Breakfast Club
An Affiliate of
the
The
Knife & Fork
Dr Dana and Mark Host Hangar Cookout
16 June 2012
By
Not only did the Breakfast Club get to visit an entirely new and
different location in June, but we were treated to yet another blow-out cookout
by none other than Dr Dana Myatt and
Nurse Mark.
It was sort of an odd sequence of events that led the event
committee in putting 21AZ on our
2012 calendar. I had gotten an email
advertising the airstrip to the pilot community along with particulars regarding
the sale of property in this fly-in community.
The web site also made reference of a restaurant at the nearby golf
course that was called “The Sandbagger”. Lem
Cook was the contact person so I called him regarding a fly-in for some
time in 2012. He said that would be fine
and he would arrange for transportation from the airstrip to the
restaurant. Later following my
announcement of that upcoming event, I received a note from Nurse Mark about possibly doing another
cookout like they did at
Since 21AZ in not in any of our GPS navigators, I inserted the Show Low identifier (SOW) and flew just to the left of course since 21AZ was a little north of SOW. The weather was just fine although there were just a few bumps (a little odd for that time of day). When we were within AWOS distance from Show Low, I got the altimeter setting as well as the wind direction. The winds were light out of the south making runway 12 at 21AZ the runway of choice. When I was abeam of Show Low, I could see a small lake to the northeast but I could not detect any semblance of a runway. I could hear other Breakfast Club aircraft in the area as I spotted the runway just ahead of me. From my position, I passed the departure end of runway 12 by about a half mile to get into position for a left downwind to the runway. There is no taxiway at this airstrip so it is advisable to perform a good short field landing procedure to avoid having to do a back-taxi to the ramp. I did just that with plenty of room to spare and taxied to the spacious ramp in front of the large hangar and pilot lounge.
After securing the airplane, we strode over to the hangar where a number of folks had already gathered. Mark and Dana had their motor-home parked along side the hangar and had the hangar will stocked with tables and chairs. They had also set-up their serving line along one wall that was almost 20’ long. Outside the hangar, I got to meet Lem Cook, our co-host for the day and quasi tour guide.
As more of the Breakfast Club group had assembled, Mark and Dana announced that our
gourmet meal was ready. To begin with,
there was coffee (leaded and unleaded) and orange juice, sweat rolls and
Danish, bread for toasting, a fresh fruit plate, bacon and sausage, an egg and
potato casserole, two different quiches, country fried potatoes, and two
different scrambled egg dishes. Wow!! I don’t believe that you could sample one of
everything without over-grossing your aircraft.
What has become the norm when Mark and Dane put on spread
After breakfast, I took some photos of the hangar and the area before passing the hat to make a donation to Mark & Dana to help defray some of the expenses for this more than generous meal. I went into the adjoining pilot lounge and was taken aback by the plush décor of the place. Upon entering from the hangar, there were two offices to the left and two restrooms to the right. A little further in and you are treated to a carpeted living-room complete with a kitchen along one wall and leather chairs and sofas. Outside the main entry is a wood deck with a table and chairs to sit back and enjoy the cool weather. I thing any pilot worth his salt could truly appreciate the surroundings.
As I returned to the hangar, Lem was offering to transport anyone who was willing to take a short tour of the model home and some of the home sites. At the end of the runway extension, the taxiway became the road to the model home complete with it own hangar. I failed to ask Lem what the price of the home was but I would guess that it was well out of my budget. Toss-in the cost of the one acre home sites and I would venture to guess that one would be in the mid six figures. After getting back in our tour vehicle, Lem took us around some of the home sites and then finally to a place where we overlooked the spring fed creek replete with a small concrete dam that raised the creek level and slowed the flow. I did not see much in the way of tall trees but there was an ample supply of mesquite that were maybe 12-15’ in height.
At the conclusion of the tour, Lem drove us back to the hangar where, by this time, many of the
group had already departed. The wind
that was of little consequence earlier in the day, had now posed a legitimate
crosswind at about 10 kts or so. After making the prerequisite pit stop before
departure, we loaded our aircraft and elected to back-taxi on 12 to the end of
the 2000’ extension and depart on runway 30.
I made a climbing left turn to circle around to the north side of the
runway to get some photos of the airport before our departing the area. The ride home was pretty much as expected, a
bit bumpy and choppy but that is just normal summertime flying in
I would like to thank Dr Dana and Nurse Mark for the wonderful breakfast and Lem Cook for the use of his hangar and pilot lounge for this fly-in. I will have to keep this venue in our memory banks for a future Breakfast Club event.
The
- Warren & Jeri-Ann
McIlvoy in 93MB, BC-1 & 1.5
- Adam Rosenberg and Chris Helub in 8377W, BC-76
- Paul Fortune in 31870,
BC-201
- Doug Doehrman, Libby
Vance, and Greg Coomans in 2493Q, BC-69
- Gordon & Lois
Coomans, residence in the area
- Steve Gavette and Pam Peet in 9014P
- Richard & Marcia
Azimov in 6864Q, BC-2
- Glen Yoder, BC-007
- Larry Jensen in 14LF,
BC-65
- Lem Cook in 5893
- Dr Dana Myatt and Nurse
Mark
What’s Next?
The June Breakfast Club event will see us traveling
north to
To see photos this event, just click on the link below.