We did not want to monopolize the airport car, so we ran back to the airport to see if anyone else was waiting for it. A nice couple from Saginaw just landed in a C-210 and wanted to go to lunch, so we booted up the backup plan and headed over to Traverse City for the National Cherry Festival. We departed Frankfort at 12:30 and I called TVC tower and told them to keep the airport open for us, and they said "no problem" we won't close until 1pm. The turbo wind off the lake had us at almost 180kts over the ground and a 7 min trip over!
Planes waiting for us to land were a C-17 and a B-17, it was airshow time!
The people at AvFlight at TVC could not have been nicer, they fed us lunch, drove us down to the lakeshore for the airshow and took care of our baby on a blistering hot day.
We made some friends and found ourselves in the VIP viewing area! The Blues put on a great show despite having one of the solos needing to RTB.
After the show, we caught a bus back to the airport and cooled off with some local ice cream provided by AvFlight - a classy operation.
Went up to 6500 for a smooth, cool ride back to see Mom in South Bend.
We knew getting home Sunday was going to be a challenge, but we had rough plan. Get around the lake, maybe to Madison, wait for the storms to come thru, then run home after. We tried to get to Madtown, but the Wx shut the door, so we turned back to Dekalb, home of long runways, reasonable gas, and a car to get food. Rhonda at the airport was a gem. While we waited, she started getting wx alerts and told me to put the plane in the big hangar and that there was a surprise in there. We pulled 9PH in and got to see some history!
If you have to get stuck - KDKB is the place to do it in style! The storm rolled in loud, hot, and heavy, but behind it were cool temps and high ceilings. We marveled at the green countryside on the flight home.
A barge on a sunlit Lake Pepin provided a nice end to a great trip. Nearly 10 hours in the air, 4 great airports, 2 nights with Mom, a National Lakeshore, and the Blue Angels. Not too shabby!
