Pit Stop Suggestions

Anyone have suggestions for a nice place to land and eat near Springfield, Mass?
My wife says there's a nice airport with lunch counter at Hadley, but I can't
find it in my tools. We're planning to make a leaf run Thursday.

George Patterson
A woman's perfect breakfast occurs when she's sitting at the table sipping
gourmet coffee while looking at pictures of her son on the cover of Sports
Illustrated, her daughter on the cover of Business Week, her boyfriend on
the cover of Playgirl, and her husband on the back of the milk carton.

I frequent the restaurant at Orange, MA (ORE). Forget the name. Great
home-cooking sort of restaurant. Just a short 100yd walk from the airport
gate, down the driveway, across the street.

From Springfield, you'll fly right over the Quabbin Reservoir, which should
be good for leaf peeping.
Let me know how the foliage is. I'm thinking of headed towards western MA
myself this weekend.

If you find any other good restaurants in that neck of the woods, let us
know. Always looking for something new.

"G.R. Patterson III" wrote in message
...
Anyone have suggestions for a nice place to land and eat near Springfield,
Mass?
My wife says there's a nice airport with lunch counter at Hadley, but I
can't
find it in my tools. We're planning to make a leaf run Thursday.

George Patterson
A woman's perfect breakfast occurs when she's sitting at the table
sipping
gourmet coffee while looking at pictures of her son on the cover of
Sports
Illustrated, her daughter on the cover of Business Week, her
boyfriend on
the cover of Playgirl, and her husband on the back of the milk
carton.

G.R. Patterson III ) wrote:

Anyone have suggestions for a nice place to land and eat near Springfield,
Mass? My wife says there's a nice airport with lunch counter at Hadley,
but I can't find it in my tools. We're planning to make a leaf run Thursday.

I don't have a suggestion other than to say that Thursday might be too late
for you. Here in the Northeast we are experiencing 40-70 mile per hour
winds due to a pretty strong storm that decided to ruin this amazing fall
we have been having.

In our area most of the colorful leaves have been ripped from the trees,
and the winds are forecasted to get stronger later today.

I am afraid Springfield, MA is right in the crosshairs of this same storm.

--
Peter












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Barnes Municipal (BAF) is right nearby. I know they have a restaurant on
the field, but it was closed the one time I've been there (a Sunday
afternoon). Has some good reviews on airnav.com. It's a nice place to
land, in any case.



"G.R. Patterson III" wrote in message
...
Anyone have suggestions for a nice place to land and eat near Springfield,
Mass?
My wife says there's a nice airport with lunch counter at Hadley, but I
can't
find it in my tools. We're planning to make a leaf run Thursday.

George Patterson
A woman's perfect breakfast occurs when she's sitting at the table
sipping
gourmet coffee while looking at pictures of her son on the cover of
Sports
Illustrated, her daughter on the cover of Business Week, her
boyfriend on
the cover of Playgirl, and her husband on the back of the milk
carton.

A lot of leaves still on the trees. It's been windy, but there's still a lot
of green.

Barnes restaurant should be open on Thursday. Not sure of their hours, but
if you're there around lunchtime, they'll be open. Great food.

There's Keene. They have a restaurant at the main terminal building and a
little lunch place right off the field near the gas pumps.

No airport in Hadley. Northampton (my home base) is near Hadley, but there's
really nothing in walking distance. A whole bunch in town, though. And if
you can't get a ride at the field, you can get a taxi. I'd take you, but
I'll probably be heading out myself. Not sure where I'm going yet. Taking
the wife, so I might just go to Keene. Might go to Block Island or Martha's
Vinyard, though. Got to see what the wind's like. She doesn't like bumps.

mike regish

"Peter R." wrote in message
...
G.R. Patterson III ) wrote:

Anyone have suggestions for a nice place to land and eat near
Springfield,
Mass? My wife says there's a nice airport with lunch counter at Hadley,
but I can't find it in my tools. We're planning to make a leaf run
Thursday.

I don't have a suggestion other than to say that Thursday might be too
late
for you. Here in the Northeast we are experiencing 40-70 mile per hour
winds due to a pretty strong storm that decided to ruin this amazing fall
we have been having.

In our area most of the colorful leaves have been ripped from the trees,
and the winds are forecasted to get stronger later today.

I am afraid Springfield, MA is right in the crosshairs of this same storm.

--
Peter












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Peter R. wrote in message

I am afraid Springfield, MA is right in the crosshairs of this same storm.

Nuts. B-{

I'm leaving early Thursday morning for Albany for a week on business,
my very first time ever in my life to get to see the northeast part of
the country, and was hoping to maybe rent a 172 or Warrior on Friday
afternoon or Saturday morning to see New England from the air. Not
only will I have to suffer the indignity of flying commercial up there
from Houston, but looks like a weekend of crummy weather too before I
have to spend all next week cooped up in an office building, then have
to fly back home with no other chance to do any sightseeing.

Don't give up. There's a lot of leaves hanging on.

mike regish

"One's Too Many" wrote in message
m...
Peter R. wrote in message

I am afraid Springfield, MA is right in the crosshairs of this same
storm.

Nuts. B-{

I'm leaving early Thursday morning for Albany for a week on business,
my very first time ever in my life to get to see the northeast part of
the country, and was hoping to maybe rent a 172 or Warrior on Friday
afternoon or Saturday morning to see New England from the air. Not
only will I have to suffer the indignity of flying commercial up there
from Houston, but looks like a weekend of crummy weather too before I
have to spend all next week cooped up in an office building, then have
to fly back home with no other chance to do any sightseeing.

mike regish ) wrote:

A lot of leaves still on the trees. It's been windy, but there's still a lot
of green.

