Fly Kaplan Air Day 2

Thur., Sept 23^rd

Today’s adventure did not involve airplanes at all.  The day began with an invigorating hike on the Blue Basin Overlook trail in the in the John Day Fossil Beds. We hiked around a hill through the extraordinary mountains reminiscent of Cappadocia in Turkey. The rock carvings look like rows of whirling dervish skirts.

After the hike and lunch in the Golden Spur Café we headed back toward the airport. We stopped at a gas station to fill the gas tank on our “courtesy car” and noticed that the engine was on overheat. It was scary to remove the cap on the radiator but the antifreeze was draining out as we watched and there was no water in the tank. We refilled the water and continued the last half hour to the airport while the engine remained on overheat the whole way. We prayed we would make it and thought we were in luck until we got to the last loop around the airport.

The engine quit completely as we were going up an incline. Steve rode the car like a real cowboy and we made it up that hill. At this point the car started smoking but we had a downhill in front of us. As we picked up a bit of speed Steve continued trying to start the engine as we had only one more long uphill to the airport entrance. Miraculously the engine started and we glided into the parking space at the airport gate as serious smoke started escaping the front end. We grabbed our things out of the trunk and ran. So much for “courtesy cars”. The moral is beware of freebies.

After this harrowing experience the mild turbulence encountered on leaving OR was nothing. We managed to skirt a bad weather system and flew into the clear skies on Montana. Nephew Jacob met us at the Missoula airport and we spent a lovely evening with him. Missoula is a lovely town with a beautiful meandering river and many good restaurants. We ate at the Silk Road that made us forget about dining in John Day.