The Eagle Has Landed (#18 Minnesota)

Weather had been a big factor on the way to Oshkosh.  Saturday morning was nearly perfect for our flight to Rochester Minnesota.  It was a cool 50 degrees so we started and idled for a few minutes to let the oil gently warm.  As we sat we got to see the EAA Ford Trimotor doing touch and goes.  Not quite full on Oshkosh but not bad.

I had struggled with Minnesota, initially I was thinking to visit Duluth as they have some nice hikes but we had just done the UP and Duluth was even colder.  My next thought was Minneapolis but logistically it was hard and it was not that enticing. In the end I chose Rochester as a good base to see something that caught my eye and allow us to drop by the big city.

The flight was an hour and basically a straight shot.  Arriving in Rochester we pulled up at Signature.  Now Signature has a bad reputation among some due to high fees, high prices and poor service for piston planes.  My experience is that it is very location specific.  Today there were no fees, the gas was a good deal and we even got 50 cents off for buying on the weekend.  The service was also friendly and efficient.

Our rental car was waiting and though it was 10 AM I checked and the hotel had a room ready.  We stopped by and dropped our junk and then set out to sightsee.  Our first stop was a famous water tower.  As we pulled up we saw that there was a farmers market and after making some comments on the corn tower, we strolled the market.

Lately the markets we have visited seemed too pretentious for my taste.  I remember farmers markets being full of fresh produce at good prices.  Not anymore, everything was triple the cost of the grocery store and didn’t look any better.

After the market we headed off to see rural Minnesota.  We drove East towards the Mississippi River through rolling hills of farms.  There were a good many cows, we assumed of the dairy variety.  Also lots of fields.  I had figured that the land would be flatter but this corner of the state is hilly.  Ironically Minnesota is ranked as the 5th flattest state, beating out Kansas. 

The National Eagle center is located in Wabasha on the banks of the Mississippi. We had signed online up for the 1 PM program.  The center is a small museum with information on Bald Eagles and other eagle related facts.  The best part of the center is the eagle room where they have 3 rescue Bald Eagles.  Two birds had bad wings and the third was rescued in our town with a significant tumor.  The eagle was cured but had lost an eye and could no longer survive in the wild.

We finished the center and still had 25 minutes before the program so we walked across the street to get ice cream. We walked downtown and then back down the river eating our treat.  We ate quickly and made the show with plenty of time to spare.

The show was 30 minutes learning about Bald Eagles and then 15 minutes with a live eagle.  The highlight is watching the eagle eat.  He had a nice chunk of fresh rabbit.  Apparently we missed rat day.  We were told that he sometimes takes it in one gulp but we got lucky and got to see him rip it apart and savor it. We really got lucky because we were also told sometimes the Eagle sends the food back out as part of the process. We were in the splash zone but luckily stayed dry. 

After the show we drove up the Mississippi to Red Wing.  We did not stop for any boots though we saw plenty of signs for footwear.  On the way back we happened upon a covered bridge so we stopped to look. Apparently it is the only one in the state and was built in 1860 for stagecoach traffic.  It had been moved a few times but was in good shape.

We have eaten well on the trip but there has not been much unique local food.  Yes we tried local places but pizza and salad is pretty standard.  Tonight I saw a taco truck and we decided we would give it a try.  Long time readers will remember our taco truck adventure in Oklahoma City.  That was a high bar to beat but we gave it a go.  

Francis Tacos is a non mobile truck and the specialty is Tacos.  Cc got Pollo and Asada, I got Chorizo and Al Pastor with a side of rice.  I also ordered a side of sweet corn with mayo and chili.  This was unusual but quite tasty. The food was excellent but I think Oklahoma City was slightly better though it may just be nostalgia talking.

We spent Sunday in Minnesota.  I decided to see the big city so we drove up to Minneapolis.  I was not too enamored with the city.  They have a neat sculpture garden and nice parks but I could tell that it was mighty cold most of the year.  Don’t think I will be moving there.  They also had a race in progress while we were trying to view the sculptures.

