Breakfast Club
An Affiliate of the
>The Knife & Fork
Breakfast Club Aims For
Borrego Springs, Goes To Big Bear
11 Nov 2006
by
This is a story that might be aptly be named, "The
Good, The Bad, and The Ugly". First.........
"The Ugly"
Our
planned fly-in destination was to be
We were going to have breakfast on the patio deck
overlooking the Rose Garden, a picturesque setting for many wedding and
gatherings. We have participated in the gastronomical delights in this setting
on previous occasions. Following our breakfast, it was our custom to enjoy a
guided tour of the grounds of the resort led by one the Resort's staff. All
that was required of the BreakfastClub, was to let the
Resort know about how many folks to expect at the Resort and what day and time
to expect them. That was then, this is now.
After contacting the Resort and
speaking with someone from the dinning room, they felt that it would be more
appropriate for their "catering" department to handle this
reservation. We spoke about the menu options and possibly a buffet style
breakfast. The Resort folks emailed me the menus and a few days later, I called
them to let them know that the menu would be more to our liking. This is where
it gets really good. The Resort people then informed me that they needed an
exact count of how many to expect for breakfast. And.........what each person
would be choosing from the menu. I told them that I had no idea how many people
would be attending. I said that, historically, I never know the attendance
until we are assembled on the ramp and preparing to head towards the
restaurant. And furthermore, with the exception of my wife and I, there would
be no practical way for me to guess what each person would order.
The person with whom I had been speaking with said the "the hotel would
be full and they needed this information in order to provide us with the
best possible service". I asked her to consider our circumstances and
to talk it over with the "powers that be" and let me know if we could
work something out. I contacted Paul Fortune, one of the Breakfast
Club Event Committee members, to see if he would contact the Resort to see
if he could get any better results as I had to work the Election Polls the next
day. Paul called me Tuesday afternoon to tell me that they would be getting
back with him later.
Wednesday morning (three days before our schedule fly-in date), the Resort
folks called me and stated that they would not be able to accommodate our group
under the conditions that we needed. I told them that we would be taking our
dollars elsewhere.
"The Bad"
It was now 3-days before our Saturday fly-in and
nowhere to go. I wanted to go west; But where? Then I remembered that we had
canceled Big Bear last year due to a sudden spike in fuel prices. It's
not like they are giving the stuff away now but gas is somewhat cheaper than it
was then. So Big Bear it is. I had to get an emergency Notam out
immediately to let everyone know that there had been a change in plans. I also
took the liberty to change the arrival time to 0900 PST so I didn't have to get
up at "O-dark-thirty" and preflight the airplane in the dark.
"The
Good"
Actually, it's all good from here on. After
departing
As I crossed the waypoint, I began
a climb to 10,500' so that I could do a practice GPS 26 approach into Big
Bear. By now the winds had picked-up to gusts of 16 kts
but were mostly down the runway. As you get close to the runway, so do the tall
trees that are only a couple hundred yards outside the fence. It would be a
very good practice at this point to observe the VASI lights to avoid picking
pine needles out of the cowling and landing gear. I managed to find a parking
place in the front row just opposite the self fueling facility. As we exited
the airplane, it was quite evident that our jackets would be mandatory. The
wind was brisk out of the west and at 48-degrees, it
felt like it would eat right through my jacket sleeves. I took some photos of
the arriving aircraft but the warmth of the Barnstorm Café was
too much of an allure to remain on the ramp for any extended period of time.
The Barnstorm Café is divided into two dining areas. The first is
smaller and has a couple of booths and the second, larger "patio
like" area, has great views of the ramp and the mountain ridges north of
the airport. The motif is a blend of mountain retreat and aviation memorabilia
with pictures of everything aviation adorning the walls. The menu offers
sufficient choices for the hungry aviator at very reasonable prices. The
service was prompt and we received our orders in a short period of time even
though the place was about 80% full. And best of all, the food was very tasty.
I took some more photos of the Breakfast
Club gang and then went out to the main
lobby desk of the terminal building seeking information regarding the trolley
or bus that makes a circle tour of the Big Bear area. The person that I
spoke with said that the bus was scheduled to make a stop at "Big
Timber", the stop closest to the airport, in about 20-minutes. About half the Breakfast Club
group chose to take the leisurely, 1-hour tour. The 2-block walk to the
bus stop only took a few minutes but as it turned-out, the bus was 30-minutes
late. The bus made stops at every local stop before reaching the end of the
line. Then it was a reverse trip including all the stops that we had seen on
the first leg. We had the opportunity see every point of interest more than
once. If nothing else, the bus ride was very relaxing and at a $1.00, it was
inexpensive entertainment.
After getting back to the airport, most of us took advantage of the cheapest
gas prices around. At $3.10 a gallon, I elected to take on about 40-gallons and
then make a planned fuel stop in Blythe to top-off. By the time that we were
ready to depart, the winds had become a bit more enthusiastic blowing at about
18 gusting to 26 thought still down the runway. I would guess that we were off
the runway in less than 500' and climbing like a scalded hog. I made a left downwind
turn before reaching the lake and now that nice headwind was now a tailwind.
Our climb rate now decayed to almost nil in the turbulence and for the next
twenty minutes, we were just along for the ride. At a point about 10-miles east
of the mountain ridge, we had a ground speed of 189kts that lasted for about
20-seconds. Even after pulling the power back a bit,
we still had a ground speed of 160-165kts, not bad for an old C-182. When we
were still 40-miles out of Blythe, I started a slow, gradual descent to
1200'. The winds at Blythe favored runway 17 so I entered about a 5-mile
right base for the runway. Fuel at Blythe was $3.35 or about .75 less than at
The Big Bear Gang
What's Next?
The Breakfast Club will
end the year with a fly-in to
Click on
this link to view some photos of our Big Bear fly-in.