Taking in the Fall Colors in Sturgeon Bay

        Article and Pictures by Mick Pahnke

Saturday morning started as the previous two day – damp and foggy. So much for a 7:00 departure. I figured on a flight time of one hour and forty-five minutes so a 9:15 departure was not a big factor. The plan was to minimize my exposure to O'Hare's airspace by staying low until reaching The Landings airstrip and then heading direct to West Bend and then direct to Door County, Cherryland Airport. This kept me out of Milwaukee’s class Charlie and only dealing with Waukesha’s class Delta. Visibility was pretty good, the winds were not unfavorable and clouds were not a factor. The 1.6 hour 240 mile flight went comfortably by with the last 40 minutes listening to MP3 tunes. Landing was uneventful, and right behind us came a Mooney out of DuPage. He of course wanted to know about the Mooney that had crashed at Clow. Then the guy working the FBO mentioned he used to work for Boyd Clow years ago, small world!

Jude and I took a taxi to our motel and asked the driver to wait so she could drive us into town. She chauffeured us around pointing out the various eateries and what was good, or cheap and points of interest. We were reminded how friendly small town America is. One of the places she pointed out was the Palmer Johnson Yacht works. They manufacture yachts out of heavy aluminum plate and then coat them with fiberglass. We saw some very large ships, in the 100 foot range, being produced. Their biggest ship to date was the LaBaronessa at 195’.

(Jude overseeing the construction of her new Palmer Johnson Yacht)

Off to the maritime museum and then a bar, because it looked like it was going to rain and I wanted to enjoy a cigar. Well it definitely rained, and I needn’t have wondered if my plane was going to leak – but luckily it was only on the instruments :-(

If you go to Door County, you need to catch a fish boil, and so we did. The combination of miles of walking, the fresh air and a couple pints of Spotted Cow beer made for one delicious meal. In all, a very satisfying day. Our motel was now in walking distance so we headed back in the dark to our room.

The following day broke to a much cooler, breezy and overcast day. This was more what we expected in the hinterlands and had dressed for. After breakfast we called for the cab again but this time we got the real thing – a 1977 apple green Checker cab - and another Chicago native for the driver. This guy liked to talk and didn’t care much for interruptions, but he was interesting. That destination was Pottawattamie State Park and along the way he gave us a history lesson (both his and the parks). Much of the commerce in the area revolved around the limestone bluffs which were quarried and then hauled by boat to various cities around the lake.

(Limestone Quarry, many years after the fact...)

Downtown Chicago’s stone fronts all came from this area, part of this Mississippi Escarpment.

(Jude overseeing the erosion of her escarpment)

To haul the stone, a ship building industry was started, and since they now had the ships, gravel and lumber industries developed. At some point a canal was dug to connect the eastern half of Sturgeon Bay with Lake Michigan, effectively turning Door County into an island. This cut about 100 miles of dangerous waters off the trip from Green Bay to Chicago.

We climbed a fire tower . . .

(Love-birds have their picture taken at the top of the tower)

. . . and then went through miles of trails, enjoying the quiet nature of northern Wisconsin.

(Sturgeon Bay Island)

The only question that kept nagging in the back of my mind was whether we would be able to fly home. It was solid overcast and definitely low ceilings. While walking to the airport from the State Park we saw the Mooney from the day before take off. It wasn’t long before he disappeared into the clouds. At the FBO the good news was the ceiling was 1200’ (AGL) the bad news is the FAA had been doing a ramp check and my plane garnered several pictures and lots of interest. Maybe they want to send me an award? Anyway, a check of the enroute reporting stations on the computer showed everything at 1200’ ceiling or above and 10 mile visibility (except Aurora at 8 miles in mist). We decided to try it and we would turn back if we didn’t like it. The plane hit the clouds at 1800' MSL over the airport so I circled, deciding if I should land and instead decided on a lower altitude and another try. So at 1700'MSL and 900'AGL we set off dodging some of the lower hanging stuff. We managed 2000’ as we went through Waukesha’s class Delta but that was about the best we did. It was smooth flying and the winds were favorable so it took us another 1.6 hours back to Clow.

The number crunching showed 470 miles, 3.2 flight hours for an average speed of 147 mph. The fuel burn was 17.5 gallons of regular auto gas, for about $70 and 27 mpg.