Cross Border Great Lakes Tour:

Although this was not a typical charter, it was one of the more fun and interesting ones that I have done, so I thought I would share it with you.

My crewmate Tyler and I just returned from a four day charter that took us around the Great Lakes from Ontario to Michigan, Minnesota, back to Michigan then Ohio, Pennsylvania and back to Ontario again. The passengers were from a cruise ship company who are interested in starting up an operation that tours the Great Lakes. The purpose of the trip was to visit possible ports for their cruise ship tours. Our first stop was in Sault Ste. Marie (States side) to clear customs before proceeding only about 30 miles south to Mackinac Island, situated on the north west end of Lake Huron. We thought for sure that the Customs guys were joking with us about there being no motorized vehicles on the island...... until our taxi arrived to take us to our hotel....


Apparently people on this island get around either by horse and carriage, bicycle or on foot. As our taxi wound it's way through the woods, we quickly realized this was no ordinary island. It began to feel as if we were in "Pleasantville, USA" as we past by quaint Victorian style homes, white picket fences, perfectly manicured lawns and immaculate streets. As darkness fell, our near half hour taxi ride took us into the downtown area. Set above vast gardens with fountains and statues, the aptly named Grand Hotel was lit up looking fit for royalty. Although we stayed at a less extravagant hotel, the Main Steet Inn, it was still very quaint and had the most comfortable bed I had ever slept in. Apparently there are several fudge shops on the island. Our hotel host treated us to a sample. Yumm. Unfortunately, we had to leave first thing in the morning so we did not get a chance to really explore this tourist island. Hopefully one day I can return for a visit. If anyone is interested in visiting this place you can find more info at mackinacisland.org.

The next day we flew back to Canada and spent a few hours in Thunder Bay before proceeding to Duluth, Minnesota for an overnight. Duluth is located on the western side of Lake Superior, and by the looks of it is very old. On our walk to find a place to get some dinner we came upon a street concert. The rock and roll band who were playing was a bunch of grey haired guys (as were most of their audience), but they sounded great. We hung out for a while and realized that we knew a lot of their songs. I forget the exact name of the band, but it has something to do with a river, and their music was definitely popular back in the 70's when I was a kid.

The next day we left Minnesota and flew to Port Huron and then Detroit, Michigan. We would spend two nights in Warren, a suburb of Detroit City. Too bad we were a day late for a pre season home game for the Red Wings. After a $35 cab ride from the Detroit municipal airport to our hotel, we realized that it would likely cost a small fortune to get from our hotel to downtown Detroit anyways. We were advised that taking the bus might be a bit risky and we were cautioned not to wander too far from the hotel at night. So, unfortunately we did not get to do anything too exciting in Detroit. Within walking distance we found a strip mall with a Walmart and a Country Buffet. With Tyler's insistence, I agreed to have brunch there since he has made many compromises because I am vegetarian. What is with guys and "all you can eat" buffets??? Luckily for me there was an impressive salad buffet. Later, we had a nice dinner at the Olive Garden. The next morning our cab ride back to the airport took a much shorter route and cost about $10 bucks less. It didn't surprize us that we got scammed by the first cabbie. We were in Detroit after all.

On our departure out of Detroit, we had a bird strike on rotation. Upon reaching Toledo, Ohio we inspected the aircraft and found minimal damage, having only a small dent on the leading edge of the horizontal stabilizer. The tower in Detroit confirmed that there was a dead seagull on the runway. Poor bird. We then proceeded on to Cleveland, then to Erie, Pennsylvania. Upon returning to the Toronto Island Airport, the final destination for our passengers, we spent 45 weary minutes with Canada Customs. After a 14 hour day, we duty out and have to spend the night in Toronto. To my delight we find the Bombay Palace directly accross the street from our hotel. After a job well done and a very long day, Tyler and I reward ourselves with a great Indian dinner accompanied with a few King Fishers (Indian Beer).

We returned to North Bay today and dealt with the mounds of paperwork that unfortunately is now the reality of cross border charter travel between Canada and the USA.

Well, until the next adventure.....