I’m planning a leisurely flight meandering around part of the country landing on grass strips, and hope to leave in about a week. I plan on camping under my wing part of the time. There are several reasons for this trip. One of the reasons is to explore the kind of airfield and the associated people who are like-minded. Basic fliers who enjoy and fly classic and tailwheel airplanes. Another reason is to actually SEE the country, low and slow, with just my wet compass, my Garmin 296, and my iPod.

Another reason for this trip is to visit with, and stay with friends and family along the way. Several folks across the country from the various forums have offered to let me fly into their private strips. I am thinking about writing an article about this trip, including photos of people and their airstrips. Most of us who own private strips and fly out of them often are relatively quiet about it (except here!). It’s a side of general aviation that a lot of people don’t see or realize is there to enjoy.

A few of the public grass strips I’m hoping to stop at are Lee Bottom Flying Field in Indiana (641), Van Sant in PA (9N1), Moontown near Huntsville, AL (3M5), Platte Valley near Denver (18V), St. Francis, KS (SYF) to name a few. I don’t plan to land on the grass at an airport unless it’s designated as being a runway just to keep things less complicated.

Here is the latest map. The plan is to avoid cities like the plague. If you all have any more fun and interesting grass strips that you would like to suggest, please let me know. Some of you have already made some great suggestions on other forums (I see some familiar faces here ). I am going to stay east of the Rockies because I have to be home in time for Gaston’s in June, so I can’t budget for the time to make it all the way across the country this time. So far, it looks like the trip is over 7,000 miles, so that should take a bit of time as it is. If the weather is stinky, who knows, I might not make it out of Missouri! This is one trip where I don’t have to be anywhere within any certain time frame, an unusual concept nowadays. It will be an interesting exercise in being flexible. And hopefully, it will be fun and exciting…that’s the plan anyway.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions you all might have!

Wow... A very cool plan. Something I have only dreamed about to this point... I suppose it will have to wait until my kids grow up a bit, but I want to do something like this too! I am looking forward to your article! I could help with a few airstrip suggestions someday when you venture west of the continental divide, but I am pretty ignorant of points east. Your journey will be a benchmark for me someday when we venture that direction.

Please keep us posted!

Matt

About 10 years ago on a trip to Oshkosh we found a lighted grass strip just across the river from Quincy, IL. After numerous touch-and-go's on the perfectly manicured grass, we finally setup our tents and camped for the night. The owner of the field at the time went out of his way to take care of us. I don't know who is running the airport now, but the contact info is below. It's definitely worth checking into.

(MO14) Haer Field

Taylor Aviation
7032 County Road 308
Taylor, MO 63471
(573) 393-2098

Also, it's hard to tell on your map, but if you aren't already stopping at Beaumont, KS you should. http://www.hotelbeaumontks.com
The south end of the runway can get a little rutted out and has a little slope to it as well. When landing to the north I recommend touching down about 1/3 of the way down. Let us know how it goes.

-Matt

I would highly recommend using www.airnav.com to find cheep places to buy fuel. It's a great tool.

My family & I went from Minneapolis to Tampa in the Musketeer during spring break and found fuel at $3.20.

Have a great time!

-Todd Giencke

punkin170b wrote: I could help with a few airstrip suggestions someday when you venture west of the continental divide, but I am pretty ignorant of points east.

I'm pretty ignorant of points east, too , but have had a lot of help from my friends on various forums, like the Citabria forum, AOPA, and Pilots of America. It's funny, several of those posters are here as well. They have all been a big help making suggestions about various airfields and some have generously offered to let me visit them at their private strips.

punkin170b wrote: Please keep us posted!

Will do, thanks!

ShamuPilot wrote:About 10 years ago on a trip to Oshkosh we found a lighted grass strip just across the river from Quincy, IL. After numerous touch-and-go's on the perfectly manicured grass, we finally setup our tents and camped for the night. The owner of the field at the time went out of his way to take care of us. I don't know who is running the airport now, but the contact info is below. It's definitely worth checking into.

(MO14) Haer Field

Thanks for the suggestion...I'll check it out. We fly up that way a couple of times a year and land at Quincy for lunch, and never noticed that airfield.

ShamuPilot wrote:Also, it's hard to tell on your map, but if you aren't already stopping at Beaumont, KS you should. http://www.hotelbeaumontks.com
The south end of the runway can get a little rutted out and has a little slope to it as well. When landing to the north I recommend touching down about 1/3 of the way down.

Yep, Beaumont is my last stop. Neat place! We fly there for lunch now and then. Very unique. There's nothing like stopping at the stop sign and then taxiing across Main Street to park at the Hotel. How often do you get to do that in an airplane.

tgiencke wrote:I would highly recommend using www.airnav.com to find cheep places to buy fuel. It's a great tool.

I don't know how I would have planned this trip without AirNav. Especially trying to find grass strips with fuel.

tgiencke wrote:Have a great time!
-Todd Giencke

Thanks Todd! This will be quite an adventure. My husband was originally going to go with me, but the trip got bigger and bigger, and his students (he's a CFI) would not have liked for him to be gone that long. Oh well, somebody needs to stay home and mow our runways anyway.

Here's a few more cool strips in this area to check out that fit your criteria (NJ/PA/NY/CT/MD):

New Jersey (both of these have parallel grass strips):
Andover-Aeroflex (12N)
Blairstown (1N7)

Pennsylvania:
Flying Dollar (8N4) -- oldest airstrip in the Pocono Mountains, fly in to Skytop Lodge (http://www.skytop.com/)
Freeport McVille (P37) -- call ahead, they might be mining
Grimes (8N1) -- golden age air museum

New York:
Cooperstown (K23)
Old Rhinebeck (NY94) -- call ahead for permission first
Hunter Mountain (97NY) -- call ahead for permission first
Lewis Landing (NK79) -- call ahead for permission first

Connecticut:
Goodspeed (42B) - very nice restaurant overlooking river very short walking distance
Candlelight Farms (11N)

Maryland:
Massey (MD1)

There are many other grass strips around the area besides these ones (and those you already have on your list - Vansant is great), this is just an abridged list of those that particularly stand out in my mind for someone with a limited amount of time touring the area in a plane such as yours.

