Odyssey 9

World Odyssey

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America, America

Saturday 7 July

Valdez is a disaster. Its our third day here and we still haven’t found any decent clubs. To make matters worse, the fog just isn’t going away. Pilots are reporting better weather twenty miles to the south. We leave Valdez and fly low along the jagged coastline. Fifty feet below us is icy water, complete with little icebergs. Fifty feet above us is solid cloud. We’re sandwiched in the middle, with little margin for error. Twenty miles out the fog lifts and we make a bee-line to Canada to get out of this weather system.

Summit of Mt. Rainier Summit of the exploded volcano St. Helens

Tuesday 10 July

A pleasant day flying over the summit of Mt. Rainier to Mt. St. Helens. This is the volcano that exploded in 1980 and left a huge crater in what was once a perfectly conical mountain. A fierce 40 knot wind is blowing from the north, so we continue along the Oregon coast at Mach 1, occasionally streaking by sea lions until we reach San Francisco. A couple of days rest in the Bay Area and we’ll be off to Las Vegas and the great American desert.

Friday 14 July

Las Vegas hotels need their own zip codes. Each of these theme-park monsters could be renamed “Disney World meets Shopping Center”, with endless shops, restaurants, bars and casinos. I am in awe of the efficiency with which these places drain pockets. We are tempted to gamble, but go cold turkey as we need the heli to finish our trip.

We leave Las Vegas and continue to Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon. The Americans have perfected the art of supporting general aviation, so we have no administrative troubles since Alaska. We even manage not to break any laws, with the minor exception of a felony of landing in the Grand Canyon National Park. Thankfully we take off before the rangers arrive.

We fly over some of this planet’s most amazing colors and landscapes in the Bryce Canyon area.

Monday 16 July

Two days of flying over one huge cornfield, otherwise known as the Mid West, brings us to Toronto. Since leaving Alaska, we have had no wildlife to chase. We fly over thousands of cows, but they are too slow to be fun. Even at eye level, we’re a mile past them before they lift their heads. One more day of this boring stuff and we will be in NY. We’ll find some animals there for sure.