This was the longest single leg I have flown in the RV-7. I generally like to keep flights to two and a half hour legs, but with all the deviating around weather, it was just over four hours to our fuel stop just short of Mackinac. If you fly into Mackinac, I would suggest a late morning or afternoon arrival in order to avoid the fog which sometimes enshrouds the area. Since there is no fuel at the airport, we landed at Pellston, 18 miles to the south, for fuel before continuing to Mackinac. Once there, we were directed over the radio to a parking place, although we had to steal tiedown ropes from the adjacent space. There was no tiedown available for the tail, so I screwed my own tiedown into the rocky earth to secure the tail. The tiedown/landing fee was $42 for three days.
I'm too cheap to drop the cash to stay at a place like The Grand Hotel - you could expect that from a guy who built his own airplane, I guess. Our hotel was called Harbor View. It was very nice at about $200 per night, including a pretty good continental breakfast. Kind of a weird room though, with sloping angles in the ceiling, a great big jacuzzi right in the middle of the room and two bathrooms with showers at either end of the room. Mary loved the two bathrooms.There are no motorized vehicles of any kind on the island. Bicycle is king here, and there are literally thousands of them. Our hotel rents the basic single speed bikes with coaster brakes. You could elect to rent from one of the local bike shops if you need a fancier bike with multiple gears. I'm accustomed to a carbon frame bike with clipless pedals which I speed around Memphis on, but it would be wasted here as there are few hills, and speed is limited by the large amount of bike traffic dawdling along on the roads. We managed to get some good excercise pedaling along on the hotel bikes.
We biked over to The Grand one morning, but we were not allowed to enter or approach the hotel. They have plenty of security to keep the riff-raff away. I understand they will give you a guided tour of the hotel for $10. Fat chance! I guess if I were paying to stay there, I wouldn't care for gawkers enjoying all that atmosphere for nothing! I actually thought the sign outside was a joke. It ain't no joke, Bub. After 6, you need a coat and tie, and no slacks for the ladies. And I thought I was prepared by bringing a shirt with a collar!We were thinking of going to The Grand just for dinner, but, needless to say, I did not have the appropriate attire. Having said all this, I may have to sneak back up to Mackinac during the off-season when rates are more reasonable just to stay at The Grand.
