ArlingtonRV
Well Known Member
The Erickson Aircraft Collection moved to Madras, Oregon from Tillamook, Oregon last year. We had been planning a trip for a while and the weather finally cooperated this past Saturday.
The plan was to stop at The Dalles, Oregon for lunch because we had heard they had a restaurant on the airport that was pretty good. Unfortunately, when we got there we learned that the restaurant had closed the month before.
Fortunately they had a crew car that they offered along with directions to a recommended eatery downtown. This creates a bit of a fun situation as the city of The Dalles is in Oregon, but the airport is across the river in Washington. The bridge goes right in front of the Dam and makes for some good views. The drive was maybe 10 minutes each way.
The place was called Petite Provence, which didn?t exactly sound like the kind of place I was crazy to eat at. Carl suggested we give it a try as he likes to follow up on recommendations from locals on places to eat. That turned out to be a good call. The place was really good, though quite noisy.
As we were getting ready to leave The Dalles headed for Madras another couple of locals came over and told us that the main runway at Madras was closed. The crosswind runway, 4 / 22, was still open and had access to the main ramp. We decided to give it a try.
Turned out that the pavement on the open runway was not in the best shape and in a small airplane with small wheels it felt very rough indeed.
All in all, the weather was pretty good and clear and not very windy. There was, however, thermal activity going up very high so we had to come back at 12,500 feet to try to get some smooth air.
In short, it is a trip I would do again.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=et2TZBfoSdM&feature=youtu.be
The plan was to stop at The Dalles, Oregon for lunch because we had heard they had a restaurant on the airport that was pretty good. Unfortunately, when we got there we learned that the restaurant had closed the month before.
Fortunately they had a crew car that they offered along with directions to a recommended eatery downtown. This creates a bit of a fun situation as the city of The Dalles is in Oregon, but the airport is across the river in Washington. The bridge goes right in front of the Dam and makes for some good views. The drive was maybe 10 minutes each way.
The place was called Petite Provence, which didn?t exactly sound like the kind of place I was crazy to eat at. Carl suggested we give it a try as he likes to follow up on recommendations from locals on places to eat. That turned out to be a good call. The place was really good, though quite noisy.
As we were getting ready to leave The Dalles headed for Madras another couple of locals came over and told us that the main runway at Madras was closed. The crosswind runway, 4 / 22, was still open and had access to the main ramp. We decided to give it a try.
Turned out that the pavement on the open runway was not in the best shape and in a small airplane with small wheels it felt very rough indeed.
All in all, the weather was pretty good and clear and not very windy. There was, however, thermal activity going up very high so we had to come back at 12,500 feet to try to get some smooth air.
In short, it is a trip I would do again.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=et2TZBfoSdM&feature=youtu.be
