The Breakfast Club
An Affiliate of the
The Knife & Fork
Breakfast Club Visits Payson, Crosswinds
Restaurant
11 Aug 2007
by
The August Breakfast Club event was to an old favorite, as airplanes go, close by. Payson
is much like an old shoe, very comfortable, not far away, and any enthusiast of
aviation can go there and feel right at home. In the "olden days" the
restaurant was not much to look at. It was made-up of two small trailers
jointed together at right angles. The "chef" was in charge of
flipping flapjacks and responding to radio calls on the unicom
frequency. The radio was located right above the grille in the "back
room" and it was a common practice to have the mike on one hand and a
pancake turner in the other.
Somewhere around 15-years or so ago, this was all replaced by a more modern,
modular constructed, restaurant. The new restaurant has considerably more
seating and the north wall is dominated by large picture windows that allow for
a panoramic view of the ramp activities and also an unforgettable view of the Mogollon
Rim that spans the northern horizon. They have also added additional
seating by adding an addition to the west end of the main seating area that
essentially doubled the restaurant capacity. Although the cuisine may not win
any five-star awards, it is tasty, in ample portions, and most of all,
reasonably priced. Just the place for a group of starving aviators. The unicom duties have been relocated to an office adjacent to
the ramp that also handles fuel sales.
Payson is close enough that you will hardly get to cruise altitude and heat the
oil before beginning your descent to pattern altitude. But that 50 or so Miles
brings you to what is often called the "gateway to the high country".
At more than 5200', Payson is the place where you might choose to head
east on route 260 for the drive to the Rim country and beyond or head north to the
small "get-a-way" communities of Pine and Strawberry. A
1-hour plus 30-minute drive (not on Friday afternoons) up the Beeline highway
will get you into the pines and cooler temperatures. A 25-minute flight will
get to the same place without the hassle of the highway traffic.
After landing, I had planed on using the ramp that is just to the east of the
Crosswinds Restaurant but I noticed that there were two parking spaces right in
front of the restaurant. I secured the aircraft and grabbed my handheld radio
to direct some of our folks to the east parking as there where about 6 parking
spaces left. The balance of our group had to park on the west ramp that is
nearer the camp ground.
The Breakfast Club group used all but one table in the west seating area
(a.k.a., the back room) so we just found an empty seat and sat down. I walked
around the room taking some photos and greeting many of our members as well as
meeting some new folks.
History of Payson
Payson considers its founding
year as 1882, at which time it was known as
Payson had its
first rodeo in 1884, with Charlie Meadows being one of the founders. Payson
considers its rodeo the "world's oldest continuous" as it has been
held every year since.
In 1918 author
Zane Grey made his first trip to the area surrounding Payson. He would come
back with regularity through 1929, and would purchase two plots of land near
Tonto Creek, including 120 acres from Sampson
During prohibition
the manufacture, sale, and distribution of liquor was plentiful. The
transactions took place on historic Bootleg Alley.
During the 1930s
an effort began to try to get Payson a better road to connect it to the outside
world. At that time Payson was very isolated with a trip from
The weather was much too nice to leave but leaving due to the short nature of
the flight but all good things must end. Payson is always a lunch option
and I can guarantee that we will be back.
The Payson Gang.
What's Next?
The September Breakfast Club
fly-in will feature a combo fly-in and weekend overnighter. We will be
traveling to Page, Arizona and dinning at the Ranch House Grille.
After breakfast, we will drive our rental cars to the Grand Canyon, North
Rim for 3-days and 2-nights at the North Rim Lodge. The North Rim
is like no other place on earth and offers views of the Grand Canyon
that will never be forgotten. Our October fly-in is slated for Lave Havasu
but is subject to change. That's all for now but remember, fly safe.
Click on the Payson link to view photos of this fly-in event.