I was thinking Tuesday September 9th. dinner, camp, Wednesday AM Sunriver breakfast then home.

Anyone interested???

The owner of the airstrip across the street is a retired fire chief. I'll bet he would let us camp on his property.

Since this appears in the Mar-Apr issue of Pilot Getaway, I guess I can let the cat out of the bag, but don't tell anybody else about this. (Not for vegetarians.)

You can see a reference to the article here: http://www.pilotgetaways.com/ma08.html
Scroll down the page to the summary of "Silver Lake Oregon".

There is a restaurant in the Oregon Big Empty that is not to be believed. I have told people about it and they say "No Way!". It is called the Cowboy Dinner Tree. It is about 6 miles southwest of Silver Lake, OR on a road to nowhere.

Here is the web site: http://cowboydinnertree.homestead.com/main.html

Read it carefully.

You must have reservations. No joke, for a restaurant way out in the middle of nowhere.

There are only 2 items on the menu. You order them at the time of the reservation.

One price, cash only $24.00, NO SPLITS.

Prepare your weight and balance for flying out with an enormous amount of food.

This is why. The Cowboy Dinner Tree is in a small ancient homesteaders cabin. Watch your head, the ceiling and doors are low, what building code? There is a sign on the wall (that is true) "No electricity, No credit cards, No joke.". The building is off grid. They have solar panels / batteries to power the couple of lights in the dining room. The heavenly homemade rolls are done in a propane oven, the main course is done on a huge BBQ. The only choice you have after making the main course selection is your drink, coffee, ice tea lemon aid or milk, no liquor. I will warn you, don't get sucked in by the family style salad / soup course with rolls which is a meal in itself. The main course is HUGE! If you order chicken it is a whole chicken. If you order the beef it is the whole cow! Well maybe I exaggerated a bit. But as you can see from the menu, it is 26-30 oz. and that is conservative. One time I was there they brought out my plate with two pieces of meat on it because "... we thought the first piece was a little small."

The nice thing is that now you can make arrangements to land across the road from the restaurant, by making a call to the owner of the Mahogany Mountain airstrip (1YJ2). If you do it, tell us about your trip. Warning, there are no airports with fuel / service close by ... I told you that you were in the Big Empty.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24510602@N06/2733268659/in/set-72157606403692031/ Pictures of the food.

http://www.airnav.com/airport/1JY2

http://www.chuggnutt.com/2006/07/17/cowboy_dinner_tree_review.html more pictures



Cheers...Rob

Man sounds like fun but unfortunately I have to work . Post a PIREP!!

I may be able to make it. I should be on my way back from Idaho, not a big deviation.

So you think we can camp at the strip? How far from is the strip from the food?

Maybe I can make it. My wife and I stayed there in June. It was a great meal, great air stip, and a great little cabin. I may just come for the day though.

Hi guys, I'll call the strip owner today. I'll call the restaurant today. The restaurant is across the road from the private strip.

Cheers...Rob

No go. My mistake. They are only open Thur-Sun. Back to the drawing board. Dang I thought I had dicked.

Rob

Rob:

A few years back I got caught in a snowstorm in my Super Cub and put down at Christmas Valley. Later that day, I meet Mark, the owner of Mahogany Mountain airstrip. Since the weather wasn't clearing, he invited me to spend the night at his house and we had dinner at the Cowboy Dinner Tree Restaurant.

A cold, wet and miserable time, turned into one of my more memorable flying adventures. I still keep in touch with Mark and I've flown into his strip. He is a true gentlemen and has some neat toys.

Your meal at the restaurant will not soon be forgotten.

375HandH

My wife and ate there in June. Excellent food and fun folks that run the place. You won't regret it.

There is a cabin or two you can rent in silver lake as well if you prefer not to camp. The restaurant can connect you with the details.

Steve