The First Adventure of Many With the RV6
Friday, Sep. 26 saw Yvonne and I catch the “red eye” at 01:00 to Fredericton arriving at 10:30 local time. I was checked out in the RV6 by Wayne and after a quick lunch filed a flight plan to Roberval, Quebec. This was necessary since Hurricane Kyle was coming. At Roberval we were met by a friendly fuel-up man who showed us where to tie down for the night and suggested the Chateau Roberval for the night. It was a short taxi ride to the hotel where a good meal awaited us. The next morning required a 2 hour delay to leave due to fog so we went for a walk down to the lake and river. Yvonne asked the lady at the checkout desk if Roberval was know for more than just blueberries and cheese. She said that it was also know for 10 women for every man and that is why she moved there from Montreal. It was a 2 ¾ scenic and smooth flight to Timmins, Ontario. After refueling we found out that it was IFR further west so we tied down the RV6, rented a car and headed to town for a hotel and late lunch. We had the opportunity to again walk around a town we had never been to and get ready for Sunday. On Sunday we were again delayed leaving due to low clouds. From Timmins we flew west and found the first part of the flight quite bumpy and required some diverting around low clouds. There was some rain but west of Marathon the sky was clear and the ride flying became smooth. After refueling at Thunder Bay we found the weather was not great for our planned route but suggested we fly to Kenora which we did. The ride was bumpy the whole way and there was a strong crosswind when landing at Kenora. Again we refueled and checked the weather to the west. This time it was suggested we fly to Yorkton Saskatchewan which we agreed. We again had a bumpy ride along with a strong headwind. However, we gained 2 hours due to time change. The strong wind required us to land on the gravel runway which actually worked out quite well. After refueling we were given keys to a courtesy van to drive into town. We found a hotel and a good restaurant and after a long day of flying went to bed early. Of note, even though most of the day was bumpy Yvonne did not have to use the sick bag. On Monday we again were delayed leaving due to low clouds over Yorkton. However, a short distance west of Yorkton we soon were in sunny skies which we had all the way back to Edmonton. The air was smooth which was a pleasant change from the day before. After a quick stop in North Battleford for fuel and we were again back in the air arriving at Villeneuve at 13:30. Kim, Judah and Finley arrived a short time later to pick us up. Judah got a short ride to Sandy Lake and back and then we were entertained by Bill Carter who flew his airshow routine. All in all it was a great adventure, we saw a lot of country and found out that Yvonne is a very good navigator.
October 4th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
Sounds exciting and I am not surprised at your good navigating Yvonne. Congratulations Charlie, very exciting for you I am sure!!!
love you guys,
Dolores