The Breakfast Club
An Affiliate of the Arizona Pilot's Assn.

 

The Knife & Fork



Breakfast Club Visits Valle, Grand Canyon Inn







8 July 2006
by Warren McIlvoy

Our July Breakfast Club event took us on an encore visit to Valle, Arizona and the Grand Canyon Inn. I can sense the quizzical wrinkle in your brow that says, "where in creation is Valle, Arizona"?  The town of Valle is located about 25 miles south of the Grand Canyon at the junction of US 64 and 180. I have been here four or five times and I am still unable to determine why this little piece of real-estate exists. Is it because it is the location of "Bedrock City" home of Fred and Wilma Flintstone and other Flintstone characters, or is it because Valle Airport (40G) is located there? I am not sure which came first. I guess that it is possible that Valle could be called home to the multitude of people who work at the Grand Canyon or in the village of Tusyan that is 6-miles south of the gate to the National Park.

The airport is the home of the Planes of Fame Aircraft Museum that is associated with its namesake located in Chino, California. Almost all of its collection is housed in a new hangar just to the south of the terminal building with the exception of a Douglas Constellation (C17 in military parlance) that was the personal aircraft of General Douglas MacArthur. Though I understand that it has not flown in 10-years, it had been kept in flying condition up to that point.

The terminal building is also a mini museum housing a small collection of antique vehicles dating back to the early 20th Century. These cars and trucks are in "mint" condition and I would venture to guess that they would command a rather steep price to part with any of them.

After the entire Breakfast Club group had arrived and gathered on the ramp, we started our hike to the Grand Canyon Inn. I would estimate that the hike is just a tad over a half-mile to the Inn.  Between the airport and the Inn is a rock shop and that famous tourist attraction Bedrock City.   There are two motels in Valle that might serve as "relievers" for those hotels and motels closer to the park and they could also be a bit more economical for traveling families. The diningroom is spacious but it still required the use of three tables to accommodate our group. The food was good as was the service and the prices were very reasonable. After breakfast, I got some photos of our group and did some "hangar flying" for a short time. But since our trip to Valle was only the first leg of our California vacation, we had to bid adieu and head back to the airport.

Our departure out of Valle was to the northwest over the west end of the Grand Canyon and over Las Vegas then more northwesterly towards Bishop (aka Eastern Sierra Regional) and a brief stop at Mariposa/Yosemite (MPI). From there it was another hour to our final destination, Sonoma County/Charles Schultz Airport (STS). But that is a whole other story.

The Valle Gang

  • Warren & Jeri-Ann McIlvoy in 93MB, BC-1
  • Steve Bass and Ken Calman in 70X
  • Robert Mooers and Austin Erwin in 20519
  • Walt & Kathy and Greg Schultz
  • Allan & Patricia Wallace in 1628W, BC-39
  • Richard Speigel, Julie Katzin, Sam & Tame Foote in 901KA, BC-3 & 3.5
  • Tom Roche in 27F
  • Austin Goodwin in 4351X
  • Lance Thomas in 3180R


What's Next?

The August Breakfast Club event will be to Whiteriver that was rescheduled from June and in September, we will be going to the Grand Canyon (actually, Tusyan) and the Squires Inn. That's all for now but remember, fly safe.

  Click on the Valle link to view photos of this fly-in event.  The photos of Bataan are shared with us by Ken Calman