·:[ Darryl's Coot Building Journal ]:·
• • • • •

I began my return journey from Blackhawk Airfield (8Y7) near Madison, Wisconsin, to Harvey Field (S43) near Seattle, WA. Last night (Wednesday) the weather was looking iffy. There was an area of scattered thunderstorms forecast along my route. Everything looked doable into central Minnesota. I flight-planned a hop to Mankato Regional Airport (MKT) and then one route straight west [MKT-->Aberdeen, SD (ABR)-->Bowman, ND (BPP)] and an alternative route to the north [MKT-->Wheaton, MN, Municipal (KETH)--> Bismarck Municipal (Y19)--> Frank Wiley Field in Miles City, MT (MLS)].

The first stop was for fuel at Morey (C29). I departed Blackhawk at 6:52 CDT, with my mother and step father waiving from the sidelines, and landed at Morey some 30 minutes later (I skirted under the MSN Class-C airspace). I was off the ground at Morey at 7:36.

As forecast, the weather to Mankato was perfect. I landed at 9:54 CDT and tied the plane down so I could do some additional flight planning. As it happened, the westward route looked a little better than the northwest route. I had had a tailwind heading out of Wisconsin and the winds aloft looked like more of the same through Montana. I departed MKT at 11:10 CDT for the leg to ABR. Things got a little bumpy along the route at 4,500′, but not unmanageably so.

Touchdown at ABR was 1:20 pm CDT. I spun the plane around in the middle of the 7,000′ runway and announced my back-taxi as if I knew what I was doing (well…I really did, this time). When the kid working the line asked me what kind of fuel I needed, I said, “Mogas, please.” To my surprise, he pointed to a fixed tank down at the end of FBO row. Cool! Why hadn’t I asked for mogas the first time I was here?

Aberdeen was hot at 1:56 pm CDT, departure time. And I expected plenty of light chop on the way to Bowman, ND. But, there was a light cloud cover to the west of ABR and the flight was silky smooth at 4,500′. About 40 miles out from Bowman, ND, the distinct fuzz of heavy rain was visible right where I wanted to go. Not only that, but I was watching the cell grow before my eyes. My alternate was Hettinger, ND, Municipal Airport (HEI), a “little” (4,800′ strip) that supposedly had fuel.

I flew by HEI with an estimated 70 minutes of fuel on board…I flew an extra 15 miles toward the cell just to be sure it really was where I though it was. It was. Not only that, I could see lightening strikes to the ground. I pulled a 180 degree turn, and headed for HEI.

I was met by a guy who does double duty of harvesting and attending to airplanes. He helped me get started with the fueling. I though I’d simply wait for the cell to move to the north—perhaps for an hour or so—and continue on to MLS for the night. I pulled out the laptop and started checking the weather while sitting on the ramp. After about 20 minutes, a second cell sprouted to the south. It grew very fast. There was daylight between the original cell and the new cell, but given how fast the second cell popped up, I was not about to try flying between them.

Another friendly airport guy walked up to me and said, “That storm is going to pass right over us in 10 minutes. You have three choices: fly between them, fly about 80 miles to the south to get around ‘em, or we can put your plane in the hanger for the night.” It turns out they had a car I could use, so I did a quick internet search for motels in Hettinger, ND, called, and learned that there was a room.

Five minutes later I was taxing into a hangar as the rain let loose. Apparently there was some hail at the motel, too. So, that’s where the tale ends for tonight. I am told the best steak house in the area is right around the corner from the motel.