Mid-west Fly-in camping?

[Jay Honeck]

Every year, since his feet could reach the pegs, my son and I have done a
motorcycle camping trip together.

This year, at age 13, his feet can comfortably reach the rudder pedals -- so
now we're talking about doing a flying/camping trip, too.

Can anyone suggest a fly-in campground within, say 500 miles of Iowa City?
I know of a few in Kentucky (Kentucky Dam and Lake Barkley), and one in
Missouri (Gaston's Resort) -- but can anyone recommend any of these (or
others) in particular?

Thanks!
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

[Newps]

"Jay Honeck" > wrote in message
news:aVAnc.1483$UQ.158837@attbi_s51...
> Every year, since his feet could reach the pegs, my son and I have done a
> motorcycle camping trip together.
>
> This year, at age 13, his feet can comfortably reach the rudder pedals --
so
> now we're talking about doing a flying/camping trip, too.
>
> Can anyone suggest a fly-in campground within, say 500 miles of Iowa City?
> I know of a few in Kentucky (Kentucky Dam and Lake Barkley), and one in
> Missouri (Gaston's Resort) -- but can anyone recommend any of these (or
> others) in particular?

Come on out to Schafer Meadows(8U2) July 16-18 and help the Montana Pilots
Assoc maintain this airstrip. It is the only strip we have in Montana that
is actually in the Wilderness area(Poor planning on our part when Wilderness
areas were invented) You'll work about three hours on Saturday morning,
it's pretty easy since there are way too many workers for the amount of
work. It's really a two and a half day party. We will feed you Saturday
night. The owner of one of the FBO's in Great Falls flies in the dinner
with several trips in his 310. Last year he flew in 250 pounds of ribs from
Famous Daves, along with 3 Famous Daves employees to cook and serve it all.
We had steaks one year, burgers another, shrimp and lobster another. You
never know what you're going to get. Bring your swimsuits and your fishing
poles. You won't find better looking scenery anywhere. It's an easy
mountain strip as it is only a couple of ridge lines into the mountains.
Granted it's twice as far as you're looking to go but I can absolutely
guarantee perfect weather once you are west of the Missouri.

[Jay Honeck]

> Granted it's twice as far as you're looking to go but I can absolutely
> guarantee perfect weather once you are west of the Missouri.

Wow -- now THAT is a tall claim!

:-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

[Newps]

"Jay Honeck" > wrote in message
news:njCnc.60772$kh4.3765990@attbi_s52...
> > Granted it's twice as far as you're looking to go but I can absolutely
> > guarantee perfect weather once you are west of the Missouri.
>
> Wow -- now THAT is a tall claim!



Every day, from approx June 15 to October 1 has perfect flying weather.
Clear to partly cloudy, light winds. The occasional T-storm in the
afternoon.

[Ben Jackson]

In article >,
Newps > wrote:
>Come on out to Schafer Meadows(8U2) July 16-18 and help the Montana Pilots
>Assoc maintain this airstrip.

That's great! I was looking for an excuse to go to 8U2. The picture of
it on airnav is gorgeous.

Is there a web page about this flyin? Should we bring rakes, shovels,
etc?

--
Ben Jackson
>
http://www.ben.com/

[Kyler Laird]

"Jay Honeck" > writes:

>Can anyone suggest a fly-in campground within, say 500 miles of Iowa City?
>I know of a few in Kentucky (Kentucky Dam and Lake Barkley), and one in
>Missouri (Gaston's Resort) -- but can anyone recommend any of these (or
>others) in particular?

We like Rough River State Park (2I3) in Kentucky (335NM from Iowa City).
https://aviationtoolbox.org/Members/kyler/tools/route_map?from_lon=-86.506925&scale=10&to_lat=41.639244&from_lat=37.609777&to_lon=-91.546503
We just fly in for food and golf
http://lairds.org/Kyler/photos/disk0025/img_1991.jpg/image_viewer
but they have decent-looking facilities there for campers.

Sadly, my favorite, Shades State Park (Waveland, IN) has closed their strip.

--kyler

[Jeff]

your not kidding, that would be a nice place to fly to.

your montana and wyoming guys should post some pics of montana from the air.


Ben Jackson wrote:

> In article >,
> Newps > wrote:
> >Come on out to Schafer Meadows(8U2) July 16-18 and help the Montana Pilots
> >Assoc maintain this airstrip.
>
> That's great! I was looking for an excuse to go to 8U2. The picture of
> it on airnav is gorgeous.
>
> Is there a web page about this flyin? Should we bring rakes, shovels,
> etc?
>
> --
> Ben Jackson
> >
> http://www.ben.com/

[David Martin]

Jay,
Actually, Gaston's is here in Northern Arkansas.

Should you decide to fly into Gaston's, you should do some homework on
their strip. Some have had fatal accidents attempting to land or depart
Gaston's. The problem is cliffs (bluffs), trees and power lines.

