January 28, 2012 -  $100 Breakfast at Butter Valley Golfport, PA

I hadn't flown in a few weeks and Saturday's forecast looked promising.  Bruce R. and I wanted to fly and needed justification, so we decided to go have breakfast/lunch at Butter Valley Golf Port Airport (7N8) northwest of Philadelphia.  We rendezvoused at Cecil County Airport (58M) which is at the top of the Chesapeake Bay.  

Here we are parked on the ramp at Cecil County.  It seems there are RVs everywhere I go these days.  Just to the left of my RV's nose is a Harmon Rocket and an RV-8 to the right. 

 
The last time I landed here was back in 2006 in the Citabria.  Now they have a brand-spanking new FBO terminal building which is very nice.   The old terminal building is just to the right and will be torn down eventually.
 
Flash from the past. 
  
The main lobby with a Burt Rutan designed Quickie.  This is a Q2 which was the two-seat version. 
 
We left Cecil County and headed north about 70 miles to Butter Valley, seen below.   You can see the runway right in the center of the golf course.
 
Although the runway is listed at 2400 feet long, only about 1500 feet of that is asphalt, the rest is grass.   Not that there is anything wrong with that,.   
 
Of course, every golf course has the clubhouse and restaurant. 
 
Transient parking is at the end of the runway on the grass, a short walk from the clubhouse.
 
The runway has a pretty good dip in the middle! 
 

That pesky yellow Cub keeps following me around!

I thought my breakfast was superior, but maybe that is because I have been drinking Slimfast shakes for the last three weeks, and I was just ravenously hungry for some real food. 

 
Bruce and I headed home.  We enjoyed a great tailwind flying to Butter Valley, but going home the opposite way we paid the price.  Plus there was medium turbulence both ways.  Still, it was good to be flying again.  I really miss it if I skip a weekend.   
 
Flying past New Garden Airport (N57) which I like to call the Sedona of the East.  Now that I have actually flown into Sedona I can say it's not really even close.
 
The overcast disappeared as we got near the Chesapeake Bay.
 
Flying south and looking East, I can see the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal that links the Chesapeake Bay to the Delaware River.  14 miles long, it was first operational in 1829.   Capable of handling deep ships it carries 40 percent of all ship traffic in and out of the Port of Baltimore.
 
The Chesapeake Bay off to the west. 
 
Bruce and I split up near Massey Aerodrome.  I throttled back to 1900 RPM and -- more importantly -- down to 6 gallons per hour and did some low and slow for awhile over the Eastern Shore. 
 
This isn't the most scenic time of the year but it was still good. 
 
The pictures don't do what I saw justice.
 
That white spot in image center is a huge flock of birds.  I played nice and left them alone. 
 
Flight complete.  Safe on deck.  The RV nestled in its hangar.   The only negative today was that lake in front of my hangar.  It had rained hard the previous day.    Everytime it rains the day before I fly, I know I will have to walk through a lake to get my plane in and out. 
  
 
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