Dauphin Island trip (June 2009)

[Mark Burns]

Cindy and I took a day trip to the beach Saturday.
We had a great time.

We left Ruston, LA (KRSN) at 9:00AM and arrived Dauphin Island, AL (4R9) at 10:50AM.

I caught Cindy really studying the sectional chart. She knows when I ask her our location she had better know It's great to have her helping


It was pretty hazy. Can you see the runway?


Here's a pretty good shot showing the proximity of the airport to the south beach.



You don't want to land short here. I look low in this shot don't I ?


Mobile approach was talking to a Bonanza also headed to Dauphin Island and called out the traffic. We couldn't see him 5 miles away due to the haze and he couldn't see us either. We spotted him later after we had switched to the advisory frequency and asked his position. He landed first and we followed
him in. Here he and his wife are in the shot below. Turns out he has an RV-4 and is building a 6. He said his 4 has a bad starter or he would have flown it.
I don't want to post his name here without permission. He lives on an airpark not far from Picayune, MS.



Look what we parked next to. Nice! Very tall too!



Cindy on our "Magic Carpet" This is before we pushed back and tied down.


Another shot of the airport as we were headed to the beach.

[zspivey]

Sounds like a great trip. Thanks for the writeup

[Mark Burns]

This is the walkway to the beach from the airport. It's at least 3/4 of a mile.
Good exercise but it was a little warm. That shade up ahead felt good.


Right across from the public beach is the Oarhouse restaurant. It was an oasis for us! We had gotten hot from the walk. It was after 11 and we were getting hungry so we decided we had better eat before going to the beach.
The food was great here as was the air conditioning!





It was really good! I got a small box for the other half of my sandwhich because I couldn't eat it all. The box tipped over in the cooler later when the ice melted and got water in my sandwhich That's the only trouble we had on the trip, so I guess that's OK!



http://www.dauphinislandcoc.com/inde...s/OarHouse.htm


Here's a shot from our spot on the beach. The water was perfect and not a jelly fish in sight (Sorry Webb). We saw about a dozen dolphin just a little further out than we were swimming. They appeared to be feeding. It was great! We only stayed on the beach for 3-1/2 hours. We had planned to stay about two hours longer but Cindy was starting to get red even with SPF50 on!
It was great fun but 3-1/2 hours was really enough for us.


We found this little rest stop on the walk back to the airport. We hadn't crossed the street yet when we were walking in and missed it. It was nice to rest but the wind wasn't blowing with all the trees around so we had to leave.



After departing on runway 30 we flew the pattern so we could take a look at the beach. Photo is a little blurry. Camera tries to focus on windscreen


We made a fuel stop in Brookhaven, MS (1R7) No one around, but the self serve pump worked good.

We had a great day!
We left Ruston, LA at 9:00 AM and were back about 5:30 PM!

I dreamed about days like this when I was building. My dreams are coming true. Yours can too! Keep pounding those rivets!!

[Rockyjs]

Thanks for the write up and pix Mark. That Maule on floats was there two weeks ago also.

Rocky

[jmbrwn]

Nice pics Mark...thanks for sharing. I haven't been to Dauphin Island since college...it's on my list. Getting ready to flip the canoe soon! I'll look for you guys at OSH.

[Steve A]

Mark,
I went to Dauphin Island 25 years ago about four years after a major hurricane. You could not get there by car as the bridge was taken out. There was a Holiday Inn that was abandoned as the sand was in all the first story rooms. The pool was filled with sand.

I had my first flight about two weeks ago in my RV 7A. I am waiting for my daughter to take a photo off a grass strip to send to Van's. Have about ten plus hours on it.

I like your paint job, really a unique plane and it turned out nice. Let me know if you get down to Lafayette, I will buy lunch. THere are a few of us trying to revive the EAA chapter here. Ed Marsh flew his Zodiac about a month ago, and John Burgin has a RV 7A inspected and should fly soon. I guess about ten RV's in the area.

Steve Anderson
RV 7A flying
Lafayette, La.

[Bob Gordon]

Barb and I stayed overnight at the Gulf Breeze Motel last time we went. It's basic, but inexpensive and convenient. If you walk east past the airport from the beach you have the "business" part of town. Looks like a seaport and there are some neat stores and a bakery all within a block or two of each other. Couple of good seafood restaurants along the trail also. We'll be back.

[GETST8FRM]

I got a pirep from there a few months ago and reported the runway was a little rough with rocks & shell fragments present. In your pics, it looks like it may have been re-surfaced. What are your thoughts?
Thanks!!

[Mark Burns]

Originally Posted by GETST8FRM

I got a pirep from there a few months ago and reported the runway was a little rough with rocks & shell fragments present. In your pics, it looks like it may have been re-surfaced. What are your thoughts?
Thanks!!

Hi Evan,
The surface didn't look resurfaced and was just a little "uneven".
I'd call the surface good.
I didn't notice any rocks or shells.

Mark

[TSwezey]

Thanks for the pictures and the write up!
I was stationed at Keesler AFB in Biloxi during '86-'87 and I went to Dauphin Island just about every week. It was beautiful. It was a ghost town. Everything had been destroyed by the hurricane Steve mentioned and it was pretty deserted. I would surf there and you would have to avoid all the old trees that were still standing out in the water. I will have to visit again.