What great folk aviators are to each other. How trusting and caring. God
bless them and I hope one day I can repay their kindness for saving our trip
and allowing my father-in-law to have such a cherished memory. His greatest
moment was standing on Little Round Top just at sunset looking out on the
hallowed battleground of Pickett's Charge.

This kind of thing has happened to us so many times over the years.
When we were considering buying the hotel, experiences like this became
a prime reason for deciding to get into the aviation theme-suite hotel
business. Pilots are simply outstanding people, and you simply can't
go wrong building a small business around them.

Unfortunately, we pilots are a very small market, indeed. Less than 5%
of our guests are pilots, although there are certainly a huge
percentage of folks who WANT to be pilots. And, in every case, our
pilot-guests have been simply outstanding, honorable, honest folks, and
I have never felt any hesitation tossing them the keys to our
full-sized Ford van, handing them a map, and sending them off to
dinner.

But I digress. We ran into a similar situation a few years ago in
Ephraim, Wisconsin, up on the Door Peninsula (that thumb-shaped spit of
land that sticks out into Lake Michigan, creating Green Bay on the west
side). Mary, the kids and I landed there on our way to Mackinac
Island, hoping to have lunch at our favorite restaurant in the whole
world, the "White Gull Inn". (See it he
http://www.whitegullinn.com/ )

Unfortunately, the airport is in Ephraim, and the inn is in Fish Creek,
one city down the peninsula. In the past we had called a cab, but were
told (to our horror) that the "cab driver had died" -- leaving Door
County taxi-cab-less.

About this time an elderly woman drove into the FBO's parking lot. She
strode into the FBO with an air of dignity and authority that you don't
normally associate with elderly women, and she announced her intent to
go for a sight-seeing ride over to Mackinac Island. This was clearly a
woman who knew her way around an airport -- there was no questioning in
her voice.

Sadly, as it turned out, the FBO's sole charter plane was out on a
flight, and she was out of luck. There would be no ride today.

Striking up a conversation with her brought to light that she was a
non-current pilot named Gwen Dare. She had been a WASP during World
War II, ferrying aircraft of all makes and models all over the country.
(What a great name for a WASP, no? "Gwen Dare"!) We hit it off
right away, and told her our problem with getting off the field.

Since she couldn't get an airplane ride (all four of our seats were
full, or we'd have taken her with us to Mackinac Island), and we
couldn't get a ride to the restaurant, we offered to buy her brunch if
she'd give us a lift into town. She thought this was a marvelous idea,
and we ended up sharing one of the most enjoyable luncheons we've ever
had, as Gwen regaled us with flying tales from the war.

She may have been pushing 80 years old, but you'd have never guessed it
-- once the words started flowing, she was 20 years old again, flying
Mustangs and Mitchells across continents in all weather... The stories
she told -- what an era to be alive!

Eventually the meal ended, and she drove us back to the airport.
Reluctantly we bid her a fond farewell, and never saw her again -- but
her kindness and sparkling personality live on in our memories.

Perhaps Jim Burn can share his tale of the wonderful FBO we discovered
in Dalhart, Texas? Those folks really set the Gold Standard for
aviation customer service, IMHO...
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"