Backcountry Update for Grapevine
By Mark Spencer
You might have heard that the APA bit the bullet, purchasing 40 tons of special aggregate for shoring up the asphalt edges at midfield for Grapevine. Paul Pitkin and Mike Andresen pulled off the order and delivery. It’s a lot of material to move by shovel and wheelbarrow, but nothing our APA and RAF volunteers are not up for. Some couples have even flown in during the week to move material. At last month’s 3rd Saturday lunch, a bunch of folks jumped in to help. We’ve still got about half of it to move, so feel free to throw a shovel in and join us on the weekend of the 16th of December! You won’t be sorry for joining the team in getting the much needed improvement done, but I’m not saying anything about your back!
APA’s last organized event for the spring went off without a hitch on the weekend of May 19th through 21st. The only challenge was keeping up with parking of the 30 aircraft! According to Kit ad Brad, our hosts for this weekend, there were a total 64 attendees throughout the weekend. Everyone pitched in with food dishes for the pot luck, and the weather could not have been better. There were many new faces this weekend and we expect several new members for the APA team. A good number of attendees made the hike down to the lake’s shore with only one rattlesnake sighting. We’ve heard that Kit and Brad’s supplied meals were to die for!
We’ll be putting off our organized events at Grapevine until it cools down again in September or October, so watch our calendar for the next date!
Again, Grapevine is now open full time to any non commercial non training flights, but expect fire restrictions to be in place until the monsoon is in full swing, and there will be no port-a-john until our next group event in the fall. If you do visit during the summer, please contact us to let us know at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and let us know how you enjoyed it.
Please also think about hosting an event in the fall as we are already looking for volunteers!