Breakfast Club

An Affiliate of the Arizona Pilots Assn

 

 

 


The Knife & Fork

 

 

 


Breakfast Club Lands in Seligman, Visits Lilo’s West Side Cafe

 

 

 

 

 

08 Dec 2012

by Warren McIlvoy

 

 

The Breakfast Club wanted to celebrate the end of another successful year of monthly fly-ins by visiting one of our long time favorites and that being Seligman, Arizona and Lilo’s West Side Café.  Although we do not normally travel very far north in the winter months, we did make an exception for this fly-in.  For this event, we had truly gorgeous flying weather, all-be-it a tad bit brisk, with CAVU conditions.  We departed Deer Valley Airport to the north, straight-up I-17 until reaching Cordes Junction and 8500’, and then turning a little to the northwest.  This route will take you just a few miles to the northeast of the Prescott Airport.

 

By this time, there was quite a lot of Breakfast Club chatter on our “group flight following” frequency giving position reports and distances out of Seligman.  The landscape north of Prescott is moderately high plateau consisting of mostly rolling hills with an occasional rock pile with a sparse population of trees.  The one rock pile of note was one called Picacho Butte just southeast of Seligman and is about 7200’ high.  It might be the big brother of the Picacho Peak that is between Phoenix and Tucson along I-10.  It was about here that I switched the radio to the Seligman frequency to get a picture of the activity around the pattern.  The wind was calm so everyone was using runway 22.  To get spacing between arriving aircraft, our procedure is to cross over the departure end of runway 22 and then turn a right downwind into the pattern.  I was not the first to arrive nor was I the last so finding a parking spot was not a problem.  Some folks had already started the ¾ mile hike to the restaurant but I had made arrangements to have the folks from the restaurant come to the airport to pick us up in the airport limo (actually, a Dodge pick-up truck).  I informed the driver that there was still a couple of aircraft in route so that he needed to make at least one more trip. 

 

In its heyday, Seligman was a railroad town along America’s Highway Rte 66 and it still clings to that memorable era.  There is an annual celebration that I believe is sometime in April or May where the main street is clogged with classic cars from the 50’s and 60’s.  The rail line is host to more than 90 trains a day including the eastbound Amtrack in the morning and the westbound train in the evening but I don’t believe that the train station is open.  I seem to recall that on our first Breakfast Club event here some years ago, I asked Lilo Russell, the owner of Lilo’s Westside Café, why a town as small as Seligman had a west side and an east side.  She stated that there wasn’t an east or west sides to the town, it is just that her restaurant is located on the west side of Rte 66.  I guess that there is some logic to that. 

 

One thing for sure, you could never come away from a breakfast at Lilo’s with a hungry feeling.  The breakfast entrees are a project unto themselves but if you have the optional pancake instead of the toast or biscuit, the pancake is just as large as the plate and is a meal all by itself.  If you were to make the mistake and order the full stack, three of these things would feed a 3rd World army.  Don’t say that you have not been warned.  Since it was December, Lilo’s was decked-out in Christmas decorations so I made sure that I got some pics of the décor.  On another note, I had called earlier in the week to give the restaurant folks a “heads-up” and to make room for about 15-20 people.  Well, this event was just a tad bit more popular that I had estimated, we had 36 folks in attendance but the folks at Lilo’s made room for our overflow crowd. 

 

After a hardy breakfast, some folks chose to walk back to the airport (maybe to work-off some their breakfast) but some of us opted for the limo service.  The trip back to the valley was at 9500’ but it was still smooth just as it was in the morning.  So, that’s it for another year of great fly-ins and I am eagerly waiting to begin our 19th year of monthly events.  Our event calendar is on the web site so a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all.

 

The Seligman Gang

 

  • Warren & Jeri-Ann McIlvoy in 93MB, BC-1 & 1.5
  • John & Pat Rynearson in 3105S, BC-117
  • Jerry & Nancy Grout with Stuart Reed in 29T
  • Richard Spiegel, Sam Foot, Leon Driss and Bob Spurny in 901KA, BC-3 & 53
  • Steve & Karen Brown in 57LW
  • Roger Whittier in 706CD, BC-122
  • Tim Onofryton and Peggy Myer in 85CP
  • Tom Castleberry and Peter Lenton in 1111M
  • Larry Jensen and Trent Heidtke in 14LS, BC-65 
  • Austin Goodwin, BC-317
  • Brian Briggerman in 601AZ
  • Tom Roche, BC-31
  • Glen & Tim Yoder, in 31TC, BC-007
  • J David Nelson in 13751
  • Richard Azimov and Jordan Ross in 6864Q, BC-2 & 11
  • Doug Doehrman and Libby Vance in 428DW, BC-69 & 70
  • Rich Kupiec, Austin Erwin, Gordy Dosanjh and Kris Bjurson in 6693M, BC-47 & 86
  • Bob Hall and Maria Busching in 602MR

 

What’s Next?

 

The Breakfast Club will kick-off our 19th year of monthly fly-ins with a trip to Winslow, Arizona and the historic La Posada Hotel.  In February, we will make a return visit to Kearny, Arizona and the West End Café.  That’s all for now but remember, fly safe.

 

To view photos of the Seligman fly-in, just click on the link below.

 

Seligman Photos