Twin Falls, Idaho and how to follow our progress

We just landed in Twin Falls, Idaho. It was a nice flight from Spokane. We flew most of the time at 12,000 ft in order to clear some big mountains. It’s amazing the amount of roads there are. Even the most treacherous peaks and valleys have little dirt roads winding up and down and all around, for logging I think.

I slept for most of the flight. The only real event was when Mel had to take a pee. First he tried to climb past me into the back to relieve himself, but a charlie horse limited his mobility and, given the urgency of the situation, he had to handle things right up front. When he was done he put the coffee cup into the back of the copilot’s seat, mere inches from where my face had been when I was sleeping. I eyed the dinky plastic lid and decided that the views were just too precious to go back to sleep.

You can see exactly where we are using flighttracker.com. Our tail number is C-FVFN.

I’m writing from Spokane! Which means the trip has begun! Yes, we are only a little over one hour and 120 miles into it, but still, the fact that we have left is huge. It was a strange experience, the whole pre-depature process. Even this morning we didn’t know if we would be able to leave, and given all the unexpected snags that have come up, we were careful not to get expecations up. We had decided not to check out of the hotel or return the rental car until we got the final 100% go ahead to fly, and sure enough, something came up that looked as if it might keep us in Penticton another day. Dave, the boss of the crew working on the plane, told me that before we left he wanted to talk to Bill, my boss, about the final costs. Unfortuantely, Bill went into the jungle yesterday and, though he has a satellite phone he can reach us by, we have no way of calling him. Luckily, Danilo was able to reach a colleague of his in Shell, the last frontier town before the jungle, who was able to send an IM to a guy who was with Bill, and within a few long moments, Bill and Dave we’re on talking. Evidently they saw things more or less the same way because Dave gave us the thumbs up. We called in our flight plan, filled up with gas, and took off to the north, banked hard right and looked one last time at our beloved Penticton, and headed south, towards the border. When we arrived in Spokane we taxied over to customs. That went smoothly and quickly. Then our plane was hauled over to a spot where it will spend the night next to to huge private jets, looking like a likeable but frumpy mutt next to the Westminster purebreds.

1) the whole crew, just before take off, 2) Danilo, as we bank over Penticton, 3) somewhere in northeast washington

Tomorrow is go time…knock on wood

Savvy aviator that I am, I know that you’re never en route until the rubber leaves the asphalt, as Lindbergh used to say. But if all goes as is planned/hoped, we should leave Penticton, British Columbia sometime around noon tomorrow and arrive in Spokane an hour and a bit later.

I’ve been in Penticton since August 16 and am ready to go. But as anxious as I am, I’m a study in patience compared to Danilo, the thirty-something Ecuadorian pilot, and Mel, the retiree from St Louis who is the head pilot for Wings of Hope and the ferry pilot for our journey to Ecuador. They are really ready to go.

Moods are high now that think that tomorrow might really be, finally, departure day. Mel and Danilo, neither of whom speaks the others’ language, are playing cards at this very moment, basking in the non-verbal joys of competition. I am sitting outside the room, a cool evening breeze brushing by.

I’ve posted some pictues below. They are of) 1) the plane, 2) Santi, the Achuar mechanic who left yesterday, 3) Mel, me and Freddy, the aviation inspector sent by the the Ecuadorian Government to certify the plane, 4) Danilo, an RCMP, and Santi at the Ironman Triathlon, 5) me and my balls, and 6) the start of the triathlon

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