Day 4- all at once

5 am sharp! Up and at 'em. 6:15 at the plane, loading the luggage. Taxi at 6:30, up and away. Crystal clear skies, 34 degrees- windchill 33, the lightest of winds right down the runway. Could not have been more perfect conditions for flying. Off the departure end of the runway is a huge open valley- and a very impressive view of the mountains that must be flown over. 20 minutes later and 21374 was at 11,500 feet msl! Not bad for a 37 year old plane. Not once did this lovely plane offer any complaint, hesitation, or disagreement for anything that she was asked to do. Anyway, off into the mountains we did fly. Suffice it to say that flying over mountains is a learning event for a flatlander like me, and the learning has to be quick, direct and correct. The price for indecision, inaction, or inattentiveness is extremely high. The view was mind boggling- east coast eyes can't relate to so much everything. Our destination was Missoula, MT. Everything was going just fine and then the ceiling started coming down about 30 miles out from Missoula. We found a lovely hole to fly thru and popped out in the valley looking right at the airport but the first seed of doubt was sown. While getting refueled at the FBO we talked with a local flight instructor who gave us the same advice I had already heard in regards to the next leg of our trip- just follow the highway out to Couer D'Alene and it will all work out. This CFI added" you'll probably get squished a bit by the clouds, but that's kinda normal". So, trying to take advantage of the good weather in Missoula, off we flew once more for the final leg of the left hand side of the true cross country trip- look out Spokane, WA. Into the valley of Rt 90 we flew, mountains on either side. Beautiful country, highway below for an emergency runway, cloud deck above- but above enough to make sense to do this. Mullan Pass is the midpoint of this route, and all was going well as we passed thru. "Got this thing made", I thought. And then the clouds started coming down, and so we went down, and the valley seemed to get a bit more narrow. and the clouds came down, and down and oops we were in the soup. Uncomfortable redefined is flying in the clouds in a winding mountain-lined valley. IFR training to the rescue- full power and go UP. we broke out above the clouds and the hills and not 2 minutes later the whole valley opened up and down. Lesson learned, not to be repeated. Couer D'Alene was about to be rained on, so we made a left turn and there was Spokane, and better yet, historic Felts Field. A fabulous lunch at the Cafe in the old terminal building, a courtesy car from the FBO and we were on our way. We found the hospital where Marlys's brother Ken is recuperating from his 4 wheeler accident and surprised him half way to a heart attack when we walked in. This might have been the best spent time of the entire trip. Being so close we then had to drive to Ione to visit Marlene and Kevin, who are holding down the fort at Ken's Bar while Ken recovers. Second best spent time of the trip. 75 miles back to Spokane to collapse into a Motel 6 bed. The right hand side of the true XC starts tomorrow.