Pence's Mackinac Island convoy was in the news the other day, but I don't remember that a lot of people were offended by it. Motor vehicles are occasionally allowed on the island for special purposes like construction projects or movie making. They said that Gerald Ford went there once, I don't remember if it was when he was president or vice president, and he rode in a horse drawn carriage from the airport to the hotel. I'm sure that he had some kind entourage with him, but security is more of a concern nowadays than it used to be.
We had a gubernatorial candidate once, John Engler, who criticized the practice of Michigan governors traveling to the island in their private helicopters. His exact words were, "If I want to go to Mackinac Island when I'm governor, I'll drive there in my Oldsmobile." Surprisingly, he was elected even after making a stupid statement like that. He promised to get rid of the two helicopters that were assigned to the governor's office, but his people talked him out of it, saying that the money they got from selling them wouldn't cover the cost of him and future governors flying on commercial planes. I don't remember anybody comparing that to the cost of driving an Oldsmobile, a car that was not known for good gas mileage in those days.
Land lines are still popular in our area, the phone book is full of them. Lots of people also have cell phones, but I only know of one person who has totally gotten rid of their land line. I seem to remember that at least one phone company applied for permission to discontinue land line service a couple of years ago, but permission was denied because there are still places around here that don't have cell phone coverage. A proposal has been made to install a bunch of mini transmitters on existing utility poles to augment the tall towers that don't reach into every nook and cranny but, last I heard, the project was on hold because somebody said those things cause cancer or something.
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