Saturday, September 22, 2007

Kentmorr Island Yacht Club

Today Beth and I flew down into the Chesapeake Bay to Kentmorr Airpark and walked over to the yacht club for lunch.  It was very cool!
We had talked about going down to fly around the Chesapeake Bay and since it was such a beautiful day, we decided to hop into the Viking Witch and fly down to Kentmorr Airpark located on Kent Island in Stevensville Maryland. 
We've been looking for an airport home and wanted to have a look at some of the properties along the grass runway at Kentmorr to get an idea of the variety of airport homes that were available.  The homes at Kentmorr Airpark have garage hangers that open facing the runway and car garages that open to face the street.  If you look hard at the first picture, you can see the homes lining the runway on the left and two parked aircraft in the upper right corner of the picture. Also notice, that if you land long and don't stop in time that you'll be going swimming!
The Yacht Club is located right at the top center of the picture.  You can see the entrance way for the boats to taxi up to the dock.  After landing, the walk over to the club would only be about 2 minutes at the most.  The close proximity had proved valuable a few years back when I had flown some buddies down to Kentmorr for a crab cake sandwich for dinner.  We were sitting there telling flying stories when the only fella with us that wasn't a pilot said "how do you turn on the runway lights since it's getting dark?".   I nearly shat a crab cake because Kentmorr doesn't have runway lights!  We paid the bill and ran back to the plane, did a quick preflight, cranked up the plane and took off just one minute (honestly, 1 minute) prior to official sunset.  If we'd had missed sunset, we would have had to stay there overnight.....in the bay.....with the sharks......and alligators......and mosquito's......and snakes! 

Today, Beth and I were there for lunch so unless there was an eclipse we wouldn't have to worry about runway lights.  As we entered the traffic pattern, we took a couple of photo's of the runway and some of the homes to take back with us to have a better look later. The grass looked dry and all the cow's had been shoo'd off the runway (just kiddin' Mom, we weren't dodgin' cattle).  The  view was gorgeous and we both found ourselves wondering what it would be like to be living on this airport with the plane parked in the garage. We'd have to get a
garage door opener for the Viking Witch.

We landed and were able to stop in time so we didn't have to swim back to shore on this trip. We parked the Viking Witch next to her high winged friends that we'd seen from the air.  We told her (the Viking Witch) to mind her manners and not to point while we were gone for lunch.  She sure does look pretty sitting there in the field, like a princess huh? Kinda, except she appears to be turning her nose up a little bit and looking the other way.  That little hussy!

Two days out of each calendar year the Kentmorr Yacht Club leases it's outdoor eating facilities and beaches for private parties.  Today was one of those 2 days!  Pooh!   We would have to eat in
doors and watch the boats through windows instead of sitting out on the dock tables and smelling the engine smog and sea water, hmmm.
Not a biggie though, as I was with my honey and we were enjoying a great meal.  After finishing up we took a leisurely stroll back along the houses that lined the runway.  There were all cute and not overly huge.  This is a good thing actually, because even a small house on this island is going to cost a pretty penny. 
After finishing our walk, we hopped back into the plane and took off over the bay and headed back to the Northeast towards home.  The day was beautiful and the visibility stretched out quite a ways with no haze to contend with. 
Along the way, we were chatting and looking out the windows when we overflew a small farm and Beth noticed a plane parked along the barn.  We did a 180 degree turn and sure enough found the little plane parked in the shade.  This made us realize that there are other options for runway homes as well.  Maybe we'll buy a live chicken or two, call it a farm,  and put a runway in the back yard.  As long as we don't advertise that we're an airport what harm could it do.  Be vewwwwy vewwwwy quiet and no one will notice we're taking off and landing there.  YAY! We're buying chickens!

It's still gorgeous and we're just crossing the canal that connects the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays. Beth snaps a pretty picture of a bridge and all the boats playing beneath it.  Flying  along at 1000 feet its fun to look at the houses and see how they have landscaped their properties and the types of houses that they live in.  It's easy to get good ideas of what we'll do with ours. 

The flight ends, as always, way too quickly and we drive back home from the airport chatting about all the pretty scenery that we have seen today.  Landing on the island is fun in itself, and we'll have to return when we can sit outside on the docks for lunch. 
Its always a fun time getting airborne and getting away from the hussle and bussle of the city - if even only for a moment.
Ya'll Be Particular!

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