9. Alaska

As a new pilot I ached for grand adventure. I connected with an Alaskan lady CFI I have huge admiration for on Instagram and we hit it off well, having an interest in both aviation and knitting with wool. I sent her wool from my sheep. The following April, she asked me to fly with her to transport her Cessna 170B along with her boyfriend in his Rans with another tailwheel student from Utah to Seldovia, Alaska. It was the epitome of a grand adventure in a Cessna! Flying all day, stopping at little airports all the way up the west coast with awesome people was exactly what my heart desired. Experiencing the Alaskan landscape from the small airplane, exploring glaciers, landing on beaches, and interacting with the coastal Alaskan aviation communities fired me up for a career in aviation. When we arrived in Seldovia, I had some final lessons to get my tailwheel rating, and then we packed up for Anchorage to stay over at an ACE cargo pilot housing off Lake Hood before getting a commercial flight back home. The pilots chided us over a drink, “what are you doing going back to Montana, you have 130 hours that’s almost 250, then you fly here for ACE!” I found myself sad to go, and fully inspired to get through my ratings and come back to fly the Beech 1900s in Alaska. Going back to my day job afterwards was very difficult.