The Breakfast Club
The Knife & Fork



Breakfast Club Visits Lake Mead/Temple Bar Marina




14 Feb 2004
by Warren McIlvoy


If you were to mention the place "Temple Bar" to the unknowing or uninitiated, they might believe that it is a Buddhist disco bar where everyone dances in circles and hums tunes. On the other hand, to the avid aviator, it is a unique place that mixes the fun of flying with various water sports. Temple Bar is about 50 miles east of Las Vegas along the shores of Lake Mead and the Lake Mead National Recreational Area.

The morning's route out of Scottsdale, takes us over a lot of unremarkable terrain with one exception, northeast of Kingman, there is the small town of Valentine, Arizona. As today is Valentines Day, I felt that this little tidbit of trivia was appropriate. By the way, the town of Valentine is located along I-40 just below the junction of where historic Route 66 rejoins the Interstate highway. Another piece of geography that is a bit unique is a place called Red Lake that is about 25 miles southeast of Temple Bar. On the chart, it is depicted as a dry lake bed but I have never heard from anyone who has even seen any accumulation of water there. From 8500', the surface appears to be as smooth as glass and I guess that it would make a suitable emergency landing place if you really had to make an urgent landing.

Since I had expected a sizable turn-out for the day's event, I had sent-out a Notam requesting that we all cross over the departure end of runway 18 to spread-out the pattern if need be since there is no real taxiway at this airstrip. The 3500' runway has a very pronounced uphill slope to the south that affords rather short landings even if you do not hit the numbers. For those who land in the first 500' or so, they are rewarded with a mid-field turnoff to the paved ramp parking without having to back taxi on the runway.

Since we were in the first third of our group to arrive by the appointed 0900 arrival time, it provided my an opportunity to get some photos of the Breakfast Club gang as we assembled on the ramp. It also gave us a chance to rate the landings of the late arrivals. One of the highest ratings was an 8.5 but unfortunately, it was on the Richter Scale. This aviator later explained that as a former Navy aviator, that was the way that you were supposed to arrive. Not so sure that this explanation will fly.

The Temple Bar Restaurant and Resort (928-767-3211) monitors the unicom frequency and about the time that the last of our group had arrived, the van was approaching us for the first wave of folks to go to the restaurant. Since we had about 21 folks in attendance, it would take three trips to get all of us to the Resort. The dominant theme of the Temple Bar Resort is...........if you haven't guessed, is water sports and activities. The rental office offers, boat rentals, all sorts of water ski equipment, cottage rentals, and spaces for motor homes. The Resort restaurant is the last building before you encounter the long downhill ramp to the waters edge. The view out the windows of the restaurant is spectacular as they afford a panoramic vista the lake and the mountain terrain on the other side of the bay. The breakfast menu offers the usual items and the prices are not unreasonable considering that the nearest anything is 40 miles away. The restaurant also serves the roll of a mini 7-11 as there is a place to purchase snacks and other essential supplies for the leisure time crowd. The decor in not fancy and is about what you would expect for an establishment that caters to the transient nature of a recreational area (not to mention aviators).

After breakfast, most of us decided to make the long hike down the boat ramp to the waters edge. Since the water level is quite low, the ramp appears to be much longer than it would be if the water were at a more normal level. As this was not the height of the boating season, almost all of the boats were in a storage condition and there were no vehicles in the parking lot with boat trailers. As a matter of fact, the large parking area that was along the boat ramp, was completely devoid of any vehicles at all. I took some more photos before embarking on the loooooooong hike back up the boat ramp.

The rental office is where you ask for the van to take us back to the airport. Some folks opted to take a hike back but with all the twist and turns of the road, I would guess that it would be the better part of two miles back to the airport and, worse yet, all uphill. With a bad ankle, that was definitely not for me. After getting secured in the Bold Warrior, we taxied-out to the runway for the back-taxi for departure on runway 36. At the approach end of the runway, there is a tear-drop addition to the runway so as to allow as many as 4 or 5 aircraft to make the back-taxi. When I reached the end of the teardrop, I looked back and saw Allen Wallace (BC-39) and Paul Fortune (BC-201) waiting to make the back-taxi. I got on the radio and told them that I was not yet ready to go and to go ahead and taxi up here. Allen taxied in behind me and Paul was ready for take-off so he did a 180 on the runway put the "petal-to-the-metal". When Paul was well clear of the runway, it was our turn. With the predominate down-hill slope of the runway, acceleration was very rapid and lift-off still left 2/3's of the pavement unused. When we were well out over the lake, I made our turn south towards Kingman.

Kingman! You say. Why Kingman? Well, it seems that the FBO at Scottsdale had forgotten to top-off my fuel tanks on Friday and with the hour being late on Saturday morning, I did not have time to wait around for them. Thus, a fuel stop would be mandatory. In checking the chart, Kingman was only about 10 degrees off course for our return trip so it made good sense to stop there. The self fuel island is just to the north of the terminal building and upon exiting the aircraft, the 10-12 kt wind and chilly temperatures required us to don our jackets once again. The only real surprise here was that fuel was $2.60 per gallon and that was more than we are paying at Scottsdale. I never thought that I would ever see that.

The Temple Bar Gang


What's Next?

On the 13th of March, the Breakfast Club will be making an encore visit the Borrego Springs and the La Casa del Zorro Resort. I have reserved the Rose Garden for our get together. For those whom have never visited this Resort, you are really in for a treat. In April, the Breakfast Club will be making its first visit to Jean, Nevada and the Gold Strike Casino. Last year, we had scheduled and event there but it was scrubbed due to looming bad weather.

For the last four years or so, there has been a few people in our membership, that have volunteered their service to act as the "Crack(ed) Event Committee" for the Breakfast Club. Paul Fortune, Richard Azimov, and Allen Wallace have been the driving force behind  our annual schedule of events. Paul has taken on the additional task of researching locations for our twice a year, overnight events to some really interesting locations. Their work has made my job of guiding the Breakfast Club much easier and, in as much as their efforts have been behind the scenes, I am forthwith, doubling their pay. I know from personal experience that they would be the first to say that this increase in pay is not needed, but being the "big Cahuna" as well as BC-1, I insist that they take it (preferably, lying down). The next time that you see them at one of our events, you might thank them for their efforts. That's all for now but remember, fly safe.

Below are links to some photos that I took of this event. Just click on the link and enjoy.

1.   Enroute looking northest towards the Grand Canyon           
2.   Looking to the west at Kingman.
3.   BC-3.
4.   Red Lake looking northeast towards the Grand Canyon.
5.   Some BC folks on the ramp.
6.   BC-201 screeching to a halt.
7.   BC-201 taxing on ramp.
8.   On the ramp look north towards the lake.
9.   BC group shot on the ramp.
10. BC planes on the ramp
11. More BC planes on the ramp.
12. Temple Bar Marina boat dock.
13. Temple Bar Marina restaurant.
14. Long walk on the ramp to the waters edge
15. Lone boat at the dock.
16. Boats in storage.
17. Lake with mountains in backround.
18. Vacant parking area and restaurant.
19. Rental Office.