Today was the first day of the 2005 Flight of Discovery 2005 Expedition to the Great Plains. This year's objective is to visit all the Trunk of Discovery locations in the Great Plains of the United States: Council Bluffs, IA at the Western Trails Heritage Museum; Milesvilles Elementary School in Milesville, SD; Twin Buttes Elementary School near Kildeer, SD; Edwin Loe Elementary School at New Town, ND and Wolf Point and Glasgow Elementary Schools at Ft. Peck, MT. We've set aside 10 days to get to all our rendezvous points and as usual it's an ambitious schedule.

Joining Jill Baker, Kari Meadows and me this year in the flight from Montgomery field is pilot Kim Atkins. Greg Pellar will fly in from Montana in his Twin Comanche and meet us at Council Bluffs. Tony Fowler of the U.S. Department of Education in Washington, DC will fly in commercially to Omaha and Amy Mossett, Executive Director of The Northern Plains Heritage Foundation at Fort Lincoln, ND plans to join the Flight at Mandan Airport.

We go off a little later than planned this morning due to some paperwork issues on one of the aircraft that Kari and Kim were to fly. The ladies ended up switching to 339SP, a new aircraft for the expedition while Jill and I flew 722RJ. We lifted off around 1100 from 28R and turned right downwind on an easterly heading that we would follow for the next three days. The day was clear and there was little turbulence over the desert, even at mid-afternoon.

I've begun to really appreciate the first day out of an expedition, when everything is possible and even despite months of planning, things are going to happen that make the trip that much more interesting. I also have a deep sense of gratitude to the people that give up so much of their time to come along on these historical adventures. This is Kari, Jill and Greg's second season so they have a little idea of what to expect. I'm hopeful that Kim and Tony have an expansive experience and that Amy gets to fly along for awhile, too.

As the Flight did last year, we stopped at Mesa Grande for fuel although the crosswinds there did not seem as severe as last year. We decided to watch the time and try to make it to Tucumcari, NM by evening but if not, land at Deming, NM instead. I had the experience of trying to find TCC at dusk - in haze - with Roger Fraser in 2003 and cautioned against trying to repeat the experience. So we landed in breezy Deming just before an awesome sunset turned the distant mountains pink. The local FBO was as helpful as we remembered from 2004 and lent us a van to go into town to the Holiday Inn.

We drove around for an hour trying to find a recommended BBQ joint but eventually settled on dinner at the hotel. Those in the crew that remember 2005 will be disappointed to learn that the lady playing show tunes on the piano no longer performs, but the food is still good.

Flight Operations

Off to a late start from Montgomery Airport, as the Weight & Balance from our original airplane was missing; grounding that airplane. So we unpacked and scrambled to find another airplane for the trip - and even considered driving. Fortunately we found another airplane, repacked, and although off to a late start (12:30pm) it was just the beginning to yet another successful FOD trip.