Alaska State Flower

We left Maryland on July 3, 1988 and arrived back home on July 22. We flew for 25 hours (at 150 mph) to reach Alaska via Canada and 25 hours to return. We flew another 50 hours within the state of Alaska. Joyce piloted most of the way to Alaska and all the way home. Our return flight included a non-stop flight from Ketchikan to Bellingham, Washington, and a night camping in Idaho. Bob piloted inside Alaska.  The weather was "interesting", but never enough to stop us. Instrument flying (in the clouds)  is usually not possible because of the very high mountains.

We stayed in hotels only a few times - preferring the tent camp under the wing. Due to careful planning and self-imposed strict rules about everything, we brought all of our emergency supplies back home (unused) with us. We still have some of them 16 years later.

The 1980 Piper T-Tailed Arrow (N8185E) performed well - even in and out of some small airports at near gross weight. Communications and navigation electronics  were sparse in some parts of the trip. This was before GPS was available. Our Northstar Loran, charts, and flying experience were the primary guides.

We have flown in all 50 states, as well as many parts of Canada and the Bahamas.  Together we have owned two airplanes over a 13 year part of our 33 years of marriage. We have flown across the United States multiple times with the Grand Canyon and a little airport in northern Idaho being favorite resting spots.

On the Alaska trip, Bob took about 250 pictures as Ektachrome slides with his Olympus OM-2. (That's about how many digital pictures I now take every travel day in 2004. A few years ago I digitized all my thousands of film slides so I can now create web travelogs.)

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