First thing you need to know – which I only learned when Minneapolis Center handed me off to Minot Approach, was that it’s pronounced “MY-not”, not “me-KNOW” or any other such Frenchified thing. And Minotians refer to their town as the “Magic City” for reasons that I’m sure I can Google, but haven’t. Because it was already a too-long day of flying the Twinkie from Port Townsend across the Cascades, Rockies, and hot, humid high plains of Montana by the time I made it to Minot, which seemed on the map to be a fine place to stop for the night (Instrument approaches? Cheap fuel, Hotel near airport? Check, check, check.)

The amazingly helpful Connor and Rachel at AvFlight in Minot

As I said, a long day. All I needed at that point was a hotel room, some fast food, a shower and a good night’s sleep. And then Rachel at the FBO tells me the reason there are so few rooms available is because it’s the first weekend of the North Dakota State Fair.

Dang it. You can’t fly halfway across the country in a tiny plane and, on your very first time ever in North Dakota, find yourself a short walk away from a State Fair, and not go. Of course I went.

Most of the rest of this post is just going to be pictures, but I should probably first explain why I’m flying myself across the country at this particular time: Oshkosh. Raise your hand if you know what “Sturgis” means for motorcycles? Oshkosh means that for airplanes – it’s the Experimental Aircraft Association’s annual Hajj, attended by about 700,00 people and upwards of 10,000 airplanes of all shapes, speeds and sizes. NASA, the Air Force, Boeing, all the way down to kit plane enthusiasts and powered parachutes. I’ve written about this before.

It’s been decades since I’ve flown to Oshkosh. Mind you, I’m not flying into OSH this year, either. My friend Ellen Of The Magnificent Letters and her sister Beth (yes, that Beth: Beth Of The Antarctic) live nearby in Appleton, so I’m flying there, staying with them, and driving down daily for the madness. Tomorrow, on the way, I’ll be picking up my friend (and polar geospatial data sorcerer) Paul – (“You mean Maps Paul?” “Yes, Maps Paul”) to make more of a party out of the trip.

More later!

The adventure begins! An early start, to beat the thunderbumpers that will pop up in the midwest as the day progresses.

Good place to have a second engine along…

Headwinds? We’re going east – why are there always headwinds?!?

Tasty garden snacks, courtesy Laurie and Dave

Weather just starting to turn sour behind me (yes, yes, I had plenty of lovely places to stop along the way if anything even started looking messy ahead of me!)

Okay, now the State Fair pictures:

I’ll be heading out for Minnesota early tomorrow, but Minot, North Dakota has been very kind to me. I expect we’re best off not talking politics or religion, but everyone’s been delightfully friendly and helpful. Heck, I didn’t get five minutes out of the State Fair walking back before a young man in a pickup truck pulled over and asked if I needed a ride somewhere. Works on jets at the Air Force base north of town, and my hotel was on his way back to the base. Of course we talked airplanes the whole way….