I have been looking for a place to go with the Valkyrie where I could land, pitch my tent, set up my folding chair, and read a book while the sun went down. Well, I found it! Lake Whitney State park, a little to the northwest of Waco, TX fits the bill. It's not scenic in the way of parks in the mountains, nor is it exotic (as in tropical island paradise). I'm not even sure that I would add it to my list a s a place to load up the car or four-wheeled RV to go for a weekend of camping - it's just campsites and scrub trees on a Texas Lake (aka - a wide spot in a river created by a dam!). But as a quiet retreat that can be reached by an airplane, requiring no ground transport - it works just fine.
The flying time from Houston was just a little less than an hour (I am STILL trying to adjust myself to the speed of an RV!), and is quite reachable at the end of a day after work. There are no lights, and no services, but the north/south runway is in excellent condition, and plenty long for the average RV - I think they list it as 2200', and there were no patches or bad spots in the asphalt. There is an old (and closed) longer east/west runway, but it now is nothing more than a dirt track on an old sod surface. It had been freshly mowed, and the grass was not a problem, but the grass hides inch-sized limestone gravel, and I didn't wasn't to taxi on it with a good prop. I landed on the paved runway and taxied to the south end, where there is a turnaround and an "honor-system" pay station for day visitors. I elected to call the park HQ on my cell phone to see how to pay for a night's camping, and they sent a nice lady in a truck to bring me to HQ and back. The fee for camping by your plane is $6 a night - a real bargain, compared to getting a site with hook-up's for a "four-wheeled" RV! The park folks really didn't care where I parked or camped - anwhere was fine with them. There is an offical "tie-down" area at the west end of the long taxiway, but atfer walkign it, I decided that the turnaraound at the south end was a safer bet.
Consider this to be primitive camping. The nearest "facilities" (bath house and restrooms) are a brisk five-minute walk away, but if you camp by your plane, you'll feel like you're the only person for miles. Lots of deer in the area! I walked all around the park, and there was plenty of room for hiking. There is a model airplane flying area at the north end of the runway, but there wasn't any activity while I was there, and my guess is that if there was, they'd give way when they heard a full-sized engine starting up.
I had a visit from a local builder (Justin Stephens) who's working on an RV-6, and wanted to have a look at the Valkyrie, so I asked him to take a picture of me doing what I really like to do while camping in a place like this.
After he left, the sun set, and I entertained myself by watching satellites pass over with the milky way in the background. It's been years since I've really gotten to enjoy the stars out in a dark sky - I used to back-pack in the mountains all the time when I was younger, but was married (for 8 years) to a woman who's idea of roughing it was an RV with only one toilet.....it's nice to get out again!
I topped off the get-away by stopping at 52F for breakfast with the gang from the Fort Worth area - always great to see the friends up there! Then I headed up to OKC to visit with a long-lost friend who's building a -6A with a rotary engine - a really nice looking bird! Here is a story about the power of the RV community,. When I was in grade school, a fellow showed up in class that was interested in model airplanes, like I was. His name was Doug Lomheim, and his father was a naval aviator. Doug and I and some other friends had a great couple of years playing with models and learning about flying - and then his father was transfered, and he was gone. Fast forward 30 years. I'm building the RV-8, and posting on some web forums. I get an email from this fellow asking if I was the Paul Dye who used to live in Minnesota many years ago! And the friendship was rekindled. Today I got to pay a visit to his airpark, meet his family, and see his airplane - and just talk an catch up.
The past 24 hour hours showed me once again the power of the RV, what it can do physically, as well as for one's mental and social health. Now I just need to find someone special who wants to share the experiences with me....(wife 1.0 wasn't interested in flying - she has no idea what she has been missing....)
Total flying time for the trip? Four hours and forty minutes.....Fuel Cost? $133... mental health value? Priceless!!
Paul
The flying time from Houston was just a little less than an hour (I am STILL trying to adjust myself to the speed of an RV!), and is quite reachable at the end of a day after work. There are no lights, and no services, but the north/south runway is in excellent condition, and plenty long for the average RV - I think they list it as 2200', and there were no patches or bad spots in the asphalt. There is an old (and closed) longer east/west runway, but it now is nothing more than a dirt track on an old sod surface. It had been freshly mowed, and the grass was not a problem, but the grass hides inch-sized limestone gravel, and I didn't wasn't to taxi on it with a good prop. I landed on the paved runway and taxied to the south end, where there is a turnaround and an "honor-system" pay station for day visitors. I elected to call the park HQ on my cell phone to see how to pay for a night's camping, and they sent a nice lady in a truck to bring me to HQ and back. The fee for camping by your plane is $6 a night - a real bargain, compared to getting a site with hook-up's for a "four-wheeled" RV! The park folks really didn't care where I parked or camped - anwhere was fine with them. There is an offical "tie-down" area at the west end of the long taxiway, but atfer walkign it, I decided that the turnaraound at the south end was a safer bet.
Consider this to be primitive camping. The nearest "facilities" (bath house and restrooms) are a brisk five-minute walk away, but if you camp by your plane, you'll feel like you're the only person for miles. Lots of deer in the area! I walked all around the park, and there was plenty of room for hiking. There is a model airplane flying area at the north end of the runway, but there wasn't any activity while I was there, and my guess is that if there was, they'd give way when they heard a full-sized engine starting up.
I had a visit from a local builder (Justin Stephens) who's working on an RV-6, and wanted to have a look at the Valkyrie, so I asked him to take a picture of me doing what I really like to do while camping in a place like this.
After he left, the sun set, and I entertained myself by watching satellites pass over with the milky way in the background. It's been years since I've really gotten to enjoy the stars out in a dark sky - I used to back-pack in the mountains all the time when I was younger, but was married (for 8 years) to a woman who's idea of roughing it was an RV with only one toilet.....it's nice to get out again!
I topped off the get-away by stopping at 52F for breakfast with the gang from the Fort Worth area - always great to see the friends up there! Then I headed up to OKC to visit with a long-lost friend who's building a -6A with a rotary engine - a really nice looking bird! Here is a story about the power of the RV community,. When I was in grade school, a fellow showed up in class that was interested in model airplanes, like I was. His name was Doug Lomheim, and his father was a naval aviator. Doug and I and some other friends had a great couple of years playing with models and learning about flying - and then his father was transfered, and he was gone. Fast forward 30 years. I'm building the RV-8, and posting on some web forums. I get an email from this fellow asking if I was the Paul Dye who used to live in Minnesota many years ago! And the friendship was rekindled. Today I got to pay a visit to his airpark, meet his family, and see his airplane - and just talk an catch up.
The past 24 hour hours showed me once again the power of the RV, what it can do physically, as well as for one's mental and social health. Now I just need to find someone special who wants to share the experiences with me....(wife 1.0 wasn't interested in flying - she has no idea what she has been missing....)
Total flying time for the trip? Four hours and forty minutes.....Fuel Cost? $133... mental health value? Priceless!!
Paul
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