When I left for Spokane I had a feeling I was not going to be able to come home when I planed due to bad weather. Just to be safe, I blocked out Monday and Tuesday on my calendar at work. As it turned out it was a good thing because I was not able to return to Portland until Tuesday afternoon. Had I wanted to fight a 40+ mph headwind and dodge clouds I probably could have come home earlier but spending an extra day and a half with my dad didn't sound all that bad.

The flight home was one of my most enjoyable flights to date. I started out at 6,500 feet with what appeared to be about a 15mph headwind. I didn't want to fly much higher to avoid any additional headwind. For the first half hour or so of the flight I was flying just over the broken cloud layer. As I flew Southwest the cloud later dropped and I eventually decided to fly under the layer at 4,500 feet which increased my ground speed by about 10mph.

The cloud layer continued to drop. By the time I flew over Goldendale I was down to about 1,500 feet above the ground. It was getting a bit bumpy at that point so I decided to try my lock at flying over the cloud layer. I climbed to 8,500 feet and although I was over the cloud layer I could see I was not close to being high enough to clear the clouds that were ahead of me. That meant I was going to have to descend down to below the clouds and fly down the Columbia Gorge. As I started my decent I realized I was over The Dalles airport. I had been flying for over two hours by then and kind of had to go to the bathroom. I'm sure I could have made it home but as I started down the idea of stopping became more appealing. I then turned towards the airport and circled down which took longer than I had expected. While on the ground, I decided to get fuel to give myself an extra cushion. The fuel attendant admired the polished finish on the 170 and told me not to ever paint it! After departing The Dalles, I flew down the Columbia at 2,000 feet above the river and about 1,000 feet below the broken layer of clouds. It was a beautiful sight.

As I mentioned earlier, this was one of my most enjoyable flights. I think it was so enjoyable because I took my time. In the past I have followed my cross-country flight plan to the 'T' adjusting only altitude during the flight. During this flight, to avoid winds and clouds, I varied my altitude many times. I also flew around several large clouds and through a break in the mountains outside Goldendale. Not to mention flying down the Gorge. I was off my planed track the full second half of the flight. Stopping at The Dalles also made my flight much more enjoyable - not so much due to going to the bathroom but for the adventure of stopping. Flying a plane seems to be much like riding a motorcycle where the journey is as important as the destination.