Inching along

(Saturday's post)
Friday night, after I checked back into the hotel, I got a call from my cousin who had just returned to Winnipeg from business in Minneapolis. He insisted on picking me up and going out to his cottage on Lake Winnipeg, near Gimli. So I checked out of the hotel and still had to pay, even though I'd only been there for 3 hours - no housekeeping or day rate, because apparently the housekeeping staff had gone home for the night. Oh well.

Barry drove us out to his cottage, while I checked with Harv's air to make sure they would put the plane in the hanger for the night. Barry's cottage is in an area that is very reminiscent of Point Roberts or Boundary Bay or parts of Birch Bay -- smaller, older cottages on treed lots that have been in families for years. Many are only 3 seasons, but some people are now living year round now. Lake Winnipeg is a huge lake, but it's maximum depth is only 35 feet. So it freezes every year, and during the spring breakup, the wind can push the ice around. It's not uncommon to get ice jammed and being pushed right up onto lawns and decks, causing a fair bit of damage. Anybody who has a dock has to remove it, pilings included, for the winter, or the ice will grind it away.

But in the summer, when I saw it, it's a very very pleasant area.

Anyway, we did have a large thunderstorm overnight, lots of rain and lightning but no hail. I was glad the plane got into the hanger regardless.

The next morning, Barry drove me back to the airport and again I waited for the weather to clear. Only this time it was lots of low cloud at 700 ft trying to be fog. Once the wind came up, it all cleared out and I was off towards Brandon by 1030am.

But it was very windy with the cloud ceiling at 3500 ft. I flew at 2500 ft, partly because of a NOTAM that restricts VFR flight in Winnipeg airspace to less than 3000 ft (too many controllers on vacation), and partly because the winds increased significantly with altitude. The wind was directly against me -- talk about swimming upstream in rapids. There were places where my ground speed was only 65 knots! That's a 30 knot headwind (I had slowed down to what's called "maneuvering speed" for safety). It's was a little bumpy but not as bad as you might think - no sudden screaming changes in altitude or attitude.

The forecast was calling for better winds and higher ceilings later in the day, so when I got to Brandon I hung around the Brandon Flying Club. Another very nice club, and most members have their own planes. Gas was $1.44 -- most clubs have been cheaper than Shell or Esso FBOs. About 4pm, the wind still hadn't let up and the clouds were actually getting lower, and the dispatcher offered to give me a ride to a hotel, so I called it a day. Only flew 1.9 hours -- and a few inches on the map.

So I spent the evening planning and resolved to get up very early and get moving. Maybe Lethbridge...