Finally at 5 pm, after a long day of ground things—the longest we’ve remained on the ground since the trip began—we were rewarded with a window of opportunity and dashed to the plane, taking off into a beautiful window of blue.

Off we flew! Circumnavigating around storm clouds and IMC, our patient waiting gifted us beautiful views of rainbows and sunbeams the entire leg. After a couple hours, we landed and fueled in Moline, IL. Incredibly, I’d been to KMLI, Quad City Airport, twice in the past year to drop off and pick up our company seaplane for a new paint job. Never thought I would return so soon, but there is was, right on our route with the best fuel prices in the state.

We took off again and as night descended around us, we passed by Chicago and some menacing storm clouds, the air smooth, dark, and peaceful. We determined our stop for the night would be KANQ, chosen for good fuel prices, good accommodations, and most importantly, because it was surrounded by at least 10 seaplane bases, which is always a great thing. We touched down around 11:30 EST (we’d lost an hour crossing over from central time), had dinner, and fell into a restful Indiana slumber.