Custer #1

Before we went to bed last night, we had to answer one important question: What time to get the wake-up call this morning? I began by working backwards. The rental car place in Custer closes at 5pm, so 4pm was our target arrival time. Subtract two flights of 2 ½ hours each, an hour fuel / customs stop, an hour to drive from Lake Louise to Golden, an hour for breakfast and…holy cow, we have to wake up at 6:30am!

Much to my delight, everything went like clockwork today. We got up, had breakfast, checked out and were on the road by 8am. Traffic was light on Sunday morning, so we didn’t have any delays driving back to the airport. I dropped off the rental car, got a cab back to the airport and we were off by about 10:15, just slightly behind schedule.

Today was such a gorgeous day for flying! I don’t think I saw a cloud all day long. When we departed Golden, we followed the railroad tracks up the valley, right past our hotel at Lake Louise. The air was pretty smooth, so I stayed low and I really enjoyed sightseeing along the way. Eventually, we emerged from the Rocky Mountains near Calgary and then turned south and paralleled the range back into the good ol’ US of A.

We had to stop to clear customs at Great Falls, MT and I must say, this was the smoothest, most effortless experience I’ve ever had clearing customs in the US. We landed and taxied up to customs and an agent came out to greet us. He did a brief scan of the airplane (radiation detector?) and then ushered us inside to check our passports. Of course, I had all the paperwork in order and that helps, too. After only a few minutes, we walked back outside and someone from the FBO was waiting for us with our catering order. He took my credit card back to the FBO for processing as the fuel truck pulled up. By the time they finished fueling the plane, the guy was back with my credit card slip and we were ready to load up and go. Total time on the ground: 20 minutes!

Our next flight also went very smoothly and soon we touched down in Custer, SD just before 4pm. I caught a ride to pick up the rental car and we all went to get checked in at the Best Western Buffalo Ridge. Michele’s allergies are really acting up around here and she was miserable most of the afternoon. We got dinner at a restaurant near the hotel and then Michele and Cameron went back to the room to rest while I took Brandon and Justin to play miniature golf.

Tomorrow, we’re planning go see the main attraction, Mt. Rushmore, and do some sightseeing around the area. We’re scheduled to spend one more night here, but I sense that everyone is itching to get home. We may end up leaving tomorrow afternoon if we get done early in the day (and if the weather is good). We’ll have to wait and see how the day unfolds.