My preflight planning had just started with a phone call to see what the weather would be like the next day when I was advised to leave soon or delay the trip for 3 days, needless to say we had seen enough winter weather so we started packing (11 am).
     Backus airport 9:30 PM in 3 miles visibility, fog, and light mist. We burrowed into our Cessna 172 and I blew the kids a kiss goodnight, It was an in the ballpark kiss because I couldn't see them through all of the “bare necessities” that my wife said we needed, and off we flew into the marginal weather. We headed south to Dubuque Iowa, which had 24 hr. fuel. My wife had agreed to stay awake and help me navigate. A little south of Mpls., the weather improved, as forecast, and I gained some altitude but lost my copilot to the drone of the Cessna purring along, so dredging up my former truck driving skills I turned up the stereo and headed for Dubuque, Iowa. There is a quality of life thing when you're flying in dark smooth air listening to music, with your family sleeping and no one else around. I half expected to see Cheryl Tiege flirting with me as she passed by.  Then I realized why no one else was around, my GPS was only showing a ground speed of 75 knots I had a head wind of almost 35 kts, well we made it to Dubuque.
     1:00 AM. We left Dubuque, refueled, refreshed and relieved (no bathrooms on this plane) the only problem was we had reached the end of my hurried flight planning so we headed southeast and entered Kissimmee, Florida into the GPS.  We were happy, well actually, I was “Happy” my wife was “Sleepy” and the kids were… GOD I hope the kids were still…Yes the kids were “Dreamy”. Before the trip would end some of the other “dwarfs” would appear “Stupid”,  “Grumpy”, “Whiny” but mostly "happy".
     We landed at Owensboro, Kentucky at 4:45am and couldn't find any fuel so we slept for a couple of hr.. We awoke to birds singing and no SNOW. We refueled the plane and the people let us use their courtesy car so we went up town to eat, by now I was fast approaching the “Stupid” character and proceeded to get lost and wound up at McDonalds.  The kids got to use up some energy before being immersed into the back seat of the Cessna AGAIN. With my 4 yr. old boy humming some monotone song into the intercom I said good bye to the Owensboro tower and headed southeast, by now the plane almost headed SE on its own.  Next stop La Grange, Ga., we had landed there before and we had enough fuel so off we went near Nashville, Ky., Chattanooga, Tn., and the beautiful mtns. of the area. I left “Stupid” in Owensboro and I was now working on a new character yet to be named, somewhere between “Dull” and “Comatose” but we landed safely and my wife took over most of the duties that required speech. I still had enough sense to call it a day and tackle the busy airspace of Florida the next day.
     Gorgeous day but believe it or not we still had the big head wind that we encountered in Iowa. Florida's airspace requires “Sharpie” to take over and with lots of help from the GPS, and my wife, we were getting close. The final altitude and vector from Orlando approach took us over Disney World at 1000 ft, very exciting. We began our 3 days in Florida waiting in line but no SNOW. We ended our 3 days in Florida waiting in line; “Grumpy” and “Whiny” had emerged. DO NOT fall for the time-share gimmick I was to the point of wishing I had my long underwear on instead of shorts.
     A short hop on Saturday Morning brought us to Ft. Pierce, Fl. We had landed there for the last bit of fuel and the free use of life jackets with a purchase. Well that was the previous owner and we ended up renting these life jackets even with a Grammy winning performance by “Whiny”. With an international flight plan filed we took off and headed, where else, SE out over the ocean to circumnavigate the scattered showers that were forecast off shore. We found a solid wall of rain which turned us south about 60 miles before we could find a bright spot to fly through and get back on course all the while using up precious fuel reserves. The weather did break up and we climbed from our precarious altitude of less than 1000 ft. to a more comfortable 3500 ft. but even with some altitude when you can't see land every insignificant item becomes a major concern. Being the fearless leader I had to hide these from my family, do you know how many rivets there are on the wings of a Cessna? I do now. Then we saw the iridescent blues and greens of the water signaling shallower water and land nearby and even though we would have to make an unscheduled fuel stop in Nassau and clear customs, we had again found the Bahamas. The last 1-½ hr flight down the Exuma cays (pronounced Keys) was gorgeous and uneventful.
      As we were loading the taxi, the gentleman asked me which of those twin engine airplanes were mine. He was not looking at me and my obvious economic statue, yeh right, but to our huge pile of “bare necessities”, I just lied and said “That One” because no one would believe that all of that stuff plus two kids and two adults could legally or otherwise fit in a Cessna 172.

Denny “love the islands” Williams

     Denny Williams is a flight instructor with over 3000 hr. This was the third trip from Minnesota into various islands of the Bahamas and even though it took 41 hr. round trip to fly 3500 nautical miles (because of head winds both directions). They have booked this private home on the beach for two weeks in 1999. What would he change? “We need a bigger plane, the kids will be two years older and I will be two years heavier”. Questions on the Bahamas? 218-947-3100

     Our next trip ,1999, was in a very nice old Apache, better then the Cessna, but very little useful load. 2001 saw us in our Seneca 1. It hauled 4 adults and 2 kids plus baggage. By far the most comfortable trip for myself. The 4 passengers in the back were a little crowed after a days travel. I now have over 5500 hr. and am considering a change in destinations, Belize, Honduras, Costa Rica ? any suggestions?  flyaird@uslink.net

Visit http://www.uslink.net/~flyaird and click on Bahamas