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Flying down to Beaumont, Kan.
By DICK TRAIL
McCook
Just turn right at the end, proceed up the street. Stop at the sign on Main Street; continue through the intersection and park on the grass along side the street opposite the hotel.
What kind of instructions is that for a pilot? But that is how it is done at the Beaumont Hotel Airstrip.
Last week, Ann and I took after work to fly to Tulsa to see our daughter and family. We were flying our own small four-place airplane. Leaving McCook it was only 106 degrees and the ride was bumpy and with all the glass around the cockpit it was HOT. I elected to climb into the delicious 57 degree cool at 7,500 feet altitude where it was absolutely smooth.
For several months, in aviation publications, I have been reading advertisements to come eat at the Beaumont Hotel in Beaumont, Kan.
The map showed Beaumont about 25 miles east of Wichita and just a little out of our way. The airstrip wasn't in my GPS database but the friendly folks at Wichita approach control were happy to provide vectors. Before leaving I checked the web at: www.beaumontks.com and made reservations to spend the night.
The landing strip at Beaumont is like a thousand others in this country unpaved and covered with native grass. It is about a half mile long and was built on a gentle hill sloping down at the south end. There is only one tree lined taxiway and that leads right to Main Street.
Two friendly fellows were busying about their airplane, taking pictures of the rustic setting when we arrived. They were from Hawthorn, Calif., and were flying clear across the country to attend the big air expo at Oshkosh, Wis. Oshkosh is a Mecca for all pilots but I've not made my way there yet.
The restaurant in the hotel was décor 1950s but the food was modern, reasonable and good. After supper, we walked the streets of Beaumont -- there are five -- all lined with trees. The town counts about 179 residents and has two businesses, the hotel and a motorcycle shop. Like a thousand other small towns there are vacant buildings and a couple houses for sale.
The Beaumont Hotel was built in 1897 when Beaumont was a bustling railroad town. They boasted a roundhouse and switching yard all abandoned now.
It was a shipping center for the cattle pastured in the Flint Hills which surround the place. The only rail remaining is a two block stretch about a block from the hotel. Preserved and proudly on display is a large water tank built high on poles that was used to water the steam engines and provided water pressure for the town. The sign boasts that it is the only original wooden railroad water tank still in existence.
I don't know the story of how the Hotel was preserved or when or why the airstrip was added, but it has become a beacon for pilots from miles around to gather to talk, eat and enjoy old time aviation. One day a week is reserved for the motorcycle crowd to gather, talk about their machines and enjoy each others company. I guess motorcyclists and pilots have a lot in common, we just need a destination and we provide our own entertainment.
The Hotel is now a bed and breakfast. Our room on the second story was thoroughly modern, a queen bed, tile bathroom floors, new fixtures and a walk in closet. It was decorated in Western motif, not an airplane picture in sight. The TV was on cable and the motel maintains a large stock of aviation related videos free for the watching. The downstairs restaurant had old-time airplane pictures, posters advertising air races, modern airplane pictures, models and even the calendar pictures were all airplane. I loved it.
Breakfast next morning was not the usual continental affair, no sirree. We could order anything on the large menu -- hot coffee, steak and eggs, baking powder biscuits & gravy, three-egg omelet -- a breakfast for a working man!
We chose the two egg omelets and even though we ate more than we needed, the gross weight wasn't too much and we handily cleared the trees at the end of the runway when we departed.