Breakfast Club
An Affiliate of the
>The Knife & Fork
Breakfast Club Aims For
Borrego Springs, Goes To Big Bear
11 Nov 2006
by
This is a story that might be aptly be named, "The
Good, The Bad, and The Ugly". First.........
"The Ugly"
Our
planned fly-in destination was to be
We were going to have breakfast on the patio deck
overlooking the Rose Garden, a picturesque setting for many wedding and
gatherings. We have participated in the gastronomical delights in this setting
on previous occasions. Following our breakfast, it was our custom to enjoy a
guided tour of the grounds of the resort led by one the Resort's staff. All
that was required of the Breakfast Club was to let the Resort know about how many folks to expect
at the Resort and what day and time to expect them. That was then, this is now.
After contacting the Resort and
speaking with someone from the dinning room, they felt that it would be more appropriate
for their "catering" department to handle this reservation. We spoke
about the menu options and possibly a buffet style breakfast. The Resort folks
emailed me the menus and a few days later, I called them to let them know that
the menu would be more to our liking. This is where it gets really good. The
Resort people then informed me that they needed an exact count of how many to
expect for breakfast. And.........what each person would be choosing from the
menu. I told them that I had no idea how many people would be attending. I said
that, historically, I never know the attendance until we are assembled on the
ramp and preparing to head towards the restaurant. And furthermore, with the
exception of my wife and I, there would be no practical way for me to guess
what each person would order.
The person with whom I had been speaking with said the "the hotel would
be full and they needed this information in order to provide us with the
best possible service". I asked her to consider our circumstances and
to talk it over with the "powers that be" and let me know if we could
work something out. I contacted Paul Fortune, one of the Breakfast
Club Event Committee members, to see if he would contact the Resort to see
if he could get any better results as I had to work the Election Polls the next
day. Paul called me Tuesday afternoon to tell me that they would be getting
back with him later.
Wednesday morning (three days before our schedule fly-in date), the Resort
folks called me and stated that they would not be able to accommodate our group
under the conditions that we needed. I told them that we would be taking our
dollars elsewhere.
"The Bad"
It was now 3-days before our Saturday fly-in and
nowhere to go. I wanted to go west; But where? Then I remembered that we had
canceled Big Bear last year due to a sudden spike in fuel prices. It's
not like they are giving the stuff away now but gas is somewhat cheaper than it
was then. So Big Bear it is. I had to get an emergency Notam out
immediately to let everyone know that there had been a change in plans. I also
took the liberty to change the arrival time to 0900 PST so I didn't have to get
up at "O-dark-thirty" and preflight the airplane in the dark.
"The
Good"
Actually, it's all good from here on. After departing
As I crossed the waypoint, I began
a climb to 10,500' so that I could do a practice GPS 26 approach into Big
Bear. By now the winds had picked-up to gusts of 16 kts but were mostly
down the runway. As you get close to the runway, so do the tall trees that are
only a couple hundred yards outside the fence. It would be a very good practice
at this point to observe the VASI lights to avoid picking pine needles out of
the cowling and landing gear. I managed to find a parking place in the front
row just opposite the self fueling facility. As we exited the airplane, it was
quite evident that our jackets would be mandatory. The wind was brisk out of
the west and at 48-degrees, it felt like it would eat
right through my jacket sleeves. I took some photos of the arriving aircraft
but the warmth of the Barnstorm Café was too much of an allure to
remain on the ramp for any extended period of time.
The Barnstorm Café is divided into two dining areas. The first is
smaller and has a couple of booths and the second, larger "patio
like" area, has great views of the ramp and the mountain ridges north of
the airport. The motif is a blend of mountain retreat and aviation memorabilia
with pictures of everything aviation adorning the walls. The menu offers
sufficient choices for the hungry aviator at very reasonable prices. The service
was prompt and we received our orders in a short period of time even though the
place was about 80% full. And best of all, the food was very tasty.
I took some more photos of the Breakfast
Club gang and then went out to the main
lobby desk of the terminal building seeking information regarding the trolley
or bus that makes a circle tour of the Big Bear area. The person that I
spoke with said that the bus was scheduled to make a stop at "Big
Timber", the stop closest to the airport, in about 20-minutes. About
half the Breakfast Club group chose to take the leisurely, 1-hour tour. The
2-block walk to the bus stop only took a few minutes but as it turned-out, the
bus was 30-minutes late. The bus made stops at every local stop before reaching
the end of the line. Then it was a reverse trip including all the stops that we
had seen on the first leg. We had the opportunity see every point of interest
more than once. If nothing else, the bus ride was very relaxing and at a $1.00,
it was inexpensive entertainment.
After getting back to the airport, most of us took advantage of the cheapest
gas prices around. At $3.10 a gallon, I elected to take on about 40-gallons and
then make a planned fuel stop in Blythe to top-off. By the time that we were
ready to depart, the winds had become a bit more enthusiastic blowing at about
18 gusting to 26 thought still down the runway. I would guess that we were off
the runway in less than 500' and climbing like a scalded hog. I made a left
downwind turn before reaching the lake and now that nice headwind was now a
tailwind. Our climb rate now decayed to almost nil in the turbulence and for
the next twenty minutes, we were just along for the ride. At a point about
10-miles east of the mountain ridge, we had a ground speed of 189kts that
lasted for about 20-seconds. Even after pulling the power back a bit; we still
had a ground speed of 160-165kts, not bad for an old C-182. When we were still
40-miles out of Blythe, I started a slow, gradual descent to 1200'. The
winds at Blythe favored runway 17 so I entered about a 5-mile right base
for the runway. Fuel at Blythe was $3.35 or about .75 less than at
The Big Bear Gang
What's Next?
The Breakfast Club will
end the year with a fly-in to
Click the Big Bear link to view photos of this fly-in.