A couple of weeks ago I landed at Madeline Island (4R5), one of the Apostle Islands in Lake Superior. The airport is unattended, and after landing on this beautiful Island strip I had to hitch hike the 2 miles into the marina where I was being picked up by my friend on his boat. Unfortunately my duffel bag and the case of “headphone hair” gave me a look of vagrancy that eliminated my chances of getting a ride from anyone I would be willing to accept a ride from. All this indignity while there were 14 airport cars parked there.

I would have been so proud to have cruised into town in that 80’s vintage yellow LTD with the cow horns on the hood. If you have been to Madeline Island airport, you know the car. If you own the car, why not give the rest of us a break and sign up with Airportcarsclub.

If you look at the map of our car locations, it seems the best method of recruitment is direct contact with the FBOs and brochures placed on cars as evidenced by the line from my home in MN down to FL. We have made this trip twice already this year. One for Sun’n Fun and one for a trip to the Bahamas. This is really a tough job!

Due in part to the success of these trips, we are on a tour of the South West and currently in Lake Tahoe (TVL). We have made stops in Kansas City (MKC) and Amarillo (1E4, not exactly a destination airport but Duro Canyon makes for a good afternoon). Santa Fe (SAF) was having a crap fair (did I spell craft wrong?) that my wife couldn’t resist. Fortunately, with 4 of us in a Mooney we couldn’t afford any additional weight no matter how cute the item. We all enjoyed the rafting trip on the Rio Grand out of Taos (SKX).

When I asked the FBO at Taos if they had any airport cars on their airport he said “you mean all those cars parked out there that only get driven once or twice a year? I spend more time working on them than the owner’s airplanes.” Apparently the local varmints like to live in the cars and chew on the wiring. These cars would be more reliable if driven more frequently by Airport Cars Club members.

Turn off your terrain warning when landing in Sedona AZ (SEZ). It’s urgent admonitions to “pull up” only add unnecessarily to the excitement of landing there. Sedona is a beautiful area, and the Sky Ranch resort on the airport bluff gave us beautiful views of the area as well as walking access to our airplane for those day trips to Flagstaff (FLG) and the Grand Canyon (GCN). An airport car here would have been nice for the day we toured the Sedona area. This was one of those drive the car to you, while you wait, drive to their office to fill out the forms and you’re ready to go only an hour later for your one day rental.

Bryce Canyon was a family favorite. While the Grand Canyon is Grand, unless you have several days, it is just that. Bryce Canyon is much more interactive as you can really get into it. My boys even mentioned the word fun in the same sentence as the word hike.

Unfortunately, the beautiful Bryce Canyon airport has no rental cars and no ground transportation. One of my boys looks like the unibomber, the other is a skaterboy and I have my headphone hair. My wife is hot, but obviously with us, so ground transportation here was possible but only with begging and heavy tipping.

We have been able to use a couple of airport cars on this trip and it really worked slick. Much faster and cheaper then rental cars and the owners now have full tanks and fresh batteries. Here in Lake Tahoe there are 39 airport cars. I hope a couple of these owners will sign up!

As the administrator of this site, I can see where you enter, where you leave and how much time you are spending on the site. (Don’t worry, I don’t know who you are). I know there is a lot of interest out there, but you just aren’t signing up. We need you to sign up to hit that critical mass that will really get the club rolling. Hurry, I’m planning more trips and I want to use your car.

If you are one of those hundreds that have bookmarked the site or spent more than a half hour looking but not signed up, do me the favor of contacting me and tell me why. Just click on the big “A” at the top of this page, and on “contact airport cars club”. The club concept is new, and maybe there is something I can do to make it work for you. Send me the location of your airport car and where you would like one, and maybe I can hook you up and give you the immediate utility that I think most of you are looking for.

We will be in Oshkosh this year, booth E 5076. Come and see us there, tell us what a great idea this is, and sign up. It’s hot there, and maybe I can get my wife to wear a halter top.

Steve