We're Ryan and Katherine, and we toured the Midwest by air in Autumn 2023 with our dog Magic 🐶.
In Autumn 2023, Katherine and I (and our dog Magic) took our 1984 Mooney M20J on a flying 'road trip' from Orlando, FL all around the Midwest/Great Lakes area, to Toronto, Chicago, Minneapolis, and several other stops along the way. Lots of photos and details about the flights linked below.
A long day of flying to Niagara Falls, with stops in Georgia and West Virginia.
Toronto, Detroit, and Fort Wayne, with views of Lake Ontario and Lake Erie.
Chicago, Minneapolis, and Madison.
A quick stop in Cincinnati and then homeward bound.
We are Ryan, Katherine, and Magic!
I bought my Mooney in January 2021 with the intention of making serious cross-country adventure flights with my wife and our dog (Magic, a Cavalier King Charles). Since then, we've been planning and taking long cross-country flying adventures, such as our flight all across the western US in 2021, our tour of the Northeast US in Summer 2022, and crossing the Rockies and landing in Leadville this summer. We've decided to make a big GA 'road trip' a sort of annual tradition for us. Our general goal is to visit all of the lower 48 states with the airplane, and eventually Alaska (which is probably next!).
Fortunately, we both work remotely as Engineering Managers, which makes the whole 'flying nomad' thing possible for us. (Both in terms of flexibility and the significant costs of endeavours like this) Other than these cross-country flights, most of my flying is instructional, I'm a part-time independent CFII in Orlando and I instruct a few days a week my own enjoyment and love of teaching.
For this trip, we set out from Orlando, FL on October 22nd with the goal of visiting Niagara Falls, Toronto, and a few other midwest states. My stretch goal was making some fun skyline flights in both Toronto and Chicago. This trip was originally planned for September, but an unexpected (leaky seals) propeller overhaul necessitated a delay to late October. Given the later season, the goal was to see as much as possible while avoiding any possible icing or snowy weather. (We avoided the ice, at least!) We had some relatively tight time constraints on this trip... we were attending our friend Abel's wedding on October 21st in South Florida, and we needed to be home for a trip to Peru no later than November 5th, so we made the best of it!
This is N374SM, our 1984 Mooney M20J.
Battling headwinds necessitated an early stop for fuel in Georgia.
Over the Appalachians and into West Virginia and beautiful fall colors. Lunch in downtown Huntington.
A low-level flight up to the shores of Lake Erie, and then a flyover of Niagara Falls.
A short flight into Canada, with a landing at the dramatic downtown Toronto airport. Casa Loma and downtown Toronto.
A short, cloudy leg to return to the USA. Exploring Detroit for a couple days.
A quick overnight stop in Indiana and trying out a local brewery.
A late morning flight to Chicago, including a flyby of the iconic Chicago skyline. Exploring Chicago and catching a performance of Hamilton.
Beating a snowstorm on the way into Minneapolis. Magic's first snow experience!
A quick stop in Madison before heading back south.
A long, but easy leg, and meeting a friend in Cincinnati for Private Room Karaoke.
Non-stop back to Orlando, over the Appalachians.
This was a fun, but short trip! I really enjoyed seeing the fall colors throughout the country, which is something we really don't see in Florida. It wasn't quite the trip I was planning for September, but fall weather and icing threats constrained what we could do somewhat. Overall, I'm glad we were able to do it and our weather luck was pretty good overall! We've now been to 45 states and 3 Canadian provinces in the airplane and I think we will definitely hit all of the lower 48 soon :) GA flying is a great way to see the country!
