Two Pilots & an LSW: Michigan

I usually wake up Kaylee and kiss her goodbye when I leave, but this morning it seemed mean, so I sent her an email instead. I was up at 6:30 checking weather, and it wasn't looking all that promising. Back to Michigan, not far from the lake, snow and rain with iffy temps, a lot of icing forecast, high winds, etc. But doable. Instead of taking two airplanes, we just took one so D would have me on board to help out with the weather. The flight wasn't long, we picked up ice climbing out and descending, but the equipment (which I tested on the ground) all worked and it ended up not being as bad as they expected. If the forecast is going to be wrong, I much prefer it be wrong in that direction. :)

If you're on Facebook, skip this next paragraph 'cause I already wrote it out. ;) The place we went to is a small airport in Michigan south of Grand Rapids. They have self-serve fuel only, so we parked by the pump, and in the spitting snow/rain and gusty winds, I topped off. I requested 80 gallons. The card reader said "This type of card is only approved for 47 gallons per transaction.". Oh GREAT, another one of those. We weren't going far, so I just put 47 gallons in and left it alone. I go inside and the guy behind the counter says "How much gas did you buy?" I said "47 gallons", so he says "We have a landing fee here unless you buy 80 gallons of gas." I said "80 gallons!? What planes do you usually get in here?!" He didn't answer except to say "The landing fee is $50.00" That is a massive fuel requirement and massive landing fee for a tiny airport in nowhere, Michigan! I was so flummoxed by that I forgot to even complain about the card reader not letting me do more than 47 gallons per transaction until later, at which point he said "I don't know why 47 gallons". Okay, thanks. Nowhere on their website, on Garmin Pilot's airport info, or on AOPA's airport info on them does it mention any kind of landing fee. That's just a nuts requirement. I've written AOPA and suggested they add the information for the next sucker, and I've written the airport I just came from too, but I haven't sent that one yet. I'm wondering if I'm going to have to go back in there or not, first. ;) Actually, updating this, D just got back to me and said no plans to go back and visit anytime soon, so let 'em have it. So I shall see what they have to say. If I were doing it right I'd call, but if I have to call I won't do it at all. So I'll write, and it'll have to be good enough.

The courtesy car was an old black cop car, with TWO spotlights, one on each side, and they both worked! That was most excellent. ;) I asked for some place not fast food to eat, and they sent me to a market near by. It ended up being a grocery store that had a deli counter and you could get fried chicken, fried baby potatoes, fried potato wedges, fried balls of something else I couldn't determine, mac and cheese, and mashed potatoes and gravy. Wheeew! Next time I'll do what I normally do and just look up local places to eat on my own, then ask for a recommendation, then go with whatever sounds better. ;)

The funniest part was the toilet. They had one restroom there with a single toilet, and it had a large leather strap with a buckle on each side so you could theoretically strap yourself onto the toilet. The lid of the toilet had a drawing of a nuclear bomb blast. Cracked me up. I can't say I take pictures of toilets usually, I can only think of one other, in Metropolis, IL, but this one required a photo. I joked about it when I came out of the room, but the three guys there didn't respond to me, probably because they were annoyed at me for telling them, even though I did it nicely, that I didn't understand the 80 gallon minimum. I also asked them if you could get clearance on the ground, and they said no, and when I asked if they had the number for the local clearance, one guy grudgingly gave it to me, reading it off very fast, and when I got to the end of the runway and called for my clearance, it said that number had been disconnected. Either he never flies out of there IFR after all, he mistakenly said the wrong number, or he gave me a bogus number. Fine, I called 1800wxbrief and got it the old fashioned way. When I left, nobody said goodbye--not them, not me. After I talk to him/her about the fuel and fee situation, their manager probably won't like me much either, and that's fine too.

Kaylee and I snuggled for awhile on the couch, and it's good to have her home. She's trying not to go to sleep by 3 pm our time, but she's ready to crash. Welcome to jet lag, huh? I should go check on her and make sure she's not sleeping yet. :)

Steve is putting together my new treadmill. He almost got himself and Dale E in trouble, because he was joking with Dale about how I'd said we needed to quit waiting on a treadmill or I was going to get too fluffy again. So when I walked in, Dale said something like "I hope you can get your good figure back soon with this!" HAHAHaha! I said "Dale, it's only 10 pounds, man, c'mon!"

Oh, a Kaylee funny. She was telling us a story about flying home from Detroit, and how people were complaining about how little the airplane was. But what she said was "People were talking about the sprinkle hoppers." We said "The WHAT?" "You know, the sprinkle hoppers. Whatever you call the small airliners." I said "Do you mean PUDDLE JUMPERS?" Sprinkle hopper, puddle jumper, I see where she got it from, anyway. I think we're going to have to call it Sprinkle Hopper from now on. And her friends have no idea what a small plane is--to her, that S.H. was really, really big. :) :)