After the big city we headed back to Rochester and enjoyed a walk in a nature area. We finished up with some local Mediterranean food which was quite good.  The flight planning was pretty easy with good weather and only 120 miles. We had been sightseeing pretty hard and it was good to kick back for a few hours and read a book and just relax.

Oshkosh (#19 Wisconsin)

Friday morning we were headed to Oshkosh and while we had enjoyed great weather all week, we were expecting a front and rain in the morning.  I had been double checking departure procedure, terrain, climb gradients and all the forecasts.  While it was going to stay warm on the surface, it would be below freezing higher up so icing was also on the table.  In the end there was nothing to do about it all but wait for the morning and see what developed.

The late weather had the rain moving through between 6 and 9 and for once it did just what it was supposed to do.  The clouds were supposed to get low as well and luckily other than some scud at around 500 feet, it actually was high overcast at departure time.  I had filed for 4000 because we had 30+ knot headwinds up high and I did not think the TAS advantage up high would pay off.

I got the plane ready and then called center to get our clearance.  He surprised me by giving me both the clearance and release with a generous void time.  We fired up, and started heading for the runway.  Our limiting factor was warming the oil but soon enough it was up to 100 F and we had the run up done with 2 minutes to spare.

On departure we soon climbed above the scud and headed off North to stay along lake Michigan’s shore.  We checked in with center and I set power.  We were trueing out around 175.  We can go faster down low but it is not that efficient.

As the flight progressed we were in and out of the clouds and we even lost the headwind and picked up a few knots on the tailwind.  Staying low was a good idea in the end.  It also kept us out of potential icing which likely started above 6000 but better to be safe.

Oshkosh was VFR but visibility was poor due to the Canadian smoke that had drifted South.  The controller offered the GPS approach but we requested the visual and picked up the field around 7 miles out. We lined up on 27 and though it was gusty, made a nice touchdown.  It’s not that busy this time of year, one controller was both tower and ground.

In a few weeks though, the place would be hopping.  One week a year it becomes one of the busiest airports in the world for the annual EAA convention. Some days it is the busiest but it is only open during daylight hours and they shut down 4 hours a day for an air show.  On an hourly basis it is the clear winner though.  This is one of the reasons we chose to come now.

We taxied in to Bassler, the FBO, and went in to register.  They had said they could drop us at the EAA museum and after that I had planned to Uber.  I inquired about a lift and the manager offered us the crew car for the night.  This made our logistics a lot easier.

We headed off and dropped our luggage at the hotel, just down from the FBO and then went to the museum.  I get in free as an EAA member but CC had to pay.  The museum person said that she could add CC to my membership for much less than her ticket, which she did and saved us $10.  We were on a roll. 

The Museum was very good.  Very different feel than the Wright Patterson one.  The focus is more on the history of flight and experimental aircraft.  The had many cool airplanes but the exhibit I enjoyed the most was the Voyager.

The voyager was the first plane to fly around the globe without refueling.  I remember the flight and knew it was a cramped but I had no real sense how tight it was.  They spent over 9 days in the tiny cabin.  I couldn’t see how the swapped places much less went to the bathroom.

After the museum we grabbed a sub and headed to see a glass museum that CC had found.  It had some really nice pieces and afterwards we took a walk in the adjacent park.  We tried to walk behind the museum around lake Winnebago but the flies were out, so we enjoyed the other park that was mostly fly free.  After that we took a break and grabbed dinner. We had another state to visit on Saturday.

The big lake they call Gitchi Gummi

When I started my quest to visit the lower 48, I identified a location in each state that I wanted to visit.  In some states it was really hard because there were many places I wanted to see.  Some others, I had the opposite problem, there was not much that jumped out at me.

My first thought on Michigan was not Mackinac Island though it was a close second.  As a child, I vividly remembered hearing Gordon Lightfoot recount the tale of the Edmund Fitzgerald. I was older when I learned the details of the ill fated voyage. Oh, if you are too young and have no idea what I am talking about, I’ll wait while you Google it and listen to the song.  Great, you’re back.

