In 1988, I packed up my family and we moved to Pocatello, Idaho; and, upon arriving, if not on one of my pre-move visits, I visited a local FBO and inquired about the type of planes available for rent. The employee behind the desk recited a long list of Piper model numbers that meant nothing to me; then he paused and said: “…but then I don’t know how much complex or twin time that you have.” I told him that I had never flown a plane with a nose wheel. There was a very long pause before the conversation resumed; and then it took quite a bit of effort on my part to convince this fellow that I was serious.

As luck would have it, they had one taildragger—N1877G, a 7KCAB Citabtria. Citabria 77G might as well have been my own personal plane; after a quick checkout, I must have used it 90% of the time that it was flown. Compared to flying in the bay area, this was a dream: drive right up and park outside the hangar; the plane is waiting, ready to go, right inside.  It seemed like all of southeast Idaho was my personal playground, at least everything from Rexburg down to Twin Falls. There were flights that hugged the path of the Snake river as it meandered through Idaho Falls and near Pocatello and day trips further north in the shadows of the Tetons. There were so many out of the way places to go and relatively few people taking advantage of it.

I scoured the internet for a picture of 77G that I could add to this post but found none; what I did find was sad: 77G was destroyed in an accident that killed both people aboard; it happened in 1990, only a few months after I left  Pocatello.  Stupid accident that never should have happened. The idiotic details can be found here.