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View Full Version : A little Kitfox lunch



Dave S
08-20-2016, 02:39 PM
Been a lot of rain and clouds back here lately, unusual for August - so a person relishes the good days for flying. Made a trip from home base to KSUW (Superior Wisconsin) on the end of Lake Superior next to Duluth. The airport is kind of out in the flats across from the harbor.

Neat thing about this site is the Restaurant on the field at KSUW. It is located at the intersection of the two runways where a person can taxi right up to their ramp by the back door. How many restaurants have a tie down and parking for a dozen airplanes next to their door? Hard to miss the turnoff from the runway as there is a big yellow arrowed sign along the runway proclaiming "FOOD". With large windows facing both runways a person can keep an eye on the field when they are eating.

This area is a gateway to many activities and sights. Just across the harbor 3 miles or so is Sky Harbor Airport located on a spit of land that arcs from Duluth out across the end of lake Superior - a neat place to park a plane, make your way around the poison ivy on the adjacent sand dunes to the beach where a portable charcoal grill and picnic you brought along can make for a very nice outing. Sky Harbor has recently worked with the local police force to repair and repurpose ownerless bicycles for people using the airfield. Immediately west of Sky Harbor is a large city park so plenty of places to kick back. If you want to get a little more "civilized" biking down to the west end of the spit (about 5 miles) puts a person by the Lift bridge and all kinds of eating establishments. Between Sky Harbor and KSUW is the official seaplane base - 10,000' or so parallel to the Sky Harbor airfield.

During this week, the annual tall ship festival was going on in the Duluth Harbor so lots of things of nautical interest.

A person can fly the North shore to other airports and enjoy the scenery or take the south shore east deeper into Wisconsin and Madeline island which is the only one of the Apostle islands with an airport (sky camper friendly) - also within a mile of the town of La Point on the island. A person can take a ferry to a neighboring town for ice cream and shopping while most of the people are using the ferry to get to Madeline. There is also a moped rental on Madeline so a person can pretty much go anywhere they want.

A couple photos enroute. A few predicted scattered showers to navigate around quickly turned to a scattered layer further south with very clear skies and smooth ride above.

avidflyer
08-20-2016, 04:02 PM
Nice pictures Dave, you were almost up to my area. I'm NNW of Duluth about 50 miles. Took ultralight flight lessons in Superior on their grass strip. Flew in a Moyes dragonfly that also saw duty pulling up hang gliders. JImChuk

SkySteve
08-20-2016, 04:05 PM
Dave,
Sounds like a great trip. Thanks for sharing all the neat things to do and places to go. By the way, did I see a Hawaiian Palm Leaf shirt reflection in the Fox window? :cool:

Dave S
08-20-2016, 05:24 PM
Jim,

You are not very far away at all...still hoping some day I can see your plane & projects in person - I do follow your posts as we go along and I always learn from my friends. My first Kitfox ride was due to the generosity of a builder/pilot at KANE who had a really nice IV he had constructed in a single car garage. I think that ride spoiled me and I had to have a Kitfox.


Steve,

Thanks for your kind comments. Yup....you figured it right...some Hawaiian print reflected in the window...My wife has that going on. We're pretty much like a pair of gypsies.....and we tend to gather things from our trips - so you figured correctly if you thought we were to the big island. Last fall's road trip included Utah and its beautiful canyon country + crawling around at Mesa Verde (and the pine nuts were ripe!)