The drive from Brantford to Toronto was quite busy but uneventful. Finally we visited the CN Tower for views of the city and surrounding areas.

After flying for so many years the views from the tower seemed less interesting than they might have been earlier.

The Legislative Assembly of Ontario was about a 30 minute walk up University Avenue. I hadn’t realized how many hospitals and medical facilities were located on University Avenue.

We had one of the security guards as our photographer for the shots with the Canada Flag.

The drive back to Brantford was over two hours and reaffirmed that I don’t miss the workday commute.

Joining us for dinner with Lyn and Randy was Hector, our long time friend. Hector was on of my first passengers in a Piper Colt in the late ’60s. We had several flights to Niagara Falls and around the Niagara Peninsula, and Hector always liked to do spins.

After spending a few days being tourists it was time to get ready for continuing our journey eastward. We drove to the Brantford Airport to  ready the Arrow for flight, refuelling and cleaning up the interior. It’s amazing how you can make such a mess in such a small cockpit.

The Brantford Flight Centre is home to the Brantford Flying Club. The club has a nice little restaurant and a fuel truck to make that chore a little easier. You don’t have to taxi to the fuel pumps. I find it interesting how few airports have a convenient coffee shop or restaurant on site.

For the last several years I have been using an iPad 2 for all my pre-fight and in-flight references. Normally I fly VFR and IFR with only the iPad; I do not carry any paper charts nor any instrument approach plates. This spring I bought a new iPad and since it is smaller than the iPad 2, it doesn’t fit the RAM mount on the control column.

Aircraft Spruce has a new facility at the Brantford Airport and I wanted to visit them to look for a new RAM mount for my new iPad. Since Aircraft Spruce was some distance away, the good folks at the flying club offered us a ride in their golf cart; much appreciated. Sure enough, there was a RAM mount for my new iPad in stock so I bought it and quickly installed in on the left control column. Both iPads are onboard just in case I need the second one as backup.

After getting the Arrow fuelled and ready to continue the journey we visited my older brother Eric, and his wife Joanne, for dinner. We spent the evening reflecting on the past, sharing the present, and wondering about the future.

Returning to Lyn’s in Brantford we ended our day winding down with Lyn and Randy.

Valerie had been on Facebook and met up with her cousin Randie whom she hadn’t seen in many years. They had grown up together as little girls in Hamilton and, as it happens with many families, drifted apart for no particular reason as life happens. We made a special effort to visit cousin Randie in Hamilton, and her friend Eddie.

Randie has a special interest in cats. In her back yard she has an elevated hot tub and in the space around the tub has created a home away from home for cats that happen by. Randie makes sure that there are enough blankets for the cats to cuddle up in and puts out enough food to keep them well fed.

I think Eddie is the one behind the actual construction of this inner-city oasis.

Randie insisted that she take a photo with our Canada Flag.

I also had made a connection on Facebook with someone from the past. I had worked as a flight instructor in Hamilton during the late 70’s and one of my students reached out a couple of years ago to connect. We met 37 years ago when Dave Nusca was my student for most of his training. Dave had all of his pilot training completed and considered a career in aviation, however he chose to have a career in the steel industry of Hamilton. Like many people, life happens, you get married and have a family and your interest change. Dave was away from aviation for many years and has now retired. Now with more time on his hands, he has recently returned to aviation and is the proud owner of a Rockwell Commander 114, flying as much as he can.

We met up with Dave, and his wife Lorie, at their lovely home in Hamilton. You can tell you have a good friend when many years past by since you last saw them and when you do meet it seem like it was no so long ago that you shared your life experiences. So today, we shared a meal and had a wonderful time chatting about past times flying, our families, and what may lie ahead in the future. I would like to think that we will meet again in the not too distant future.

After travelling for the last two weeks with all the flying, aircraft issues, weather challenges and meeting so many nice folks along the way it was time to spend a quiet Saturday with Lyn and Randy. We had more of a normal day; slept in, went grocery shopping, went to the beer store, then had a few enjoying the warm sunshine.

Then it was time to fire up the BBQ for Beer Can Chicken. Valerie made a great salad and I was there to ensure all went well.

Randy and Lyn have mastered their BBQ skills

So…….. tasty.

After sunset the backyard fireplace kept us engaged while we talked away the evening.

We spent a few days taking a break from the travelling and flying to spend a little time in Ontario where Valerie and I were grew up. With Canada being such a big country and people moving from place to place, it’s always worthwhile spending time catching up with friends and relatives.

Valerie’s brother Bill, and his wife Provie, live in Burlington so we spent most of the day enjoying their company. For a nostalgic tour of the Burlington area we drove past houses and neighbourhoods of years long past. It is always interesting to see how things that you remember from your youth change and evolve, and sometimes disappear.

At the western end of Lake Ontario, the lakeshore at Burlington has been nicely developed into a very enjoyable family park. From this view one is looking eastward on Lake Ontario which stretches for about 160 nautical miles. The lake is as big as some salt water seas. As a comparison, Lake Ontario is about two thirds the length of Vancouver Island. That’s a lot of fresh water.

Valerie was walking along the pathway and about 10 minutes after this photo was taken she stumbled on some raised up concrete and hurt her knees.

Let’s hope the discomfort doesn’t last too long and take away from the enjoyment of the journey.

It was then off to Mother Tucker’s where we ate far too much, again.

We are staying in Brantford, Ontario with my niece, Lyn and Randy, and today we visited the National Historic Site for Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone.

Alexander was the middle of three sons. His parents emigrated from Scotland after loosing several family members to tuberculosis; their oldest son and his son, and their youngest son.

