Hey all,

I'm ferrying a Cessna 150 for a student of mine from Georgia to Northern California after weather clears up. It's gonna be a long haul and I was hoping to get some suggestions on cool airports / fbo's and restaurants to check out en route to break up the flight. If I can figure out airports that are walkable to water I might be bringing a rod or two along.

Where are you starting from in Georgia?

GA2, Peachstate Aerodrome, is worth a visit if you are passing near there.

Bastrop BQP in NE Louisiana has good Cajun food. The family owned airport is good service and will give you something for short drive into town. I don't remember the restaurant, but they will tell you. Gastons 3M0 at Bull Shoals Arkansas has an excellent hillbilly restaurant and fishing cabins on the grass airstrip. Takeoff down river and turn before the bluff. Kingsley Field MO9 just north of Aurora Missouri my home field. Call 417-830-0638 and I will buy you a meal. Don't try to climb straight east over the bluff. High trees and Bull Shoals Dam the other way. Beaumont Hotel 07S Kansas has an excellent restaurant on the grass airstrip. Window Rock RQE just NE of Gallup, NM and on tribal council location of the Navajo Reservation has an excellent restaurant in walking distance of the airport. Order a Navajo taco. It will be beans, green chili, and cheese on fry bread. If you have never had Navajo fry bread cooked in ultra hot lard, you have not lived well. That is all over the map a bit, but those are the ones I know. Canyon de Chelly National Park further north at Chinle E91 is worth the visit and much prettier than the grand canyon, but the airport had few facilities back in the day and things do not change rapidly on the res. A fly over is worth it.

I'd go out of my way to have a meal at Gaston's Resort on the White River in Arkansas. They have a wonderful grass strip (3M0) and a fabulous restaurant. It is a fisherman's paradise and they have cabins along the river if it works out for an overnight. It was the best stop on my XC flight from Virginia to Washington State. I took a southern route to work in a planned stop in Albuquerque to see my daughter.

In November I flew my 185 from northern Nevada to the Augusta GA area. I originally wanted to camp at some of the type of places you mentioned. I reviewed the RAF Airfield guide, Google Earth and ForeFlight looking for the right strips. I made sure to call and verify transportation, fuel prices and accommodations.

As it turned out, I needed to hurry back and it was below freezing at night making primitive camping look less than desirable. If only I could’ve left a month before when it was milder. The trip took 4 legs and one overnight and I was happy with the stops:

KMEV departure
KPGA Page AZ. Efficient quick turn. Free can of almonds. Extremely scenic as was first halt of the next leg to:
KPVW Plainview TX. FBO gave me courtesy car. Good hotel and restaurants.
M83 West Point MS. Walking distance to Hampton Inn, restaurants and a Gander Mountain store.
KHQU destination.

I used flight following entire trip. Glad I did as there are numerous busy military airports along the way. Controllers were outstanding.

Have a safe and fun flying adventure!

On my way out to GA right now, and planning on stopping by a lot of those places on my way back! I'll give you a call if I end up working my way north and hit Gaston's. Thanks for the report

contactflying wrote:Bastrop BQP in NE Louisiana has good Cajun food. The family owned airport is good service and will give you something for short drive into town. I don't remember the restaurant, but they will tell you. Gastons 3M0 at Bull Shoals Arkansas has an excellent hillbilly restaurant and fishing cabins on the grass airstrip. Takeoff down river and turn before the bluff. Kingsley Field MO9 just north of Aurora Missouri my home field. Call 417-830-0638 and I will buy you a meal. Don't try to climb straight east over the bluff. High trees and Bull Shoals Dam the other way. Beaumont Hotel 07S Kansas has an excellent restaurant on the grass airstrip. Window Rock RQE just NE of Gallup, NM and on tribal council location of the Navajo Reservation has an excellent restaurant in walking distance of the airport. Order a Navajo taco. It will be beans, green chili, and cheese on fry bread. If you have never had Navajo fry bread cooked in ultra hot lard, you have not lived well. That is all over the map a bit, but those are the ones I know. Canyon de Chelly National Park further north at Chinle E91 is worth the visit and much prettier than the grand canyon, but the airport had few facilities back in the day and things do not change rapidly on the res. A fly over is worth it.

On my way out to GA right now, and planning on stopping by a lot of those places on my way back! I'll give you a call if I end up working my way north and hit Gaston's. Thanks for the report

Coming back out of Gaston's, the bluff is east and down river under Flyhound's Maule in the picture he posted. Take off that way in the 150 but stay low and accelerate for zoom reserve. That will allow you to make a safe turn over the river as it turns 90 degrees to due south at the bluff. There is a high tension wire coming off the bluff and it crosses the river going due west. You must turn south before the wire (it has many triangular flags and balls) and overfly it in the river bottom field west of the river there. Cross in the field where it is only normal high tension high. Many engine climb straight east over the bluff, and it will be cool enough probably, but I never did even in a Pawnee. There is just no reason to hang ones live on an engine that way.

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions. Unfortunately, flying north through Arkansas and Missouri was out of the cards due to a 25 knot headwind that I would've been fighting for the two days I was passing through.

I ended up going south through Austin and staying with friends for the night and then continuing to Carlsbad, NM where I got a rental car and went to the Carlsbad Caverns national park for the morning. From there I continued north to Payson, NM and caught a good tailwind and camped on the airport for the night. Then on through Havasu where the folks at Northstar Aviation helped fix a pretty bad oil leak that had started up due to an improperly installed magneto. From there I went to Los Angeles and stayed with friends and hung out for the super bowl then continued back up to NorCal.

I attached a few photos from the trip below: