Trip to MVN for a KR Gathering

I made a trip this past weekend to the KR Gathering in
Mount Vernon IL. Pre-flight planning showed a great fuel
stop at Miami Co airport in Paola KS. 100LL was $3.10
a gallon versus the $4.28 at my airport. Scrolling down
the airnav link also showed a BBQ restaurant on the field.

http://www.airnav.com/airport/K81

In the aerial shot in the Airnav link the self-serve fuel pump
and BBQ restaurant are in the ramp area at the approach
end to Runway 3. I got there around noon local time and
they were busy. I got the beef brisket, turkey and fries.
If I had to do it again I would get two orders of beef brisket
and half an order of fries. The fries were enough for three
to four people. Several planes left and arrived while I was
there so it is a good place to visit.

After leaving Miami Co I climbed back to cruise altitude and
was soon getting 200 knots groundspeed. As I approached
the St Louis area I encountered some light drizzle. Since
the outside air temp was around 40 deg F I descended several
thousand feet to preclude any possible freezing issues. The
area towards St Louis looked like heavier rain whereas my path
was VFR. The short distance to Mt Vernon was uneventful and
I landed after 5.3 hours of flight time.

The next morning was wet looking so I drove up to St Louis to
see the Arch.

http://home.pcisys.net/~ronlee/RV6A/Arch3Small.jpg

The trip to the top is in small “gopher cages” that hold five people
in an intimate environment. One person in my cage apparently
had issues and left before the trip up started. It only takes about
four minutes and your only view is of interior structures. Once on
top you have windows that face the river and towards town.

http://home.pcisys.net/~ronlee/RV6A/Arch1Small.jpg

http://home.pcisys.net/~ronlee/RV6A/Arch2Small.jpg

Upon returning to MVN I decided to fly to a few area airports.
Initially I was to go to Evansville IN then to KY, TN, AR and MO.
However that was soon changed when my fuel flows were higher
than my normal cruising altitudes of 11500 – 13500 feet. So I
made a roundtrip to Evansville, refueled and went to Paducah,
KY. Both flights were uneventful and afforded me the chance
to fly in VFR but less than 100 mile visibility.

Sunday started less than ideally when the wakeup call never
came. I planned on going to the Beaumont Hotel in Kansas
for breakfast but was about ten minutes late. They have a
2600 foot grass strip then you taxi about 300 yards west to
the hotel.

The hotel website is: http://www.hotelbeaumontks.com/

The Airnav link is: http://www.airnav.com/airport/SN07

This picture shows the runway just this side (east) of the area
of trees. Then to the left (south) end of the runway you can see
the light colored road that heads west towards the hotel:

http://home.pcisys.net/~ronlee/RV6A/Beaumont1Small.jpg

The next picture was taken after landing south on the runway:

http://home.pcisys.net/~ronlee/RV6A/Beaumont2Small.jpg

The next one is a sign to at the south end that gives instructions
on getting to the hotel:

http://home.pcisys.net/~ronlee/RV6A/Beaumont3Small.jpg

The following out of focus picture gives you and idea what to
expect after turning west on the road at the south end of the
runway:

http://home.pcisys.net/~ronlee/RV6A/Beaumont4Small.jpg

Here is the stop sign and hotel. The parking area is ahead
and to the left.

http://home.pcisys.net/~ronlee/RV6A/Beaumont5Small.jpg

Here is my plane in the parking area and the hotel:

http://home.pcisys.net/~ronlee/RV6A/Beaumont6Small.jpg

And this is closer to the stop sign. I pulled the plane here due
to large rocks in the parking area. I am not sure what people
do for tie downs if they stay there. Personally I would prefer
an asphalt area that does not slope down away from the road.

http://home.pcisys.net/~ronlee/RV6A/Beaumont7Small.jpg

The following picture is on the runway facing north:

http://home.pcisys.net/~ronlee/RV6A/Beaumont8Small.jpg

This one is facing south from the north end of the runway. You
can see some of the many windmills that are south of the field.

http://home.pcisys.net/~ronlee/RV6A/Beaumont9Small.jpg

I used perhaps half of the runway then went west to Benton
airpark (1K1) for $3.30 fuel. The rest of the flight home was
uneventful but due to some headwind took 6.1 hours total.

Overall a nice trip. Notable events include the furthest trip
east yet in my RV-6A, first time in precipitation, first time on
a grass strip, and re-familiarization of what happens when the
mixture knob is all the way in.