Aug 2013 Flying Lake Michigan
If you’ve got some time on your hands and an airplane at your disposal, there are a lot of ways to see beautiful Lake Michigan by air. For the brave at heart you can start on one side, say Wisconsin, take a 90* heading for about 50 miles and you’ll end up in Michigan.
You can also do it circling the perimeter of the lake and, in a fast single, spend the day flying fast and gazing out the windows.
But if you’re like me, you’d drag it out, join some friends and make it last! My Rans S7 seems to be fitting in quite nicely on our 3 day adventure around Lake Michigan surrounded by 13 other airplanes.
Our 14 airplanes started on the Wisconsin side yesterday and took in Poplar Grove Airport and over flew holy hill on our way to the coastline. LLT pilot Tina Thomas gave us a fantastic tour of their engine repair shop, hangars and museum and all I can say is, I gotta get back there when I’ve got more time. Everybody should put this amazing airport on their “must visit” list!
The gorgeous Waco SRE is Tina’s baby and the antique red glider is her hangar chandelier.
Our first night stop was Manitowoc, WI then a short 2.5 hour flight this morning to St. Igneous. The nice thing about having plenty of time on your hands is being able to land any where that looks interesting.
Overflying Washington Island we veered a mile west to take a look at their grass strip. It looked way too inviting not to stop and the real treat was finding a local festival just kicking off. Snack time!!
Flying is such a small world and you bump into people you know or people you’re overdue to know everywhere. This lovely couple with a ’47 Chief turn out to be old buddies of LLT friend Ray Johnson. Ray is the host of Vintage in Review at OSH.
Having a great time in case you can’t tell! Some of us took in Mackinac Island this afternoon and visited the famous Grand Hotel. Of course none of us have enough bucks to actually stay there! More fun flying in store tomorrow.
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