June 14 — Forssa, Finland to Helsinki, Finland, by bus Exploring Finland’s capital, and a sauna It takes about two hours to travel the 120 kilometers by bus from Forssa southeast to Helsinki. Over the next couple of days, I walked all over town, did my laundry, and ate local food. The picture above is
June 13 — Forssa, Finland My first marathon outside of the United States The Forssan Suvi-ilta, literally, Forssa Summer Evening, starts at 3 p.m. just outside a hockey arena a short walk from my downtown hotel. After I get my race number, I wander toward the start line. Much to my surprise, several minutes before
Jussi and me at the Turku Airport fence. June 12 — Vagar, Faroe Islands to Forssa, Finland Meeting new friends in Finland I would have loved to spend another day in the Faroe Islands, but it was Saturday and I had a marathon on Sunday in Forssa, which is 981 miles away as the crow
This is the lake on the waterfall visual approach. The runway is hiding around the bend on the left. Here is a video of the waterfall visual approach to runway 30 at Vagar. June 11 — Keflavik, Iceland to Vagar, Faroe Islands The most beautiful approach to an airport After repositioning to Reykjavik Domestic Airport
June 10 — Ilulissat, Greenland to Keflavik, Iceland Flying high over the ice and the icing Things didn’t look good Wednesday morning. Then, around noon, they improved dramatically. Instead of checking back into my hotel for an additional day, I headed for the airport. The plan was to fly over the clouds over the ice
June 9 — In Ilulissat, Greenland Stuck in heaven A low pressure system centered just south of Iceland was throwing a wrench in my plans. It was creating a lot of clouds from the center of Greenland all the way to Iceland. It was like a big stop sign for me. I’m an instrument rated
June 8 — Iqaluit, Nunavut to Ilulissat, Greenland The crossing begins Ferry pilots (people who deliver airplanes) fly from Iqaluit to Kangerlussuaq, which is what I did when I flew to Europe from Atlanta in 2003. It’s the shortest distance across on the northern route to Europe (as opposed to the route from Goose Bay
June 7 — Thunder Bay, Ontario to Iqaluit, Nunavut North, to the arctic We got a taxi to the airport at 7 and then had an hour-long wait to get our plane fueled. We should have had that done when we arrived the night before. We finally launched into mostly clear skies at 9:17. It
June 6 — Jackson, Wyoming to Thunder Bay, Ontario Goodbye, USA; see you in 2027 I began the day by calling Canadian immigration to let them know we were on our way. It was a beautiful morning as we drove out of Jackson toward the airport, and then Danny asked me if I had his
Tyler Cleveland’s photo of me crossing the finish line, with my brother cheering in the background. Tyler Cleveland’s photo of me celebrating with his dad, Rick. June 5, 2026 — The Bear Lake Idaho Marathon My 50th marathon state! The race started at 6:30. I woke up before 4 and wasn’t going to get any