What is the point of being a pilot if you are not going to get out there and fly? Flying is a cool and very enjoyable when done safely and within your personal limits. There are a lot of cool places to visit that are either only accessible by plane or a more interesting visit from flying. Back in September my instructor to me (in his family's plane) to a small grass strip 30 miles east of our home field of Augusta (3AU). The name of the unincorporated town is Beaumont, I would say a stop here is just as necessary as any of the cool aviation related stuff in the Air Capital. The history of the strip goes back 130 years when most of the towns visitors were ranchers. Now the towns hotel and cafe (restored in 2001) are on the national list of historic places as well as the railroad water town across the street. The air field (07S) is a well maintained grass strip with a road/taxiway through a grove of trees. Shutdown the plane on one of the grass parking areas and head on into the inviting building with a twin Beech next to it. It is a true "$100 hamburger" (Which was very good and well priced, about $10 with a pop if I remember right) destination and it is well worth it. The restaurant is decorated with various memorbilia and history but don't forget to sign the guest "log book" before leaving. The have various fly-in and bike-in (for the motorcycle lovers out there) weekends but we were the only one's there and it was still just as interesting.
Check out the pictures I took of our visit...(click on the pictures to view the whole picture)




And the website at
I could have easily driven there but would it have been as interesting or fun? I doubt it. As someone who likes to eat, travel and fly trips like the one to Beaumont are no brainers. Wither it be to a airport restaurants, fly-in breakfast, or just a day trip for pleasure get out there and aviate. The flying plans for the next couple of months include trips to (go figure!) airport restaurants at Ponca City, Oklahoma (KPNC)and Hutchinson, Kansas (KHUT), hopefully a trip back to Iowa and my family is coming to visit in March so I look forward to taking them up then.
Thanks for your comments, sentiments and for reading. Let me know if there is anything you want to know more about or a topic you want me to write on!
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