On 22 Apr 2006 10:26:38 -0700, "Wiz" wrote:

Guess this turned out to be a little longer than I expected, and I
skipped a lot of detail. Hope some of you consider doing this trip.

Regards, Wiz


It sure is a beautiful place. I had the opportunity to stay a week in
the area when I had a mechanical failure force me to divert on a trip
to Nashville a few years ago. I ended up staying in Covington, but
visited the Homestead and plan to go back. All the people are very
friendly. Only word of caution is to watch the weather (as always).
I should have only been there for 2 nights, but ceilings were around
3,000 to 3,500 broken to overcast everyday. What looked like a
beautiful day in the valley turned into a windy foggy mess as I got
closer to the airport. Something you may find interesting, Ingall's
field is the highest airport east of the Mississippi.

In the area is something called a Humpback Bridge. There are only 2
in the world. The other is in France. It was really cool to see it
and learn about the engineering that went into building this type of
structure so bridges could span longer distances than ever before. I
also met the great (great?) grandson of the winner of the last
recorded dual in American history! Can't remember his name off the
top of my head, but I have it written down. While at his house he
took out enough historical info to prove it to me which was also very
intriguing. Somewhere around there is an Italian restaurant that
rivals anything New York City has to offer. I ate there twice! Best
place to drink was the Pink Elephant, and there is enough landscape to
walk through you'll probably never get bored.

The two guys who worked at the airport we very friendly, helpful in
every way possible. They made a week I thought would last forever, go
by very quickly and I learned more about the area than I ever
imagined.

z