Alexander developed his ideas and prototype for the telephone while living in this house with his parents.

We were touring the house and came across a group of people in the dining room observing a large copper plate that was being displayed by one of them. The copper plate turned out to be a family heirloom with names engraved on the face of the plate. By chance, we had the pleasure of meeting a descendent of Alexander Graham Bell who was visiting from Boston, MA; the Great, Great Granddaughter of Alexander, Elsie Myers Martin. Elsie explained her family connection and we then toured the facility with Elsie and her husband. I was very pleased when Elsie agreed to have a photo with our Canada Flag (our photographer was her husband).

Thunder Bay to Sault Ste. Marie

Our flight was VFR and our routing was following the north shore of Lake Superior around to Sault Ste. Marie. The weather continued to be rather poorly as we passed Marathon and Wawa. With the continued poor and lower conditions I picked up an IFR clearance for the remainder of the flight to Sault Ste. Marie.

Sault Ste. Marie to Brantford

With the continued poor weather and forecast lower ceilings and visibility at our destination, I filed an IFR flight plan for our next leg. The flight was at 11,000 feet and almost entirely in visual conditions. We had a few good bumps the some rather heavy rain for a couple of minutes. Getting closer to destination we began our descent and passing through about 10,000 we broke out of the clouds and left all of the poor weather behind us. It was a welcoming sight to see the familiar cities, town and terrain of the area where I grew up. The RNAV approach into Brantford completed this leg after crossing two thirds of Canada. Time for a few day of V.F. R. – visiting friends and relatives.

After touring the Manitoba Legislature Building it was time to head to St. Andrews airport to meet with Air Cadets and plan our flight onward to Thunder Bay, Ontario.

We had been staying in a hotel in downtown Winnipeg so it was a long taxi ride from the hotel to St. Andrews Airport, which is quite a distance north-east of the city. The aircraft had been parked on a grassy/gravelly area and it had rained overnight so when we pulled the aircraft out of the parking area the tires were covered with some mud and gravel. The young man looking after fuelling the  aircraft  kindly washed the tires so that they would be clean for retracting after takeoff and not cause any problems with the landing gear mechanism. 

The flying school at St. Andrews, Harv’s Air, is training 16 Air Cadets for their Private Pilot Licence this summer and they are expect to be licenced by mid-August. I met with the group at noon for a casual briefing regarding our Canada 150 Flight across the country and their flight training, the same training I had for my pilot licence as an Air Cadet 50 years ago. They had some interesting questions so it was nice to see such enthusiasm in a keen group of future pilots. We then headed outside for a photo of the group of Air Cadets in front of the Arrow with the Canada Flag.

The weather system had moved eastward, in our direction of flight, so the conditions ahead of us included a significant area of Marginal VFR weather. Going IFR was not a viable option to head into such a system. I filed VFR to Thunder Bay.

Winnipeg is on the eastern edge of the prairies and about 15 to 20 minutes after departure the terrain transitioned from prairie to lake country. I was able to capture a screenshot of my iPad with ForeFlight showing our aircraft position on the map as we crossed the border between Indian Bay, Manitoba and Shoal Lake, Ontario.

I also took a couple of photos out the window as we crossed the Manitoba / Ontario border looking left to the north and right to the south, showing the terrain and weather conditions that we encountered.

Crossing the Manitoba / Ontario border looking north and south.

The weather was rather poorly throughout the flight with Marginal VFR conditions all along our route. ForeFlight is a great tool to add situational awareness and help pilots stay safe. About forty miles or so after crossing the border into Ontario we were about five nautical miles south-west of the Sioux Narrows VOR. There were several towers nearby so I had ForeFlight set with the “Flight Plan – Profile” view selected and the “Obstacles” feature activated.

This screenshot of ForeFlight shows our Arrow on the map and a tower depicted just in front of the left wing. The upper portion of the screenshot provides data indicating that our cruise altitude was 1,873 feet giving us a clearance above the tower of 373 feet.

This photo was taken seconds later as we passed by the tower.

An hour and a half later or so, along with some tactical navigation, we were on the ground in Thunder Bay. There was a hotel real close to the airport and with all the poor weather and challenging flying it was time to call it a day.

This morning in Winnipeg we woke to a rainy misty city so that called for a quiet breakfast at Tim Horton’s (pretty Canadian, eh).

After breakfast it was on to the Manitoba Legislature building to meet with Mr. Dwayne Marling, Special Assistant in the office of the Minister of Growth, Enterprise and Trade. Mr. Marling met us on the grounds of the Legislature then escorted us inside for photos and a tour of the legislature building.

Joining us in the photo with Mr. Dwayne Marling is one of his political counterparts from the United States. 

The legislature building was architecturally very impressive. It was quite apparent that it was constructed with a vision for the future and space to accommodate many varied government functions.

We had a good discussion with Mr. Marling regarding aviation and the plans for Manitoba moving forward in this industry. Considering the Minister that he works for, I sure that some of the plans are well on their way to coming to fruition.

With the aircraft out of the shop we were loaded and on our way by late afternoon.

The afternoon cumulus activity was growing rapidly. With lots of room between build-ups we had an easy trip, though occasionally quite bumpy.

A couple of hours later we landed at St. Andrews and it was time to tie down the aircraft. St. Andrews airport is to the north of Winnipeg by quite a distance with limited transportation options. A kind offer by Marcel was readily accepted and he drove us downtown to our hotel.

After such a late flight we satisfied our hunger with a bowl of soup at a nice delicatessen across the street from the hotel.

The iconic Canadian department store, “the Bay”.