Check Rides Passed:  We bounded out of bed this morning to catch a quick early morning flight before our 10 a.m. scheduled check rides. Tom had taught me so much yesterday and I just wanted a quick review and a little docking practice as we had not done too much. I threw back the curtains to disclose … dense fog blanketing the area. I felt as if I were back on the race days … wait and hurry up.

Knowing we had a bit of time, we sauntered into Tim Horton Coffee shop for a breakfast of “Fruit Explosion” muffins and good Tim Horton coffee – a real treat as it is not available back in Florida – then off to Twitchell’s. We had time to complete the paperwork, pre-flight the planes and get a little quick docking practice in before the examiner arrived. We were ready to go.

I went first – just so I could say that I had my rating before Vern! We had the perfect condition for the glassy water: there was not a whisper of wind; there was still a light haze and a few clouds even though the main fog had already burned off creating a perfect mirror image of the shoreline along the river. We completed the necessary air work and looked for some ruffled waters – none to be found so we did glassy landings, step taxiing and other water work required for the ride. “Head back in and get Vern,” the examiner, Guy, commented. Yes! I passed!  In short order, Vern did the same.

With our newly wet licenses in hand, we opted to head off to a white water rafting adventure in Gadabout Gaddis, Bingham, ME. We grabbed a quick lunch and headed off to the north-ish after a brief excursion over the river where we had been flying the float planes. I could non resist the temptation to photograph the area, although we were not able to drop down below the tree line and get the Albatross view we had seen from the float plane. The low foot hills, meandering rivers and hillside speckled with lakes was, nonetheless, beautiful. We picked up the Kennebac River at KOWK and followed it as it snaked its was northward. We were to look for the log cabins between the 2 dams. Good thing we had landmarks as the runway was not easy to spot. It looked more like a well manicured pasture than a runway. We had tentatively identified it until Vern made a positive ID on the wind sock… a dead giveaway. We winds were light and we were advised that it was best to land to the southeast as you could use the river and low tree line to se up a good approach. A landing to the northwest would necessitate a steep descent over the hilltop and tall trees.

We dropped in without any problems, tied down across from out log cabin and checked. The cabin is a quaint little cabin, one of 6 in a row that sleeps 24! We had plenty of room to spread our wings. Today we catch up on work and rest – a battle we have been losing to date. We catch the rafting trip tomorrow on the Kennebac River at 8:30 a.m. for the full day. We will sleep well tomorrow.

Wild Ride:  Morning comes early in Maine. Come to think of it, night took a long time to get here too. I am not quite sure what time night darkness fell last night; but I know that I was already in bed by then and sleep was not far behind it. I slept like the dead last night and finally felt, this morning as if I started to catch up on the sleep deficit that I had accumulated over the course of the last 2 weeks.

The fog was very dense along the river and we could barely see Wild Mama a mere 300’ away. The morning was still and quiet; birds rustled in the trees; the air was cool. I was not too interested in breakfast but the coffee in the main building was good and hot – just what I needed.

The ride to the river on a an old school bus was s bit reminiscent of grade school days although we did not fit in the seats nearly as well. In short order we were dragging our 8 man rafts down to the Kennebec River at the base of a dam owned by Florida Power & Light!

We were told that the water was fairly warm – 60 degrees. Nonetheless, I got a wet suit and was looking my usual Nanook-ish. The rapids at the top part of the river were grade II-IV. . . nothing particularly hairy although I could see where they would be if the dam had a high release. This day, the release was moderate which made for nothing more than a really fun time. We were soaked in no time at all, paddling hard to maintain our line as we glides through the sloshing rapids, then all too soon the rapids ended and we had a nice gently glide through the rushing waters.

Near the end of our trip we stopped for a steak and chicken lunch along side of the river and the rains came. It poured. Vern and I huddled near the camp fire with some of the other rafters while others ran for the cover of the canopy over the serving tables. As long as my cookie stayed dry, I was not leaving the fire for nothing. When lunch was over, we tumbled back into our rafts for the remaining 30 minutes on the river. The rains came back with a vengeance and we were really soaked beyond belief – even more so than we had been going through the rapids. It was quite cool with no sun so it wa a relief to get back to the bus for the ride back to the cabins. By the time we got back, the sun was out, looking as if no rain fell on the runway area at all.

Dinner was fresh lobster soup with what looks to be half of a lobster protruding from the top of the cup. Really delicious! Time to flight plan and check weather for tomorrow. We want to do a little aerial reconnaissance before heading to Bar Harbor in the morning. We would hate to lose the opportunity to flight see over northern Maine as long as we are here and the weather is favorable.