Yep, you are right. While our back yard lost all of its leaves (including
some very colorful read and yellow ivy leaves) because of the wind, the
area in general still has a good percentage.

My earlier post was negative because fall, with the leaves still on the
trees, is my favorite season. I thought that storm would do it in
prematurely. Winter, with the purple-gray color of bare trees, is just too
damn long up here.

--
Peter












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Just went to Block Island today. Lots of nice color, and that's almost
directly south for me. Still a whole bunch of green and the only bare trees
I saw were around swampy areas.

Still some primo leaf peeping in New England.

mike regish

"Peter R." wrote in message
...
mike regish ) wrote:

A lot of leaves still on the trees. It's been windy, but there's still a
lot
of green.

Yep, you are right. While our back yard lost all of its leaves (including
some very colorful read and yellow ivy leaves) because of the wind, the
area in general still has a good percentage.

My earlier post was negative because fall, with the leaves still on the
trees, is my favorite season. I thought that storm would do it in
prematurely. Winter, with the purple-gray color of bare trees, is just
too
damn long up here.

--
Peter












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Jonathan wrote:

If you find any other good restaurants in that neck of the woods, let us
know. Always looking for something new.

Got a briefing Wednesday evening. Forecast for the area was for ceilings 3500'
or more, visibility greater than ten miles, surface winds 17-23 more-or-less in
line with the pertinent runways, winds at altitude of 240 degrees at 25 knots,
and moderate turbulence below 8,000'. Also got a warning that the Yankees game
would close the corridor sometime in the evening.

Got any idea how hard it is to find out when a ball game starts?

We decided to go for it.

The forecast was accurate. I kept the airspeed ten mph over the usual and still
had erratic flickering of the stall warning light. I held best angle of climb
until 1,000 AGL, and then turned north for the corridor. Turbulence was a killer
at that altitude, but I climbed as soon as I got past the Tappan Zee. One new
item I found interesting is the fact that the Air Force now has a Mooney that
circles Manhattan through the East River/Hudson corridors, using "Air Force" as
its call sign. It cut up the East River as we were passing the Intrepid and came
back into the Hudson in front of us over Yonkers. We could hear the pilot as he
announced during his circuit. Yes, it's blue and white.

Once we got past the Zee, I headed for 3,000' and made a beeline for ORE. Things
were looking good. Elisabeth was enjoying the trip, and the light was fantastic.
Visibility was 50 miles or more, and about half the trees had turned. It was
actually pretty smooth up there, and things were looking good. I was pointing
out Torrington when it happened. We hit a couple of mild bumps (nothing like
what we hit in the corridor), and Elisabeth asked for a sic-sack. I asked her if
we needed to land, and, the answer being in the affirmative, I headed for the
nearest airport. That turned out to be Mountain Meadow (22B).

The windsock was straight out and straight across, so I landed in the direction
that put my base leg into the wind. Kept the flaps up, and "crossed the fence"
at 100 mph. I figured that I could get the power on anytime if she started to
weathervane on me. Made a surprisingly gentle touchdown and moved my feet up
to the top of the pedals as soon as we touched. As it turned out, I didn't need
the brakes until the speed dropped to 30 or 40 mph, but it's best to be sure.
As we turned off, I noticed a "cafe" sign.

The FBO is well furnished but appears to be deserted. There *is* a maintenance
hangar with a nice 172 undergoing what appears to be an annual, but nobody was
there either. We used the facilities and waited on Elisabeth's stomach to calm
down. After a while, the A&P returned to work next door, and I suggested we head
over to the grill and get a coke or something to calm Elisabeth's stomach.

As we approach the Landing Zone Cafe, I smelled the unmistakable odor of barBQ.
In Connecticutt? When we got inside and checked the menu, we discovered that the
owner apparently is a displaced Louisianan. We had found what is probably the
only place in New England that serves alligator tail as an appetizer! I should
have taken the hint and bought a southern specialty, but I opted for the clam
chowder. Elisabeth settled for a diet Pepsi. The chowder was ok - thin, but lots
of clams. We got a nice t-shirt out of the deal, too.

Back at the FBO, we patted the mechanic's dog, and launched back into the wind.
I decided to take the long way around the class-B to minimize the turbulence,
but it did little good. There were a few patches of near-solid yellows and reds
close to Yorktown, but Elisabeth was not in the best mood to appreciate them.
The up/down-drafts in the Caldwell/Morristown area made it difficult to stay
between 2700' (the class D top) and 3000' (the class B floor), but once I got
past MMU and turned south, things were a bit better. The sound of dry heaves
from the right seat is also a distraction they don't usually throw at you on
check rides.

Winds gusting from 17 to 23 knots and varying from 240 to 280 made landing on
24 an interesting proposal, but we got down intact. Elisabeth collapsed on one
of the couches at the FBO while I put the Maule to bed.

Due to the severity and suddenness of her reaction, we think Elisabeth's coming
down with a bug of some sort. A little hot&sour soup at the local Chinese place
has reduced the symptoms, and an early bedtime is in order for her.

Looks like there's still lots of green in that area though. We might try it
again in a week or two. Maybe I'll try the alligator tail this time!

George Patterson
To a pilot, altitude is like money - it is possible that having too much
could prove embarassing, but having too little is always fatal.