Gaston's would otherwise be a wonderful get-a-way.

At times, some of the local R/Cer's go there to fly their models.

See - http://www.gastons.com/


There are four airstrips all in close proximity here. Baxter County
(BPK), Flippin (FLP), Valley (private) & Gaston's (3M0).

The Arkansas Department of Aeronautics has (free) Aeronautical Charts available
(for planning purposes). Contact them at " " to
request a free chart.



"Jay Honeck" > wrote:

>Every year, since his feet could reach the pegs, my son and I have done a
>motorcycle camping trip together.
>
>This year, at age 13, his feet can comfortably reach the rudder pedals -- so
>now we're talking about doing a flying/camping trip, too.
>
>Can anyone suggest a fly-in campground within, say 500 miles of Iowa City?
>I know of a few in Kentucky (Kentucky Dam and Lake Barkley), and one in
>Missouri (Gaston's Resort) -- but can anyone recommend any of these (or
>others) in particular?
>
>Thanks!
>--
>Jay Honeck
>Iowa City, IA
>Pathfinder N56993
>www.AlexisParkInn.com
>"Your Aviation Destination"
>
>

David Martin
Mountain Home, Ar.
(to respond, get rid of the NOT)

[EDR]

In article >, Newps
> wrote:

> Come on out to Schafer Meadows(8U2) July 16-18 and help the Montana Pilots
> Assoc maintain this airstrip. It is the only strip we have in Montana that
> is actually in the Wilderness area(Poor planning on our part when Wilderness
> areas were invented) You'll work about three hours on Saturday morning,
> it's pretty easy since there are way too many workers for the amount of
> work. It's really a two and a half day party. We will feed you Saturday
> night. The owner of one of the FBO's in Great Falls flies in the dinner
> with several trips in his 310. Last year he flew in 250 pounds of ribs from
> Famous Daves, along with 3 Famous Daves employees to cook and serve it all.
> We had steaks one year, burgers another, shrimp and lobster another. You
> never know what you're going to get. Bring your swimsuits and your fishing
> poles. You won't find better looking scenery anywhere. It's an easy
> mountain strip as it is only a couple of ridge lines into the mountains.
> Granted it's twice as far as you're looking to go but I can absolutely
> guarantee perfect weather once you are west of the Missouri.

I want to do that next year!
We already have family plans at that time this year, so I will keep
some time open for next year's.

[Edwin Johnson]

On Mon, 10 May 2004 11:17:57 GMT, David Martin >
>wrote: Jay,
> Actually, Gaston's is here in Northern Arkansas.
>
> Should you decide to fly into Gaston's, you should do some homework on
>their strip. Some have had fatal accidents attempting to land or depart
>Gaston's. The problem is cliffs (bluffs), trees and power lines.
>
> Gaston's would otherwise be a wonderful get-a-way.

I've been to Gastons several times both to stay overnight and simply eat and
I would second the recommendation for Gaston's as a nice get-a-way with a
Sunday brunch which is about as good as you will find anywhere. The
restaurant extends over the white river and the accomodations, either cabins
(actually read duplexes here) or the larger buildings with rooms like a
motel are really nice. Nice pool and some hiking trails around.

I would certainly investigate the camping since there may be no facility for
that. But as a family outing it is tops. If you like to fish then you have
an added bonus.

The strip is not difficult and once on final you find it is longer,
effectively, than you might think since you land at a slight uphill (taking
off downhill) and the grass always looks like a golf course it is cut so
nicely. The approach, once turned on final, is great, so get on down to land
on the first part of the runway. It should be no problem for any single or
light twin who is paying attention and following good speed control.

....Edwin

--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~ Edwin Johnson ....... ~
~ http://www.shreve.net/~elj ~
~ ~
~ "Once you have flown, you will walk the ~
~ earth with your eyes turned skyward, ~
~ for there you have been, there you long ~
~ to return." -- da Vinci ~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Newps]

"Ben Jackson" > wrote in message
news:GQCnc.16758$z06.2843133@attbi_s01...
> In article >,
> Newps > wrote:
> >Come on out to Schafer Meadows(8U2) July 16-18 and help the Montana
Pilots
> >Assoc maintain this airstrip.
>
> That's great! I was looking for an excuse to go to 8U2. The picture of
> it on airnav is gorgeous.
>
> Is there a web page about this flyin? Should we bring rakes, shovels,
> etc?


The Forest Service has all the tools we need. Ever hand peeled a log to use
it as a fence rail? You can on this weekend if you want. The web page I
have is just a calender from the MPA. We get people from all over at this
work session. There's usually about 50-60 people.


http://www.montanapilots.org/calendar.html

[John Galban]

"Newps" > wrote in message >...
>
> Every day, from approx June 15 to October 1 has perfect flying weather.
> Clear to partly cloudy, light winds. The occasional T-storm in the
> afternoon.

