Day 49 - On The Road Again

Tony Cacciarelli • Aug 02, 2020

Brainerd, MN (KBRD) to

Devil's Lake, ND (KDVL) - August 2, 2019

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Staying well clear of the thunderstorms

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Landed on Devil's Lake

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Original Instagram Post

Yes! I am out of Brainerd! Nothing personal, but...that’s way more time than I had planned to spend there. Just feels good to be moving again.

I’m very thankful to Adam at Northpoint Aviation for his professionalism and attention to detail and for getting me up and running! Now I can get back to the fun stuff!

Once I had a working airplane again (and we did an engine run to check everything) I headed out to Devil’s Lake, ND. The weather was absolutely perfect. I was worried the clouds would move in, but I had a clear path all the way to Devil's Lake. I’d hoped to get to Minot, ND but I got a later start than I'd originally planned, so given the timing I decided to stop at Devil’s Lake for the night. That also meant I had time to do a couple landings on the lake. It was good to get back on the water, even if it was just briefly.

I’m going to get an early start tomorrow and get to Havre, MT. That’ll put me within striking distance of Kalispell the following day, which is one spot I really wanted to check out. Adventure...on!

😀👍🏼

Once the new muffler had arrived and the mechanic had put everything back together I still felt like something might happen that would make me have to stay in Brainerd. Luckily, that wasn't the case and I was able to get on to my next destination.

I was still behind where I'd planned to be, but the stretch across North Dakota and Montana gave me some options to make up time.

One of my big concerns was getting to Sandpoint, ID. I'd have to cross a substantial mountain range, and doing that in the early morning would be my best shot. So I had to take that into account as I planned out the next few days.

I mention it in the video, but another thing that determined my stopping points was the size of the airport and how late the FBO stayed open. I was actually able to call ahead while I was in the air (my phone was connected through Bluetooth to my headset) and check whether a particular FBO was open late or had self-serve fuel and a way to get from the airport to a hotel. It was one of the advantages of flying low and slow, I pretty much always had cellphone reception.

I was also carrying a Garmin InReach Mini which was tracking my GPS coordinates every 10 minutes and could send an SOS signal via the satellite network if I had an emergency. It was an extra bit of precaution for areas where I might not have normal cellphone reception - like the mountain range I was getting ready to cross to get to Sandpoint.