold--and that could have been the cause of the poor person's despair!