Mackinac Island!

Like the old ad goes......

Round trip avgas from the Twin Cities......$153
Island Landing fee..........$10.50
Lunch and dinner............$50
Hotel in the U.P. Michigan.......$92

Late afternoon views of the Mackinac Bridge.....Priceless!!!

Niner-Pop-Hotel just turned over 800 hours on the hobbs and the WX was looking great for the next few days. So we turned the asylum over to our teenage inmates and headed northeast for a trip we have been meaning to take for several years - Mackinac Island. Only bikes and horses allowed on the island, so I thought we would try out our RV-9a Multi-Modal. I borrowed a Citizen Tokyo 16" folder to join my Kent Compact 16 behind the seat. By removing the passenger seat, both bikes loaded pretty easily. We had plenty of room for an overnight bag and some tools. All told we were 15lbs under gross.



An early departure out of Anoka County and on up to 9500 with flight following. There was some fog in the low valleys of Wisconsin.



Andi demanded equal time for all the sleeping pics - this taken in the 10 min she was awake......



Smooth. cool and cheap at 9500 - Hartzell, Pmags and a carb, LOP, Bay-bee.



2 hours later we got our first glimpse of the bridge.............


And then the Grand Hotel and the Island!


We landed - parked, unloaded the bikes and paid our fees. $10.50 for a single. Then we rode off to town - Andi needed coffee!

We were greeted by sunny skies and flying kites......


These guys are everywhere......


Leaving these guys everywhere......


They clean up constantly, so it is not that bad. We toured the city and gazed up at the fort on the hill while we had lunch in the park.....


Continued......

Mackinac - Part 2

After lunch we hiked up the Fort Hill to get a view from the high ground.
The town from the top of Fort Hill.....


It was a beautiful day. The building crowds in the city confirmed it - the ferries just kept bringing more and more people - the bike rental lines were often 50 people deep. We avoided town as much as we could.

The lake and kites from the high ground.


Just provin' I was there....


These shaded trails in the interior of the island were much more to our liking....



Not sure what the yellow flowers are, but they were everywhere and beautiful!


We did the requisite 8 mile bike lap of the island - an easy ride with great views of the bridge. The deep blue color of the water was hard to describe...


Lot of kids yelled "Cool bikes" as we wobbled past on the folders - it was a neat way to travel. We did 10-15 miles on the bikes. - That is about the limit, but they worked great!


Oh, the water color!


Wind Power!


The park promotes the building of rock sculptures - were we in - heck yes!


Continued!!

Mackinac - Part 3

Sometimes the weather just works out for you! Several shades of Blue!


We had a nice light dinner in town and then pedaled back to the airport. It took 10 min to load up and preflight, then we were off. Sad to go, but a great day!


A circle of the bridge gave us some breathtaking views! The best of the trip!








The island was booked solid overnight and was a bit expensive for my tastes, so I looked for a fuel stop on the way home. Newberry, in Michigan's UP was 20 min away in the RV, had $4.25 100LL, and a hotel close to the airport. It was a simple hotel, but very clean and they had a hottub for Andi and I to work the kinks out from a day of biking. The hotel owner is a pilot and happily picked us up and ran us back to the airport. A thumbs up for the America's Best Value Inn - Newberry, MI.

The trip home today was smooth and quiet - it is pretty desolate in the U.P. I was glad to have flight following from Minne Center and APRS watching out for us.....


Get some Bikes and make the the trip to Mackinac Island. You can go fancy and have a Grand time, or go cheap like we did and have a ball, too!!

Nice trip! Have your own bike make it convenient.

island

Pete,

In the photos of the three sail boats, the middle one is my brothers boat. He lives on the island.

I agree, it's a great place.

Hi Pete,
Great pics and a great write up. I always enjoy your photos. What equipment do you use and what software do you use for post processing?

Pete:

Next time stop by MNM (Menominee MI) and I'll by you lunch.

Nice write up! 5.5 gph? WOW!

tkatc said:

Nice write up! 5.5 gph? WOW!

Click to expand...

That's 5.5 hours at 6 gph. Still very economical!

cheers,
greg

A610 and Picasa

apatti said:

Hi Pete,
Great pics and a great write up. I always enjoy your photos. What equipment do you use and what software do you use for post processing?

Click to expand...

Thanks for the kind words Tony,

The camera is an old, beat up Canon A610 point and shoot for most of the trip pics. I leave it in auto mode 95% of the time. It has been dropped so many times I can't count - just keeps ticking.

I use Picasa for cropping and occasionally to adjust contrast. Picasa is simple, powerful and FREE!

OK!

painless said:

Pete:

Next time stop by MNM (Menominee MI) and I'll by you lunch.

Click to expand...

Jeff that sounds like a plan!

I got halfway through this, then had to race to the hangar to get that plane finished.

Thanks Pete!

I am from Michigan, brought back great memories. Thanks for the posting. Looks like you caught the weather just right. Big Mac is an incredible thing to see and you are right, the UP is a pretty lonely place when you are in a plane.

