I am going to fly the 182 to a suburb of Austin TX for my submarine reunion on April 22. There is one particular shipmate that cannot make it due to health that lives in Louisiana that I will see after the reunion. Then as long as I am that far I will want to see another shipmate in South Carolina. So from there I want to go up and land at Kitty Hawk. Then work my way home. Here it is so far. I will fill in some blanks of course. At 115 kts I will be doing some flying. Any Back country flying suggestions will be appreciated. I will take my camping gear.

Looks like you will be going right past Alexander Memorial Airport, GA2, formerly Peachstate Aerodrome. You will definitely want to stop there. Good restaurant on the field, nice museum, grass... and I'm pretty sure you could camp there. Could certainly get a ride into town from the friendly locals. Lot's of General Aviation activity there.

http://www.peachstateaero.com/

I also have a spare bedroom and a hot shower in Murfreesboro TN if you swing this far north. Catch is I won't know if I will be home until I get my April schedule in late March. But if I'm home, you are welcome to drop in for a visit and a rest stop.

Well it looks like you're heading across Utah which is one of my bucket list destinations for off airport adventures. With very little effort you can overfly Douglas-Monthan, Tombstone and White Sands, NM.

I spent the night once in Midland, TX (home of a CAF wing if you're into warbirds). There was a great jet center that took me in. I was given keys to a brand new Tahoe and got to spend the night in their crew quarters. I was just a puke in a C172. Never even asked to see my driver's license.

Midland-Odessa was described to me by Jim-Bob as the twin cities. You went "to Midland to raise a family and Odessa to raise hell" were his exact words. I drove the Tahoe to Odessa where I found an all night diner (it was midnight) where I got to eat chicken and waffles along with black coffee served by an 11 year old. I didn't find hell but perhaps it was because I didn't raise any.

For those of you from the south: Chicken and waffles sounds ridiculous and cheap black coffee seems even more incongruous - but it hits the spot. Just saying.

In West Texas do not make the mistake of shortening Jim-Bob to Jim, as I did. Every man in West Texas has a double first name drawn from his two grandfathers. If you meet someone named Jim it is because both of his grandfathers were named Jim. Or he's not from West Texas.

Midland-Odessa is the source of a high school football rivalry that the movie and series "Friday Night Lights" was based on.

Shreveport, LA had a nice place to pace back and forth for two days waiting for a route around winter storms. East from there (clear to 'bama) is miles and miles of chicken farms (the long metal buildings you'll see everywhere). I never did see a waffle farm.

I get to joke that I spent three days in Texas but have no idea what it looks like. I was popping out at minimums and taking off into a low layer everywhere I went. The only ground I saw was that night I landed at Midland, and I recall being curious about the things on the ground for several miles before I arrived. The next morning it dawned -25 degrees F and I took off headed west towards Demming, NM and saw that the objects were cricket pumps that also went on forever.

kg wrote:Looks like you will be going right past Alexander Memorial Airport, GA2, formerly Peachstate Aerodrome. You will definitely want to stop there. Good restaurant on the field, nice museum, grass... and I'm pretty sure you could camp there. Could certainly get a ride into town from the friendly locals. Lot's of General Aviation activity there.

http://www.peachstateaero.com/

I also have a spare bedroom and a hot shower in Murfreesboro TN if you swing this far north. Catch is I won't know if I will be home until I get my April schedule in late March. But if I'm home, you are welcome to drop in for a visit and a rest stop.

I was told by folks at Facebook Airplane camping that GA2 is a definite stop. Glad to get a second opinion. I am planning on spending the night of April 23 camping there. That is assuming the weather is good. Also you should note that there are lots of private grass strip in the South. I have called several of the owners and with one exception I was invited to camp on their strip and offered a car to drive to town. There is something special about those folks. This should be a fun trip

aftCG wrote:Well it looks like you're heading across Utah which is one of my bucket list destinations for off airport adventures. With very little effort you can overfly Douglas-Monthan, Tombstone and White Sands, NM.

Any airports you can camp at in NM that have a low enough altitude for that time of year. Do not want to try starting the plane at 10F.

Just a bit south of your proposed path through Utah is Escalante (1L7) nice pilot lounge with shower and a nice campground with a covered shelter, grill, water, microwave and fridge, 100LL too. I hope it's still being taken care of.







Lots of great backcountry strips within an hour

slowhawk wrote:Just a bit south of your proposed path through Utah is Escalante (1L7) nice pilot lounge with shower and a nice campground with a covered shelter, grill, water, microwave and fridge, 100LL too. I hope it's still being taken care of.







Lots of great backcountry strips within an hour

Yes I have been there before. Might be a good pace to camp

I have a vague recollection of being cautioned to plan my fuel carefully going into First Flight. There's no fuel there, and the nearest airport with fuel could be a nuisance. Just plan ahead with a bit more detail than normal. The reasons aren't sticking to memory because I was in with my 210 after a short flight, and it held 6 hours endurance.

It appears in the middle of your "great circle" but if you modify your route so as to go through Arkansas there is Petit Jean State Park KMPJ that would make a great camping stop.

https://www.funplacestofly.com/funflydetails.asp?id=494

And there is Gaston's which is pretty darn nice. You could also go fishing. Identifier 3M0.

http://www.gastons.com/airstrip/

Also Rough River State Park in Kentucky. Identifier 2I3. Kentucky is underrated. It's nice. And they make bourbon. (Kentucky also has other state parks with airports.. Lake Barkley and Kentucky Dam.)

https://www.funplacestofly.com/funflydetails.asp?id=449

If you alter your route south a little as the above post recommends, my parents have an AirBNB nightly rental apartment on our farm in Kentucky about a quarter mile from KGLW. My Dad would be happy to pick you up from the airport and drop you off as needed if KGLW doesn't have a courtesy car. Would be a cheap private real bed/shower/etc and it's a beautiful horse farm (maybe I'm biased). Let me know if you're interested and I'll get you their info. See it at the link below. I'm sure I could get you a much better deal than the price online:

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/18632176?s=51

-Asa

kg wrote:It appears in the middle of your "great circle" but if you modify your route so as to go through Arkansa there is Petit Jean State Park KMPJ that would make a great camping stop.

https://www.funplacestofly.com/funflydetails.asp?id=494

And there is Gaston's which is pretty darn nice. You could also go fishing. Identifier 3M0.

http://www.gastons.com/airstrip/

Also Rough River State Park in Kentucky. Identifier 2I3. Kentucky is underrated. It's nice. And they make bourbon. (Kentucky also has other state parks with airports.. Lake Barkley and Kentucky Dam.)

https://www.funplacestofly.com/funflydetails.asp?id=449

Petite Jean is really nice. The airfield manager came down to check on us twice a day and leant us his truck to visit the park. Campground is on the South side of the field with several tent spots and hot showers. Hot shower was great for us, cause our then 2-year old daughter threw up all over herself on short final. We carried her into the shower in her car seat and washed them together.

No camping at Gastons, but you can park in front of your cabin. Great memories of the OK18 flyin the year they did it there.

Brett

Great spots to land in the above posts. Thanks so much. MPJ looks like a must. So many to choose from and so little time.

I just saw that the Great MN Aviation Gathering is scheduled for April 27-28th. A short deviation North on your way home..... another option.

kg wrote:I just saw that the Great MN Aviation Gathering is scheduled for April 27-28th. A short deviation North on your way home..... another option.

Thinking of Fun in the Sun earlier in April in Florida then fooling around that neck of the woods then hitting my reunion April 21st and 22nd.