Captain Harry B Harden

West by 180 Captain Harry B Harden

This is a book about a dream of packing your camping gear, getting in the airplane and flying west, with no destination and no time to get there. In April 2002 I flew my 1956 Cessna 180, single engine from Nashua, New Hampshire across the USA. I went via the southern route and spent some weeks camping in the canyons of southern Utah, Arizona and Colorado.

In late June, my wife met me in southern California and we proceeded up the coast of Oregon, Washington, the San Juan Islands and then into the mountains of Idaho and Montana. After camping at mountain canyon strips, small airfields, and lakes we continued across the upper United States, spending our last night on Beaver Island in northern Lake Michigan.

I will describe the sights and sounds, wildlife and people we experienced. I will describe the feeling of flying in a canyon at seven or eight thousand feet with peaks reaching above me on both sides, and then landing at a 2000 foot grass strip next to the river. Prepare yourself to be taken into some of the most rugged and remote airstrips in the country.