Breakfast Club
An Affiliate of the Arizona Pilots' Assn.

 

The Knife & Fork

 

Breakfast Club Meets in Holbrook




14 Jun 2008
by Warren McIlvoy

The June Breakfast Club event took us to the northeast part of Arizona to an old and familiar place called Holbrook, Arizona. Now, the thought of flying to Holbrook for breakfast may not set your heart aflutter but, remember, it is not always the destination but rather the journey. Holbrook is a rather short trip and it is a very easy airport to get into and you usually don't have to fit into a lot of traffic in order to land there. As a matter of fact, it is about as "laid back" as any other place that you will visit. Within walking distance, you have your choice of two restaurants, Jerry's (adjacent to a motel) and a stand alone Denny's, take your pick.

Denny's is about a 3-block walk with Jerry's about 2-blocks further north from Denny's. This time we choose Jerry's as we have been to Denny's each time that we have been here in the past. Other than the seating arrangements, you could not tell which of the two choices that you ended-up in. The food is about the same as are the prices. The bottom line here is, except for the additional exercise of walking the two additional blocks each way, you might just as well save the time a make Denny's your first choice. The highway in front of both establishments is part of the old, historic Route 66 often called "America's Highway".

Holbrook (pop 5150), like many small, northern Arizona towns, owes its existence to the railroad and Route 66 as well as to the cattle ranches that dominated the territory in the early days. Some of the historical events that characterize Holbrook are:

  • During 1881 & 1882, railroad tracks were laid down and a railroad station was built. The community was then named Holbrook after the first engineer of the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad.
  • Holbrook became the county seat of Navajo County in 1895 and was incorporated in 1917.
  • Many of the events that played out during the Pleasant Valley War up to 1887 occurred in and around Holbrook.
  • A meteorite with an estimated mass of 190 kg exploded over the town of Holbrook on July 19, 1912.

The one really unique thing about Holbrook, or more specifically, the airport, is the refueling routine. More often than not, the manager is away from the airport attending to other duties. To get fuel, you retrieve the key from along side the computer keyboard and open the lockbox that houses the power switch to the fuel pump. After refueling, lock the lockbox and replace the key by the keyboard. There is a phone message pad on the desk where you list your name, the amount of fuel that you loaded, and your phone number. Some time during the next 24-48 hours, you should receive a phone call from the manager to get your credit card number. Where else have you experienced this kind of trust? I spoke with the manager on Monday to give him my credit card number and I asked him if he had a situation where fuel was taken but no contact information was given. He replied that he had never had that happen. I think that this speaks volumes about the aviation community.

The Holbrook Gang

  • Warren & Jeri-Ann McIlvoy in 93MB, BC-1 &1.5
  • Asa & Cheryl Dean, BC-52
  • Bob Jackson & Doug Boone in 6906D
  • Larry & Sandra Jensen in 14LF, BC-65
  • Adam Rosenberg in 4372J
  • Robert Caglia & 5-Guests

What's Next?

The July Breakfast Club event will have us traveling east to Globe and the Apache Gold Casino and in August, we will be heading south to Tucson, Ryan and Todd's Café. That all for now but remember, fly safe.

Click on the Holbrook link to view some photos of this fly-in event.