Look Ma, I’m in da mountains!

Saturday: Took a morning run with wife, did a three minute Crossfit workout that took 45 minutes to recover from, and then tested my luck taking a standup paddle board down the Boise River. Afterward, sampled more beers than I can count at the all-you-can-drink beer festival and finished the day eating fried chicken and sweet potato pie at a soul food festival.

Sunday: Wake up thinking, “Wow, drinking hurts now that I’m middle-aged!” (33 yrs old, two kids & mortgage = middle-aged) “Coffee will fix it! Now, how am I going to top yesterday?” Insert long five-hour period of pondering: “Flying! Mountains! Fresh Air! Hamburger! That will top yesterday!!”

By that time, it’s the middle of the day. It’s hot, small thunderstorms are on the horizon, and the 180hp Cessna 172s, which are the preferred mountain birds, are unavailable. I call up William, my “unofficial mentor,” who gets a weekly call from me whether he likes it or not. “William, it’s Ron. Sorry to bother you again. You think N61870 will make it to McCall? Will the thunderstorms kill me today?” There is a long pause, during which I can hear him thinking, “Why did I give this guy my cell phone?” “No, Ron,” he replies, “If you could figure out how to open up a POH and look at the charts or get a weather briefing, you would know this.” I take that as, I’m good to go! “Thanks, William. I’m out!”

Enter Jon Oh, who came as my wife’s test dummy because I wanted to check out McCall before I flew the family in there. He’s never been in a small plane before, so he can’t judge my flying. He’s super happy and positive, so I will get words of encouragement even if I break the landing gear. He’s been thoroughly quizzed about whether he gets motion sickness (172’s are a barf free zone), and unlike most of my friends, he doesn’t weigh 250 lbs—so I should be able to clear the mountain tops.

So, the plan is to fly to Horseshoe Bend, follow the highway to Cascade (U70), follow Cascade reservoir to McCall (MYL), walk into town to have dinner, head West and follow the opposite side of the Council mountain range to Council (U82), then continue South past Emmet and back into Boise before it gets dark.

*For the record, William Foote is a damn good instructor at Ponderosa Aero Club! If you are looking to learn how to fly, I highly recommend that you talk with him.