Halfway Home Tonight

After a late morning start from the Quest factory, we've made it as far as Goodland, Kansas for the night. Five hours of flight, lots of good tailwinds, and we're halfway home to North Carolina. Sailing over Missoula and Bozeman, Montana, we landed in Powell, Wyoming for fuel and a visit with some friends and family from there and Billings. The Absaroka Mountain range in Montana gave way to the high plains of southern Wyoming, and finally the prairies of western Kansas.

Who's "we?" Let me introduce my partner, Mark Wuerffel, from Minnesota. Mark and his family lived in Papua New Guinea ("PNG") for 14 years where they served the Wycliffe Bible translators all over that mountainous country. Now a seasoned mission pilot, Mark is a flight instructor at JAARS, and he will be my partner as we learn all we can about the Kodiak before taking it to PNG later this year.

A little more than a thousand miles to go tomorrow, and we'll have 8KQ in its new home. The JAARS family will be anxious to see this first one. Our biggest concern is the cold front that sits between here and there, with its forecast heavy storms and rain.