Now There Are Three

1) Delta Connection partner Skywest: twice-daily Minneapolis - Williston, starting November 12, 50-seat a/c; jet service;  Delta will charge $550 to $700 to fly from Minneapolis to Williston.

2) United Airlines: thrice-daily Denver - Williston; jet service;

3) Great Lakes Airlines: Denver - Williston (5 non-stops daily); Minneapolis - Williston (2 daily): 30-seat prop

[A big "thank you" to a reader providing a comment that allowed me to update the above.]

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This reminds me of two stories about flying back to North Dakota; one time to Williston; one time to Grand Forks.

The first story:

I was flying from Los Angeles to Williston via Minneapolis. Due to a winter storm somewhere over the Grand Forks-Minot area, the commercial aircraft was forced to put down in Grand Forks. While standing in line to re-book a flight from Grand Forks to Williston on the commercial airliner for a flight the next day, a "cowboy" -- blue jeans, boots, cowboy hat, no six-shooter as far as I recall -- came up to us and said he would fly us in his four/six seater Cessna (or whatever it was) to points west if we gave him our commercial tickets in exchange. And that's what three or four of us did. We gave him our commercial tickets, and he flew us "under" the storm to Minot, Williston, and Billings (?). A little rough, but it was a hoot to see farm houses just a few hundred feet below; assuming a storm was above us. Looking back, he reminded me of the original Indiana Jones.

Second story:

My wife, two very young daughters, and I were flying back from Los Angeles to Grand Forks via Sioux Falls. At Sioux Falls, we were sitting at the end-of-runway for quite some time before we finally began our roll-out. We had reached, I assume, take-off speed, when all of a sudden, we came to a fast, but nicely controlled stop at opposite end of runway. We taxied back to the original starting point and sat there for some time. Finally, we took off. Once airborne, the pilot, over the public address system, suggested that we were probably wondering why we were at the end-of-runway for quite some time after the first abort, before finally taking off. It turns out that the oil gauge needles would not move, suggesting there was no oil pressure. But tapping on the little glass window of the gauges, and surmising that the needles were frozen due to the extreme cold, and not due to lack of oil pressure, the pilot / co-pilot decided to try taking off again. And take-off was fine. Just short of halfway to Grand Forks, we had to turn back anyway and return to Sioux Falls. It was not so much the 100 degrees below zero wind chill factor (actual temperature was 60 degrees below zero) that forced us to turn back; it was the forty mile-an-hour cross winds, or whatever they were, that made it too hazardous to try to land. So, back it was to Sioux Falls, where they put us up in a nice motel and our two daughters enjoyed a great evening in the indoor pool.

If you've heard these stories before, I apologize. I tell them every chance I get.

I guess that's two of nine lives. Someday I will tell you the third story -- the third of nine lives. That one involved flying, but not in an airplane.