I was at Schafer in '99 a few days before the fly-in. It snowed! I
also got snowed on the 1st week of Sept. in '02.

I'll agree that the weather is usually pretty good. But, I've been
socked in/out of Schafer a few times in the last couple of years.

John Galban=====>N4BQ (PA28-180)

[John Galban]

Jeff > wrote in message >...
> your not kidding, that would be a nice place to fly to.
>
> your montana and wyoming guys should post some pics of montana from the air.
>
>

I had a Schafer page on my website, but had to take the site down
while I used the space for something else. I'll be putting it back up
today or tomorrow and I'll post a link. I've also got a cool
quicktime movie of an approach to landing at Schafer. Haven't yet
figured out how to fit it on my tiny website.

John Galban=====>N4BQ (PA28-180)

[EDR]

In article >, John
Galban > wrote:

> I had a Schafer page on my website, but had to take the site down
> while I used the space for something else. I'll be putting it back up
> today or tomorrow and I'll post a link. I've also got a cool
> quicktime movie of an approach to landing at Schafer. Haven't yet
> figured out how to fit it on my tiny website.

Email it to Jay, he'll post it.

[John Galban]

EDR > wrote in message >...
> In article >, John
> Galban > wrote:
>
> > I had a Schafer page on my website, but had to take the site down
> > while I used the space for something else. I'll be putting it back up
> > today or tomorrow and I'll post a link. I've also got a cool
> > quicktime movie of an approach to landing at Schafer. Haven't yet
> > figured out how to fit it on my tiny website.
>
> Email it to Jay, he'll post it.

Not a bad idea. Hey Jay, let me know if you want it. It's a
Quicktime movie (.mov) and requires either a quicktime player (free
from Apple.com) or any player that will handle the .mov format. My
sister, and navigator on the trip, edited the movie and added the
soundtrack. I can't help it if she's a Mac Geek. :-)

On the website front, I finished updating my site and it's
published. Check out :

http://members.cox.net/jgalban/index.html

Quite a few Schafer pics as well as other backcountry destinations.

John Galban=====>N4BQ (PA28-180)

[Jay Honeck]

> Not a bad idea. Hey Jay, let me know if you want it. It's a
> Quicktime movie (.mov)

Sure!

How big is the file? Can you email it to me?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

[Snowbird]

"Jay Honeck" > wrote in message news:<aVAnc.1483$UQ.158837@attbi_s51>...

> Can anyone suggest a fly-in campground within, say 500 miles of Iowa City?
> I know of a few in Kentucky (Kentucky Dam and Lake Barkley), and one in
> Missouri (Gaston's Resort) -- but can anyone recommend any of these (or
> others) in particular?

One correction, Gaston's Resort is in NW Arkansas, not MO

Why not come to PJY weekend after next? It's not a campground, but
you can fly in, camp by your plane, and talk to some of the rec.aviation
gang

I can personally recommend both Kentucky Dam and Lake Barkley

A bit further on, but we've flown into Copperhill, TN and had
one of the outfitters bring us to their campground for a ww rafting
trip the next day. That might appeal to a 13 yr old....

Cheers,
Sydney

[Bob Miller]

Petit Jean State Park
Morrilton, AR
KMPJ, I think

[John Galban]

"Jay Honeck" > wrote in message news:<rK4oc.69631$0H1.6535719@attbi_s54>...
> > Not a bad idea. Hey Jay, let me know if you want it. It's a
> > Quicktime movie (.mov)
>
> Sure!
>
> How big is the file? Can you email it to me?

Emailed it this morning.

John

[Jay Honeck]

> Why not come to PJY weekend after next? It's not a campground, but
> you can fly in, camp by your plane, and talk to some of the rec.aviation
> gang

We're hoping to stop in on Saturday (?) -- but it's up in the air.
(Sorry...)

Weekends are tough for us, with the hotel. Those are our busiest days,
natch.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"
"Snowbird" > wrote in message
om...
> "Jay Honeck" > wrote in message
news:<aVAnc.1483$UQ.158837@attbi_s51>...
>
> > Can anyone suggest a fly-in campground within, say 500 miles of Iowa
City?
> > I know of a few in Kentucky (Kentucky Dam and Lake Barkley), and one in
> > Missouri (Gaston's Resort) -- but can anyone recommend any of these (or
> > others) in particular?
>
> One correction, Gaston's Resort is in NW Arkansas, not MO
>
>
> I can personally recommend both Kentucky Dam and Lake Barkley
>
> A bit further on, but we've flown into Copperhill, TN and had
> one of the outfitters bring us to their campground for a ww rafting
> trip the next day. That might appeal to a 13 yr old....
>
> Cheers,
> Sydney