The Edmund Fitzgerald sunk about 12 miles from Whitefish point.  The Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum sits on whitefish point by the light house.  The Great Lakes are deceivingly dangerous.  There does not seem to be a definitive list of wrecks but well over 1000 vessels have been lost.  The museum tells the story of the Edmund Fitzgerald and much much more.  They had a great exhibit on the coastal life savers and early rescue techniques with surf boats and rope rigs.

The exhibits range from the gruesome, discussing the casualties to the inspiring tales of success as well as documenting the mundane life of the light keepers at the remote location.  They are the home of the Bell from the Edmund Fitzgerald which was raised in 1995 to build a memorial.  A new bell with the names of the 29 lost sailors was place on the wreck in its place.

Looking out over Lake Gitchi Gummi (Or more commonly called Lake Superior), you can easily see Canada,  The wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald is just a few miles farther over the horizon.  They were so close to safety yet so far.

After the museum, we head off to Tahquamenon Falls State Park for Waterfalls.  There are two sets, upper and lower.  We stopped at the lower first, donned our hiking boots and set out to do battle with nature.  What we found were nicely paved paths and boardwalks plus an aluminum bridge.  So much for having the boots but we did look cool.

The lower falls were a series of falls/rapids.  It required a bit of hiking to get all the views and we had a serious discussion about if they were really falls and not just big rapids.  We determined it was a mix but the weather was excellent and the trails well done so we didn’t make a big deal of it.

There is a trail between the upper and lower falls but it is miles long and closed.  We took the car and relocated to the upper falls.  This was a bona fide fall.  Quite impressive but with the copious amounts of water flowing it looked brown.  This apparently was from the tannins that leach from the cedar swamp at the start of the Tahquamenon River.

We then headed back to St. Ignace and Mackinaw City.  I was not sure what to expect of the roads in the Michigan UP but I didn't think they would be so desolate.  Lots of vegetation but few people.  Returning to St. Ignace we stopped for gas and we’re swarmed with clouds of Mosquitoes again, except they were not Mosquitos, they just look like them.  They look like them but don’t bite or sting.  The locals say you should relax and enjoy the protein.  We said yuck…  This was not our last encounter with the swarms of midge flies.

We drove both St. Ignace and Mackinaw City and we were glad we had chosen Petosky for our base of operations even though it was about 10 minutes further from the airport.  They had mostly run down accommodations and were a Northern version of Daytona Beach but less nice.  They also had swarms of Midge flies.  After scoping out the towns and patting ourselves on the back for great decision make, we headed South to see a Lumberjack show.

I had seen lumberjack competitions on TV but this was live.  The show consisted of 2 jacks in a competition.  They did not quite have the motivation the Nationals but they put on a fun show exhibiting their talents while the MC cracked corny jokes.  Other than us, the audience was mostly a school group and a group of retired vets in a travel club.  This is the beginning of the season and only their fourth show of the season.

The students were well behaved.  The other group was rowdy but fun.  After a long day of sightseeing it was time to head back to the hotel.  We walked less today, only a bit over 5 miles but drove about 300 miles.  

Thursday we had an easy day in Michigan.  We visited the next town over , Charlevoix, to see the farmers market.  While strolling the streets, I noticed a public works project and was horrified.  There is a Meme group on Facebook “looks like an OSHA violation but Ok” where people post picture of people violating the rules.  They were digging in loose earth and had a guy in the pit with no bracing.  He was one misstep from being buried alive.

After that we did some local shopping and then drove around town to see the mushroom houses.  These were designed by Earl Young and he wanted the houses to fit the surroundings.  We planned to walk around but the flies were thick again and we viewed from the car.

After that we visited a lavender farm.  It was just getting going for the season and nothing was in bloom.  We did get a lavender lemonade soda and the people were friendly.  We also got a nice walk out of it.

Our next stop was a local community college that has a great sculpture garden in the center of campus and we enjoyed strolling and admiring the art. We headed to the lakefront for a walk but again we’re thwarted by the flies so we strolled downtown instead.  After this it was off to dinner and packing up for our next state.