Thought you might be interested in hearing about our great cross country adventure to Traverse City, MI this Fall.  We planned an 8 hour drive up to meet our family on Friday, then return home on Monday.  As the weekend drew closer, it became apparent that the weather was going to be severely clear throughout the whole weekend.  On top of that the wind was solidly out of the South.  This begged the question:  To fly or not to fly?  I spent the better part of about 2 seconds thinking it over and decided “of course we’ll fly!”.  Now the next hurdle was to convince my wife.

I discussed this with Denise; how much faster it would be to fly rather than drive.  After the usually back and forth negotiation on baggage allowance, we packed up the car and headed for the airport.  The trip routing up to Traverse City is about as sweet as the weather – 6I4 dir TVC.  If you fly at 6,500+, no need to talk to anyone except the tower at the destination.  Not that I mind some conversation.  We did talk to the Elkart Tower and the South Bend Approach on our journey northward.

The ride was smooth as a baby’s bottom once we got to altitude and with a 15 knot tailwind, our flight time was only 2.5 hours.  This meant no refueling stop which saved even more time.  The leaves gradually became more colorful as we proceeded north.  Upon arrival, it was a beautiful sight coming into the bay.  There is so much lake shore!

Once we landed, we parked at the Harbor Air tarmac.   These folks couldn’t have been nicer.  I called ahead to check on landing / tie-down fees.   They asked me if I was Private or Commercial.  After I told them Private, they asked how much my plane weighted.  I told him 650 lb, and all I got was a chuckle in response.  We ended up paying $5 / day to tie-down and no landing fee.  They brought out a golf cart to help us with our luggage.  Fuel was around $5.50 per gallon.  We used 16.5 gallons, about the same as driving up with a car.

Traverse City has a lot to offer.  We stayed at a Comfort Inn which was only about ½ mile from the airport.  Our family was excited about the upcoming weekend and mid 80’s temperatures.  We hit the wine tasting trail the next day which included 7 local wineries.  It was nice to leave the driving to someone else!  When you visit Traverse City, also plan on eating lots of cherries:  Cherry wine, cherry ice cream, cherry cheese cake, etc.  It must be the Cherry capital of the world.

We also hit some good restaurants and the local Turtle Run Casino.  Usually these types of places leave you wearing a barrel on the way out, but I actually came away with a few extra dollars after hitting on the slots.

Before we knew it, it was time to head back.  We got an early start on Monday morning since that same southerly wind would hurt rather than help on the way back.  Sure enough, 3.5 hours flight time for the return trip.  Could have been worse though, at least we were still passing the cars on the highway!

I would highly recommend this trip for those of you looking to add a little cross country time to the log book.  It is not overly taxing technically, and great things to do when you arrive.

Chuck