Thanks again for sharing your experience!

Did you get some fudge?

Mackinac Island is one of our favorite trips to make by plane. It looks just like your photos show. One of the best parts of the trip is the moon-lit flight home.

Thanks for sharing!

Carlos Fernandez

Ah, yes, the KISS principle. Excellent results. The camera records images well. But, your eye for what makes a good shot is what really makes the difference. That silhouette shot of the bridge (3rd from the last) is a real keeper!

Thanks!

apatti said:

Ah, yes, the KISS principle. Excellent results. The camera records images well. But, your eye for what makes a good shot is what really makes the difference. That silhouette shot of the bridge (3rd from the last) is a real keeper!

Click to expand...

That one is my favorite by far as well!

Very nice pictures! Looks like you had a blast.

Nice Trip

petehowell said:

Niner-Pop-Hotel just turned over 800 hours on the hobbs and the WX was looking great for the next few days. So we turned the asylum over to our teenage inmates and headed northeast for a trip we have been meaning to take for several years - Mackinac Island. ..

Click to expand...

As always, a nice write up Pete. Deb and I have Mackinac on our list. Congrats on making 800 hours. We just got back from a long Florida/East Coast/New England trip and we rolled the hobbs to 924 hours, 4818 miles for the trip. I need to keep flying. You're catching up to me.

Greg Arehart said:

That's 5.5 hours at 6 gph. Still very economical!

cheers,
greg

Click to expand...

Absolutley!!

That is better than my girlfriends car. A GM 6 cyclinder. And at 170mph, what car will get you that?

The very reason I decided to get my own aircraft was to put two colapsable bikes in the back. I wanted that before I even had my PPL.

Just me and Caroline running all over Australia into dust covered strips ( there are a lot here) then scooting off for the day on little bikes and having a blast touring our country.

Your post was an absolutel inspiration.

Thank you.

Have Fun!

Have Fun Gus! These planes provide a lot of freedom.

GusBiz said:

Absolutley!!

That is better than my girlfriends car. A GM 6 cyclinder. And at 170mph, what car will get you that?

The very reason I decided to get my own aircraft was to put two colapsable bikes in the back. I wanted that before I even had my PPL.

Just me and Caroline running all over Australia into dust covered strips ( there are a lot here) then scooting off for the day on little bikes and having a blast touring our country.

Your post was an absolutel inspiration.

Thank you.

Click to expand...

bikes

Pete,

The island is on my list in a few weeks.....a day trip out from Osh Kosh. I'm really interested in the bikes. What kind are they? Where did you get them? Do you think they can be put in an RV8? Thanks.

David Watson

You can PM me or email to [email protected].

Bikes

Hi David,

The bikes are two different 16" wheel models. Mine is a Kent Compact 16 with an aluminum frame and the bike I borrowed is a Citizen Tokyo(steel frame) they fold up to similar size - the Kent is a few pounds less. Neither are great long distance bikes, but they do the trick.

No idea about how they would fit in the RV-8, sorry.

Compact 16 Link

Citizen Tokyo Link

DEWATSON said:

Pete,

The island is on my list in a few weeks.....a day trip out from Osh Kosh. I'm really interested in the bikes. What kind are they? Where did you get them? Do you think they can be put in an RV8? Thanks.

David Watson

You can PM me or email to [email protected].

Click to expand...

Looks like a nice July destination. Little Meet-n-Greet Saturday July the 7th maybe? Around noon?

I don't know how I missed this thread the first time around

Jeanine and I flew there from Southern California for our 25th Anniversary and stayed in a fine room in The Grand Hotel for a few days. As I recall it was $495 per night but it was a very big deal for us and we were not going cut the experience quality if there was anyway we could scrape it together. I think there was a three day minimum and we limited it to three days. Here is our 25th Aniversary picture in our room.



We rode the horse drawn taxi from the airport to the hotel and we took an island tour in one. We also rented bicycles in town and road around the entire island. It was one of our most memorable trips.

Bob Axsom

Bob,

It is such a beautiful picture! Just look at two of you.

Ted

The lake has changed since 1980's

I grew up sailing on lake Michgan and back then it was a green shade due to the natural zooplanton species that supported the ecosystem. An invasive species of Zebra Muscle has changed the entire lake to the deep blue, with related impact on the foodchain. But it sure makes the lake beautiful.

http://www.epa.gov/med/grosseile_site/lmem.html

Slow Taxi......

Bob Axsom said:

We rode the horse drawn taxi from the airport to the hotel and we took an island tour in one. We also rented bicycles in town and road around the entire island. It was one of our most memorable trips.

Bob Axsom

Click to expand...

My guess is Bob tried out several aero mods on the horse taxi to try to cut down the 10 minute trip to and from the airport! We'd like a full report with pictures!

Seriously Bob, that is a beautiful picture, and the island is a great place to celebrate a special time.