The CTAF frequencies were busy Saturday morning as many of us were flying around the area collecting playing cards for the Bismarck Aero Center’s Poker Run for Charity. The weather couldn’t have been better with clear skies and nearly calm wind as we set off from Bismarck. The route we chose took us on a short hop across the river to Mandan where we collected our first card.

We took off not too far behind Larry Buller in his homebuilt RV7A. Larry gave a great presentation on his experience building the airplane at the last Upper Midwest Aviation Symposium. We were both going to Beulah, but since we were flying a 172 Larry easily beat us there.

We were fourth in line for landing as we approached Beulah to get our second card. A quick discussion with an instructor and student who were also on the poker run and with Shawn Morten of Dakota Helicopter and we were off again enroute to Washburn.

We were surprised by the new terminal building at the Washburn airport. Once we figured out the code to get in the door we found a very nice facility that even had a shower room. This was an impressive upgrade since the last time we were there.

When we arrived back in Bismarck there were already a number of people waiting and more arrived after us. After a BBQ lunch and a lot of good conversation, the cards were turned and Denny Adams from Mandan ended up with the best hand. Congratulation Denny! We don’t know exactly how much money was raised for charity but based on the number of people there it must have been a nice amount.

The poker run was a great kickoff to the summer flying season. Check out a few of our photos by clicking here. And don’t forget to check the NDPA calendar to find more aviation events all around the state.