From FL to OSU for football; and great hospitality in Laurens SC

[Arlen]

As a two-time alum at Ohio State, I am allowed to officially buy two tickets to one game each year. I got tix to the Virginia Tech game this past Saturday night, and, as she has done four or five times before, my daughter - now 28 years old - elected to go with me this time. The RV-6 is a fine traveling plane, and we departed St. Augustine (a mile from her apartment) on Saturday morning, with a plan to stop in Greenwood County KGRD (in SC) for fuel and a break.
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The forecast was for VFR in Greenwood, but as we got closer and I picked up the AWOS that morning it reported 300 feet overcast....below the minimum for the approach, so a quick look at the chart took us to Laurens County KLUX - just a few miles further - where it was an easy approach and the fuel turned out to be the least expensive in the area at $5.15. What a fortuitous turn of events!

The weekend FBO man, Jim White - a real gentleman, was extraordinarily friendly, and as we left I said, "Hey, we'll stop back in here tomorrow (Sunday) on our way back to Florida."

I didn't realize at the time what a great plan that was...

I flew the GPS approach at 160 knots into the Ohio State Airport (KOSU) at the request of ATC to stay ahead of the Citation on my tail; of course, the GRT HXr had no problem with that. My daughter and I had a great time that afternoon and evening in Columbus. (If Columbus was in Florida, I'd live there!)
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We departed Ohio State at about 8 AM on Sunday and climbed quickly in the 50 dF air; we dodged a little weather across the mountains and made an easy VFR approach back into Laurens County. The touchdown was smooth and seemed uneventful. However, as we slowed, I felt the left wing sink a bit and we started veering to the left. FULL right rudder....still going left! Right brake...still pulling left but slowing quickly. We stopped as the left main went off into the grass. Whew! No ground loop!

Quick assessment: no fire, nobody injured, heart rate slowing ---> let's shut down and get out and see what happened. I radioed the Swift on downwind to avoid my disabled plane on the left edge at mid field.

As suspected, the left tire was flat, but the wheel fairing seemed undamaged.

Now, it's Sunday morning at about 10:30 in a small airport in rural South Carolina: now what! ?

Well....within two minutes, here comes a pickup truck, and a couple minutes later, here comes another one.

To make a long story a bit shorter: the most kind and helpful people rescued us.

The Airport Manager, Jim Spencer, called his son the A&P, and Monty Spencer was there within 15 minutes. The Airport Board Chairman, Sammy Wham, came to help, and ended up driving my daughter 30 miles to Greenville (the closest place a rental car was available on a Sunday morning) so she could make her early evening conference call meeting with the laptop that sat in her apartment in St. Augustine.

Meanwhile, an organizer of the Triple Tree Fly-In (which was going on just 12 miles away this particular weekend), Dale Ellis, stopped by in his beautiful RV-8 for fuel and saw what was going on. Well, since there was no spare 500/5 tube at KLUX, he flew back to his home base, got one out of his hangar, and drove it back to us. By then it was early afternoon, there were thunderstorms popping up everywhere, but A&P Monty had everything ready and put it all back together.

We pushed my plane into the big maintenance hangar as I decided I would not travel in the late afternoon weather. So, there it sat overnight, under the watchfulness of a gorgeous Beech 18:
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Sammy then gave me a ride over to the Hampton Inn and said he'd pick me up at 7:15 AM.

They wouldn't take any money for my overnight in the big hangar! And Monty, who basically gave me his entire Sunday, gave me the deal of the Century for the work (I sent a check for more...).

Monday morning, I flew home fairly uneventfully.
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Sooooo,
the people at KLUX Laurens County are amazing! The fuel is only $5.15. I will always use them as my intermediate stop when traveling through that area. I will now carry a spare tube in the back of my plane. My daughter made it home with an hour to spare before her meeting.

Life in the GA world is pretty amazing...

[ccsmith51]

We stopped at LUX for fuel on the way home from Triple Tree. Our experience was the same, absolutely wonderful people with the utmost in Southern Hospitality. They will be first on my list to stop at when heading that way.

[rockwoodrv9]

Great story. It is always good to hear about "good people".
I can't help but drooling over that Beech 18 in the background. What a beautiful plane. A true Classic look.

[N941WR]

I spoke to Dale while he was on the way home, after dropping off the tire and tube to you. He is a great guy, as is Jim!

It is good to hear you made it home safe and sound!

Next year, you will have to make plans to visit us at Triple Tree.

[flybill7]

I had the same great experience at Laurens. Stopped by Saturday morning for gas after leaving the Triple Tree Fly-in. Three RVs were already on the ground, another came in after me. Gas price was the lowest I've seen anywhere, $5.15. The two guys managing the airport were very friendly and helpful.

[MarkW]

We were at Triple Tree for the weekend and decided we wanted to get a flight in Saturday afternoon. Took the short flight to KLUX to get fuel and the price and hospitality were great. They mentioned that the price was always that cheap and not just a Triple Tree special. This one is also on my list of fuel stops when in the area.
Now just thinking back a bit when is the last time you had a bad fuel stop location. I never have. GA people are the best.