I've been watching this project proceed for the last 20 years or so, it sits on a nice little mountain top on the East side of the Star Valley, roughly halfway between Alpine and Afton. It's maybe 700' above the main valley, and has a great view, and its own quite long access road. The newest addition I've seen this year is an airstrip, apparently part of the compound as a new road connects the two. Any area pilots know the scoop on this setup? None of my business, just curious.....

Yep, that's my place. Come land anytime and I'll let you take the Bugatti for a spin.

This reminds me of my buddy from Cody, WY telling me story's about homes and ranches he's been to delivering for FedEx Ground. Looks like this is one of them hidden gems you'd normally never see unless your flying around low, making a delivery or luckily invited over for a visit.

What, no moat? Lame.

That property and a good portion of the area to the east of there are owned by the Heiner family of which three of them are pilots. Nice folks and their ancestors settled in that valley.

Oregon180 wrote:What, no moat? Lame.

"Release the hounds!"

These things seem to be appearing all over the country... here's a local one that the Boy Scouts built near Brainerd, MN. It was finished last Spring. (NEVER noticed it until after completion!)

I guess dues went up since I was in the Boy Scouts. What happened to camping in some chitty ace tent filled with spiders in a 60°F hand me down coleman sleeping bag in the middle of January?

I got a tour of it a few months ago. Cost 1.2 M and is built to last a 1,000 years (donated by a construction guy who's also a Chevy dealer.)

We also asked about what you were thinking - res days of scouting old... his answer... "the modern mother". Can you 100% guarantee that my little Johnny wont break a fingernail?

dlhanst wrote:That property and a good portion of the area to the east of there are owned by the Heiner family of which three of them are pilots. Nice folks and their ancestors settled in that valley.

Well, they sure don't mess around when it comes to building, thanks for satisfying my curiosity. I usually mention to first time breakfast buyers as we head back to Inkom from either Alpine or Afton that I need to divert a bit to check on my Star Valley place. It is always a memorable moment when they see how elaborate the thing is, best of all I don't believe you can see it at all if you don't have the power of flight, lucky us.

I'll have to take one sometime of the "little cabin" the ex ceo of the Flying J truck stop chain built about 7 miles from my place: 20,000 acres, stocked fish pond, BIG pool inside the house etc etc. It was my biggest crane job of that year, and the first and only time I set windows with it, using a big suction cup apparatus. This one is also only visible to pilots.......

Here's a "castle" near Salem. The no growth folks in Oregon call 'em McMansions. I think that is sour grapes even though I've got no interest in a place like that. It is fun to see how many of them there are while flyin' low and slow.

tom

courierguy wrote:

dlhanst wrote:That property and a good portion of the area to the east of there are owned by the Heiner family of which three of them are pilots. Nice folks and their ancestors settled in that valley.

Well, they sure don't mess around when it comes to building, thanks for satisfying my curiosity. I usually mention to first time breakfast buyers as we head back to Inkom from either Alpine or Afton that I need to divert a bit to check on my Star Valley place. It is always a memorable moment when they see how elaborate the thing is, best of all I don't believe you can see it at all if you don't have the power of flight, lucky us.

I'll have to take one sometime of the "little cabin" the ex ceo of the Flying J truck stop chain built about 7 miles from my place: 20,000 acres, stocked fish pond, BIG pool inside the house etc etc. It was my biggest crane job of that year, and the first and only time I set windows with it, using a big suction cup apparatus. This one is also only visible to pilots.......

Is that the same ex CEO that preceeded to scatter himself all over the Idaho countryside using his Citation jet?

Nope, I don't think this guy even flies. I have heard that he went bankrupt or was bought out or something recently, it started out as a family business I believe, and after the old man died in the plane crash the heirs have changed things around a lot. All I know for sure is they have the highest diesel around BUT they have REAL mogas, no ethanol!

Is that the same ex CEO that preceded to scatter himself all over the Idaho countryside using his Citation jet?

dlhanst wrote:That property and a good portion of the area to the east of there are owned by the Heiner family of which three of them are pilots. Nice folks and their ancestors settled in that valley.

This last August I had the pleasure of meeting two of the Heiner brothers and their wives while camping at JC. Really nice people. They also have the strip just north of Afton that is charted. They invited me to come over and check it out whenever I would like. I didn't get it done this last fall, but plan on it in the spring/early summer.

