Caveman
Well Known Member
A couple of years ago, my daughter and I attended the Black Hills RV fly-in. When we came home and showed the pictures to the family and talked about the good time we had, my wife mentioned that she would like to go up there some time. Well that time had come. In addition to the Black Hills, and with an interest in western history, I planned to include a trip to Montana to see the Little Bighorn battleground, the Fetterman massacre site, and then Fort Phil Kearney. If there was time and the weather allowed, I wanted to see Yellowstone N.P. from the air. In the Black Hills, we wanted to spend more time and see Rushmore and Crazy Horse from both on the ground and from the air. One of the things we?d missed at the Vetterman fly-in due to the lack of ground transportation was the Mammoth dig at Hot Springs, S.D. So, that was also put on the agenda.
Flight planning and especially weather checking took place over several days. If I?ve learned one thing over the years as a cross country VFR pilot, it is that I need to be very flexible and let the weather be the boss. I try to plan the trip with enough options that I can let the weather make the decisions for me. We originally intended to go the Black Hills first, but there was a low pressure system to the West of that area that would impact the trip. So, the day before our planned departure, I called Edwards Jet Center at Billings Logan International and inquired about a rental car. They not only fixed us up, but also suggested hotel accommodations and made the reservation for us. Fuel price was high but the service was outstanding and fees were waived after a top off.
The morning of the trip, we stayed on the ground watching the weather at home base until around 11 am. It appeared that with a more Northerly flight path, I could land at McCook, Ne. for fuel and then take off, fly North a ways and then break to the Northwest and stay VFR. The flight came together as planned. We did encounter marginal VFR conditions for about 60 or 70 miles and we flew through a quite a bit of rain, but it was within my personal weather minimums. I have XM weather on the 696 and did not fly through anything but the lightest two shades of green. I visually compare the 696 display with what my eyes were seeing. There was no lightning in the area and the visibility remained good enough that it was not a concern. We broke into the CAVU conditions near Gillette, WY. and landed at Billings Logan. Edward?s linemen met us in force. Three guys showed up in a pickup truck and bent over backwards to make sure we were refueled and helped me tie down. I asked where to pick up our car and they pointed to the crew cab Dodge Dakota they were driving and said, ?That is it.? Cool! We felt right at home as we own a couple of pickups ourselves. We stayed at the Crown Plaza.
The next morning we took the truck to the Bighorn battle site. I thought we?d likely spend two or three hours there and drive to Sheridan, WY and then South to the Fetterman site. Wrong! It turned out that there was more to see than I?d imagined and we did not leave until 3:30 pm. The Reno / Benteen site and museum were very worthwhile and we attended a ranger?s presentation that had me on the edge of my seat with his narrative of what happened.
This was on a Sunday and not knowing if the Fetterman site was even open we decided that we didn?t have anything else to do, so what the heck. We headed South for 70 miles. Luckily the Fetterman site and Fort Phil Kearny both allowed access with walking trails and sign posts.
The Fort museum was closed when we got there, though. We then headed for the Wagon Box battle site but we were getting hungry. We found a nice log building restaurant in Story, Wy. where we had a very good meal. Realizing we were pretty tired and had a long trip ahead of us back to the hotel, we decided to skip the Wagon Box site and head on back to Billings.
To be continued...
Flight planning and especially weather checking took place over several days. If I?ve learned one thing over the years as a cross country VFR pilot, it is that I need to be very flexible and let the weather be the boss. I try to plan the trip with enough options that I can let the weather make the decisions for me. We originally intended to go the Black Hills first, but there was a low pressure system to the West of that area that would impact the trip. So, the day before our planned departure, I called Edwards Jet Center at Billings Logan International and inquired about a rental car. They not only fixed us up, but also suggested hotel accommodations and made the reservation for us. Fuel price was high but the service was outstanding and fees were waived after a top off.
The morning of the trip, we stayed on the ground watching the weather at home base until around 11 am. It appeared that with a more Northerly flight path, I could land at McCook, Ne. for fuel and then take off, fly North a ways and then break to the Northwest and stay VFR. The flight came together as planned. We did encounter marginal VFR conditions for about 60 or 70 miles and we flew through a quite a bit of rain, but it was within my personal weather minimums. I have XM weather on the 696 and did not fly through anything but the lightest two shades of green. I visually compare the 696 display with what my eyes were seeing. There was no lightning in the area and the visibility remained good enough that it was not a concern. We broke into the CAVU conditions near Gillette, WY. and landed at Billings Logan. Edward?s linemen met us in force. Three guys showed up in a pickup truck and bent over backwards to make sure we were refueled and helped me tie down. I asked where to pick up our car and they pointed to the crew cab Dodge Dakota they were driving and said, ?That is it.? Cool! We felt right at home as we own a couple of pickups ourselves. We stayed at the Crown Plaza.
The next morning we took the truck to the Bighorn battle site. I thought we?d likely spend two or three hours there and drive to Sheridan, WY and then South to the Fetterman site. Wrong! It turned out that there was more to see than I?d imagined and we did not leave until 3:30 pm. The Reno / Benteen site and museum were very worthwhile and we attended a ranger?s presentation that had me on the edge of my seat with his narrative of what happened.
This was on a Sunday and not knowing if the Fetterman site was even open we decided that we didn?t have anything else to do, so what the heck. We headed South for 70 miles. Luckily the Fetterman site and Fort Phil Kearny both allowed access with walking trails and sign posts.
The Fort museum was closed when we got there, though. We then headed for the Wagon Box battle site but we were getting hungry. We found a nice log building restaurant in Story, Wy. where we had a very good meal. Realizing we were pretty tired and had a long trip ahead of us back to the hotel, we decided to skip the Wagon Box site and head on back to Billings.
To be continued...