Diana, you are welcome to come use our farm grass strip in East Central Illinois (is43) and at the least would lend you a car if we are busy planting. K96 is near by and has a usable grass strip on the South side of their runway and car gas or 100LL.

Diana, Looks like you will be coming right over us in NE PA. I fly out of Pegasus (50PA). Here is a link to pictures of the runway.

http://www.eaa839.com/map.htm

There is no fuel on the field but several airports only 5 minutes away have fuel. I can arrange for you to camp on the field if you want or we are empty nesters with a nice spare room. Always glad to meet a person that likes grass fields and tailwheels!

Rod

Christina Young wrote:Here's a few more cool strips in this area to check out that fit your criteria (NJ/PA/NY/CT/MD):

Christina, thanks for all the great recommendations! I've added a few of those to my list of airports to land at.

Christina Young wrote:Freeport McVille (P37) -- call ahead, they might be mining

OH, I'm intrigued by that. Does that mean that they won't be there to provide fuel? I see that they sell fuel. Or does that mean that they mine near the runway?

steve wrote:Diana, you are welcome to come use our farm grass strip in East Central Illinois (is43) and at the least would lend you a car if we are busy planting. K96 is near by and has a usable grass strip on the South side of their runway and car gas or 100LL.

Steve, thank you! I added your airfield to the route! I may land and say "hello" if anyone is around. Then I may head on to 8I3 (weather permitting), which I hear is an active grass airfield.

I had thought about stopping at C16 for fuel. I see that they have a big grass strip there. Any thoughts on that airport as a fuel stop?

Skystrider wrote:Diana, Looks like you will be coming right over us in NE PA. I fly out of Pegasus (50PA). Here is a link to pictures of the runway.

http://www.eaa839.com/map.htm

There is no fuel on the field but several airports only 5 minutes away have fuel. I can arrange for you to camp on the field if you want or we are empty nesters with a nice spare room. Always glad to meet a person that likes grass fields and tailwheels!

Rod

Wow, Rod thank you for the invitation! Looks like you have a great strip there. I have a friend with a Citabria based at KABE, and I was hoping to visit him. Your place would be the perfect spot to land at! That's sweet of you to offer the spare room. I'll shoot you an email. My home number is listed on AirNav (08MO) if we lose touch somehow.

Jr.CubBuilder wrote:Take a digital camera with you if you can, sometimes I rumage through my old pictures and it brings back a lot about the trip.

That's a great idea. On her flight to Alaska, a friend of mine also took pictures of her Garmin map along with the scenery to help her remember where she was taking a picture.

Diana wrote:I’m planning a leisurely flight meandering...If you all have any more fun and interesting grass strips that you would like to suggest, please let me know....

Whooo weeee. You're going to meet bunches of folks who'll tell you about all sorts of great places enroute.
This is the kind of trip you could spend a lifetime at. Hmmmmm...
Enjoy! Berk

Diana wrote:

Christina Young wrote:Freeport McVille (P37) -- call ahead, they might be mining

OH, I'm intrigued by that. Does that mean that they won't be there to provide fuel? I see that they sell fuel. Or does that mean that they mine near the runway?

I fly into Freeport when I go out to western PA to visit my mom. It is a scenic grass airport sitting on a bluff overlooking the Allegheny River, with that old timey atmosphere and camaraderie. People there fly because they love it and they love taildraggers!

Last time I was there was at Thanksgiving; at that time the owners told me they might be temporarily shutting the airport down to mine the valuable anthracite coal that it is sitting on top of. They were already mining parts of the property, but it was still fully operational. They want to get the coal out and reopen it with minimal downtime -- they weren't sure when the closure would happen. BTW, they always have great gas prices there - usually the cheapest around! Cash or check only (no cc)...

BTW, I second was Rod says about Pegasus. I occasionally fly in there, and it is indeed a great strip also in a scenic area! I should have had that on my list too.... but there are so many around!

Diana, C16 would be a great stop. This is the home field of Rudy Frasca, the maker of the flight simulator's. Rudy has an extensive collection of old and military planes and is a member of the Lima-Lima flight team, a very colorful character. Also of note, that even though it is not listed, there is a grass strip paralell to 9-27 on the South side, everyone uses it.

Looks like your route takes you from Katama to Cape Cod to Hampton.

Katama is a neat airport. As a bonus, it's right on the beach. A bit of a hike to Edgartown, but it's worth it especially if the yacht club is having a ragatta.

The route direct from Cape Cod to Hampton takes you right thru the Boston Class B mess. There are several Class D and a few restricted areas under the Bravo airspace so watch out.

Hampton is a great field. A lot of traffic in the summer with a lot of friendly people. They also have a great restaurant on the field...there might be a wait to get a table on the weekends.

Diana:

There is a list of grass strips on the web somewhere. I spent a few minutes trying to find it, but you might try some Google searches. It may have been on the EAA site???

I ran across it several years ago, but because it was strips mostly in the midwest and I do my flying the west, didn't pay much attention to it.

Sorry I couldn't provide you the exact site, but I know I did see it.

You also should get the "Cannibal Queen" which is a story of a guy's trip around the US (hit all 50 states) in a Stearman.

Have Fun! Larry

GA2 in Georgia is a great place. Try 2B9 and B06 in Vermont. Both are interesting places with wonderful grass runways.