To Jackson Hole

The first chapter of this travelogue takes us from St. Louis, MO to Jackson Hole, WY. Click on through for pictures and narration.

We left on Friday morning to fly from St. Louis, MO to Lander, WY at the base of the Rockies. This involved traveling pretty much kitty corner across Missouri, Nebraska, and Wyoming. Missouri was very familiar, as it ought to be since we live here. Very green, lots of roads and lots of (what we consider) typical towns.

Nebraska was still pretty green but less lush and the towns were few and far between. Our first gas stop was in York, NE. A very friendly guy at the airport, an even friendlier dog, and the cheapest avgas of the trip at only $3.90 per gallon.

Nebraska held a real treat for me just about half way across the state: the town of Arthur. Not just everyone has a town named after them so, naturally, we had to take a photo turn over it. (Be sure that you click on each small photo below so that you can see the larger versions.)

Denver Center (air traffic control) had us on radar and the controller called us up when he noticed us turning toward the east. He was obviously concerned that something might be amiss. I responded that I was just taking making a 360 degree turn over Arthur, “since my name is Arthur. And a mighty fine town it is!”

A few seconds later, I heard an airline captain’s voice pouting over the radio. “I want to make a 360, too.”

The border between Nebraska and Wyoming brought the first eye-opening surprise of the trip. Irrigation and farming simply ends right there. No gentle transition. Look at this picture. I’ll bet you can guess where Nebraska ends and Wyoming begins.

We landed for gas at Camp Guernsey, WY. Relatively cheap gas at $4.27. This is a combination Air Force (west side of the field) and civilian (east side of the field) airport. They call Wyoming the “Big Sky State,” right? We learned why.

No one was about on the civilian side but there was a telephone in the terminal building with phone numbers posted on a sign which instructed us to call if we wanted fuel. As advertised, the self-service pump wouldn’t so I called one of the phone numbers. A cheerful woman answered that someone would be right out to help us and, indeed, within five minutes a cheerful man drove up and worked magic with the gas pump.

A few minutes later, we were back in the air for our last leg of the day and the first one requiring real high altitude flight. Climbing to 10,500′ and donning oxygen masks, I headed out over mountainous terrain wondering whether I could find somewhere to land if the engine quit. (All of us single-engine airplane pilots worry about that.) I quickly realized that where to land would not be a problem; there were plenty of flat areas with nothing in them to obstruct a safe landing. The question turned into: if we have to land out here, how long will it take for someone to drive out and get us? I worried more about that when Denver center dropped us from flight following services because, unless we climbed above 13,000′, he could not see us on radar. We still had a VFR flight plan so, if we failed to show up in Lander, at least the Civil Air Patrol would know where to look for us. Fortunately, everything worked perfectly and the CAP never had to come fetch us.

The scenery was stunning and well worth the bit of worry:

And we had not even gotten to the mountains.

And hour and a a half of flying brought us to Lander, WY. $5.10 for avgas hurt but but the service was better than friendly and the airport was in exactly the right spot to let us launch early for a quick morning flight into Jackson Hole.

The proprietress of the Holiday Lodge completely shocked us by being at the airport waiting for us when we landed, although we had not told her when we would be arriving. I figured that we would phone her and then just wait patiently for a lift. She worried that we would be stuck at the airport. Talk about service!

Saturday saw us up and out early for a gorgeous flight into Jackson Hole. But, as beautiful as the flight into the valley was, it cannot even compare to our first view of the Tetons as we cruised over Jackson airport at 11,500′

It’s a darned shame but we had to continue sightseeing to the north, overflying Grand Teton National Park’s Jackson Lake

and the Snake River

The weather gods blessed us with perfect weather. Sunlight everywhere and smooth skies.

Landing at Jackson airport was just like any other airport, as long as I didn’t look at the altimeter. As I began my final descent for landing, it still showed that I was at 7,500′. That is about the highest that I normally cruise at home and I was only 1,000′ above the ground. Avgas cost $5.50 per gallon but I was a tourist and I guess it costs a lot to truck it up there. Everyone at Jackson Aviation was helpful and cheerfully provided every service we could think to request (including fresh, hot, popcorn).

Avis lent us a Pumpkin

(actually an orange Ford Edge) which did a great job of taking us where we needed to go on the ground and served as the butt of many a joke. I guess Candy and I are just not SUV-people and we have not yet attained a true appreciation for the color orange.

Stay tuned for our adventures in Grand Teton National Park.