Yes, we all know the saying and there are even a couple of versions. This adventure seriously does not lack in the surprise department, as you have seen in previous posts.
Sunday started out like any other day in life; you wake up early to the sound of birds, the light rustle of the trees in the wind, a Turbin Otter landing on the water, and a cruise ship pulling into the dock. Ok, ok, so that’s not a normal day for most people (not even us) but that’s how it went. I slept on a roll away bed and when I rolled over and opened my eyes, I saw this –
Yea, we thought it was pretty awesome. (I missed the Otter in the shot though…) If you notice the blue sky – the same one that followed us throughout our journey – you will see something not normally seen in Ketchikan: a sunny day. Seriously, they average like 12 feet of rainfall per year and most days are cloudy. So, this trio successfully used up 2 sunny days out of their yearly allotment.
We also found out another very interesting fact…apparently there is a town ordinance that said there cannot be more bars than churches. So what did they do? Built a whole bunch of churches (there is almost one on every corner) So one could call this a small drinking village with a fishing problem. 
We took the ferry back to the airport (it’s across the channel on an island) gassed up the Baron, and off we went. Left turn out – southbound. 10 min later, we were out of Alaska and over Canada.
Headwinds the whole way – go figure – we made it to Bellingham, WA over 3.5 hours of flight time after we left Ketchikan. Bottle of water anyone? Coming into Bellingham we were #4 for the runway, behind two mustangs and a skyraider. (Who wants to bet Doug knew one or all of them? Come on, I know you want to) Greeted with a “Hey Rozy” on the radio from one of the Mustang pilots, Mark and I had a decent chuckle.
A stop for food, gas, and handshake with an astronaut later (Bill Anders – (Apollo 8) owns the flight museum there) We were off over some more rocky mountains toward Greybull, WY for our final overnight stop. One of the most interesting comparisons of the mountains in Alaska vs the ones in the lower 48 is that most of our trip way up north was spent below 3,000ft. Most of our trip in the over 48 was spent above 9,000. Just more mature mountains and a nice contrast to what we had seen the whole trip so far.
Our night concluded in Greybull, WY at the home of Gene & Louise Powers (Gene is the former co-owner of Hawkins and Powers Aviation) where I met their amazing family and enjoyed some wonderful flying tales from Gene and then the real stories from Louise. 
What an honor! I can easily see why Doug and Mark are good friends with Gene & Louise, and I certainly appreciated the time I got to spend with them as well. Just a few more people to add to the growing list from this adventure, something that will not soon be forgotten.
~Adam
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