Hey Courierguy, where do you go for breakfast in Alpine or Afton? We are looking for some new places to go check out.

[ courierguy] Thanks for the info. I do seem to remember Flying J got bought out by Pilot truck centers and some of the operation stays the same and alot didn't... I do agree on the no ethanol thing cause I run premium auto fuel I get from the local Smiths grocery and the loads are furnished by Flying J. So far no sign of alcohol in any loads. .. They must max out the MTBE limits to meet requirments.

[Grasstripper]. I usually feed at the Yankee Doodle cafe in Alpine. About 1 mile / easy 10 minute walk from the east tie down area. Afton has a few eating spots along the main drag. You can taxi close and park by Aviat sometimes. I was asked to park way out at the FBO once but my guess this guy was being a prick though.

courierguy wrote:Nope, I don't think this guy even flies. I have heard that he went bankrupt or was bought out or something recently, it started out as a family business I believe, and after the old man died in the plane crash the heirs have changed things around a lot. All I know for sure is they have the highest diesel around BUT they have REAL mogas, no ethanol!

Is that the same ex CEO that preceded to scatter himself all over the Idaho countryside using his Citation jet?

The Flying J cabin. I got lucky and the clouds lifted long enough for me to sneak a flight in, my present to myself! The pond is over 20' deep. It really doesn't look like much from the air, but the structure is built so heavy duty: LOTS of structural iron, very thick wall iron at that. What isn't massive glue lams is trusses on 12" centers, with 5/8" OSB, way overbuilt. The water system is setup like a small town: a 45 horse pump gets it up to a 20,000 G. tank, which is on the mountain above. Its comes into the basement at 145 PSI through a 6" line, enough pressure to run it back up to the "barn" and still have mucho pressure. The barn has 6 guest suites above, all with bathrooms. ALL the main house and ALL the barn baths can be run flat out at the same time and no one runs out of hot water. You can imagine the plumbing system for that! Radiant floor heat everywhere. A 100KW backup generator is setup for automatic operation, with thousands of gallons of underground propane tanks to run it. The pickup parked outside is the contractors, been a few years now and the finish work goes on and on. The ground level inside pool is so large, and the pressure it could put on the foundation walls was so great it required footings etc like I normally see on large commercial jobs, like 6' wide and 2' thick! Supposedly the most expensive residence ever built in our county, and remember its just a "cabin"! The barn is uphill, lucky horses. All the fencing is 100% redwood.
When in Alpine I go to what I still call the Red Baron, now called the American Cafe. Ed Browning used to own it, and at one time he also had the world propellor speed record, a P-51. I DO NOT go to the Nordic Inn, as the current owners screwed my friend Dallas Clinger out of it (according to Dallas). Dallas was one the original Flying Tigers, and I don't mean the freighters. He was Wyomings first air ace and a real character. In Afton its got to be the Homestead, right across from the Aviat strip ( the newer one is 1/4 mile west.) Good cheap food and sassy waitresses. With the Afton strip being built up with high dollar homes I'm starting to feel a little out of place while taxing to the parking spot behind the sport shop right across from the cafe. While Aviat now has the old strip, and it is closed for general use, I have permission from them to do so, always getting on the radio and looking both ways before entering it, and then for just a couple hundred quick taxi, and usually Sunday am when they are closed. Got to go eat, Ho Ho Ho!

Chuck Norris (aka Texas Ranger) used to have a little place over by Mesquite (???) TX. A lake (not a pond) perfectly shaped to look precisely like the state of Texas. That was a number of years ago, but it was fun doing aerobatics around there, and seeing that McMansion.

MTV

The Heiner Castle is for sale. $14 mil and she is yours….

I'll have to find the sales description of the property, should make for an interesting read! Sounds like a bargain actually. I mean, pick a number..., it's unique. I wonder if the road down one side of the mountain to the airstrip and the large hangar go with it? It was added after the fact, and was the crowning touch I thought.. Over the decades I've been eyeballing it, I've seen continuous signs of more bells and whistles. I will be in the area shortly and will see if I can lay hands on one of those free magazines that feature homes in the area, they are always good for a laugh, due to the inflated pricing of anything within eyesight of the Tetons!

Are Mark and Verdean still with us?

MTV