Yesterday was a day I’d been giddily excited about since we planned it, and it lived up to every expectation I had!

Steven flew us to Guttenberg, Iowa for the day, to see my sister for her (Friday) birthday!

It was my first time flying with Steven as the pilot. He doesn’t have his private license, so his instructor Josh, and fellow instructor/Josh’s girlfriend, Lily came with us. People asked me if I was nervous about flying with Steven and I honestly said “not at all.” I 100% trust Steven in everything he does! However, I did have him update some things on our will this week, just in case. Ha.

Steven and Josh before takeoff from Waukegan, IL

When we left to drive to the airport in the morning we had complete cloud coverage. I wondered if that meant we’d have to cancel or wait it out since Steven is not getting his instrument training (and able to fly through or above clouds). But Josh said they could do IFR (Instrument Flight Rules vs the Visual Flight Rules (VFR) Steven does), and direct Steven, and that counted for some of the cloud training he needs. Yay for not being held back!

We flew over Bobbi’s neighborhood and I text her “We’re flying over your house right now” and she text back “I hear you!!!” Ha! It was nice I had cell tower access for most of the flight. 

Steven did preflight then we loaded up and took off. I haven’t been in a plane like this since I was in grade school and I LOVED it. Love love LOVED it! I was looking out the window with a dumb smile on my face the whole time!

They loaned me noise-canceling headphones with Bluetooth and I listened to music (and the intercom) the whole way there!

I was a bit bummed we were above the clouds and couldn’t see the ground, but it was gorgeous, and I know there will be many more flights in my future!

Since we were doing IFR we went a bit out of the way to get to Guttenberg. Josh filed a flight plan to Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin and used the IFR for that, then canceled it when we came out of the clouds, and we rerouted to Guttenberg. The flight there was maybe 1 hour and 15 minutes?

I LOVED getting to see the island from above! How cool! I’ve been going there my whole life and have never seen it from that view!

We landed in the brown area in the center of the photo, on the right side of the island

My family and some friends were there waiting for us – Mom, Dad, Christina, William, and Christina’s friend Kelsey and her mom Beth (who I both know). After we landed, the airstrip president, Gary, came over to chat for a bit, and was super nice.

Steven had warned me the landing would be bumpy since the plane has retractable landing gear. It was only his second time flying this plane – he requested a bigger one to fit the four of us in comfortably (and it was very comfortable!). I thought his landing and flying were great though. Even when we were flying through the clouds, it didn’t feel too bumpy.

Unfortunately, it was completely overcast in Guttenberg, and I was worried our beach day would be lame with no sun. But we had a fabulous day! We hung out a bit when we got there, then Will took the boat out, and Josh and Lily went out on jet skis (they were SO excited to ride them! Ha, a few weeks ago I was telling Steven we should tell them how to use them, and he said “I think they’ll be fine, they’re both pilots.” I explained I meant the rules of the river, and safety things like staying away from other boats and out of seaweed. Josh and Lily laughed when I told them that. They were nice and laughed at a lot of my stories, which always makes me feel good. I like to make people laugh.).

Us and Ella with Lily and Josh

While they were out, I made wraps for everyone, and then we all went to the beach to hang out. It was overcast for a bit longer then the sun came out at 3:00! Yay! We had a lot of fun chatting, eating, playing, and riding the jet skis. I rode a bit with William on one of my dad’s smaller jet skis, and I took Christina and Kelsey out on Will’s big one (later Kelsey took her mom out and they found a boat stuck in distress, so she came back and told us, and Will went back out on his jet ski and towed them out. That jet ski has a lot of power! The people who were stuck insisted on paying him $50. He refused, and they insisted. We just help people out with no expectations up there, and that was very kind of them to pay him!).

I really enjoyed chatting with and getting to know Josh and Lily, and chatting with Kelsey and her mom. I have known her mom online for a few years but we’d never met in person!

We were on river time and got back to the house after 6:00 with a plan to fly out at sunset around 7:38 (damn those earlier sunsets). Steven went to do preflight before sunset and realized the gas was pulling incorrectly from the two tanks – there should have been the same amount of fuel in each tank but one had much less than the other. So he and Josh changed the plan to stop in Prairie du Chien on the way out to get gas, and be on the safe side.

We ate a late dinner (BLTs and fried green pepper rings!) and Christina opened her birthday present and we headed out.

I was really excited for the night flight because Steven told me it’s beautiful to see everything all lit up, and it was! I again had my face plastered to the window!

We landed in Waukegan after 10:00 (maybe an hour flight?) and they did whatever post flight stuff they do and we were home around 10:45 and asleep by midnight. What a great day! I enjoyed flying with Steven so much and can’t wait to again! I’m really proud of him for working so hard at this and doing something he’s wanted to for years!  And I’m not surprised at all by how good he is at it!

And I love how quickly this got us there! It’s usually a 4 hour drive one way!