Day 3, June 27, Minot, ND to Fort St. John, BC

This was a great flying day.  In perfect weather, we covered over 1000 miles, despite a 10 mph headwind.  We did this in 3 legs, with stops at Saskatoon, Saskatchewon to clear customs, Whitecourt, Alberta, and a final stop at Fort St. John, BC. 

Here's the general aviation ramp in Minot, ND.  I count five taildraggers in this picture (the third wheel is at the back rather than the front of the plane) one of which is a maule like mine---my kind of airport!


Here we are crossing into Canada:  wow, looks different!


Here's a picture of Regina, Saskatchewan.  One thing that impressed me about Canada is how confined the cities are.   They don't have the same kind of sprawl like you see in the US:



We landed in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, which is a "port of entry".  Clearing customs was an event, since we had a gun that needed to be registered in Canada.  Since we actually had to talk to someone and fill out forms, they decided to throw in a complete search of our airplane, with 3 customs agents and a dog.  We had to empty out the airplane and the dog sniffed our luggage and the airplane.   Meanwhile, Jack Layton a political candidate running for Prime Minister, was boarding his 727.  So it was a pretty entertaining stop.  The only picture I snapped was of this fire-fighting airplane.  Little did I know that this was a hint of what was to come.



Edmonton, Alberta:


Fuel stop in Whitecourt, Alberta.  Hey look, another fire-fighting airplane!


and another.  and another!


By the way, we read in the Logbook that fuel is the cheapest in Canada and open 24 hours, but we landed "after hours," (5 pm on a Sunday) and the price apparently goes way up after hours.   I felt a bit cheated (they know we tourists read the Logbook). 

The final leg of this day took us all the way to Ft. St. John, BC, where we stayed for the night.