Where to Spend the Night In Arkansas?

[PeteMc]

Need to stretch my Mooney's wings and also want to check off a few states here in the East before moving West in the next year or so.

Anyone have recommendations for where to stay in AR for the night?  Not opposed to ***** places if they're a must visit once.  But basically looking for the basics.  Highest on the list would be a place with or near a good restaurant.  Would rather not do a McDonalds or Denny's for dinner.  And it does not need to be a big city, again, not opposed but just going to be there overnight so I will not really be taking in the sites.

[Rwsavory]

Little Rock is an easy place to get around with some nice hotels and restaurants.  Controllers at LIT are excellent.

[hammdo]

KHOT (Hot Springs) is super nice... lots of restaurants... may have to scroll down to see the pics...

-Don

Edited April 17, 2022 by hammdo

[exM20K]

+1 for Hot Springs.  We stayed at https://lookoutpointinn.com/  and it was superb.  Good eats nearby.  Wife had to check Arkansas off her list, too.

-dan

[WaynePierce]

If you trust yourself and your Mooney with grass strips, Gastons, is a great place with a restaurant and cabins on the field. I flew in there in a Cherokee but I'm not good enough to take my Mooney in there.

[toto]

2 hours ago, PeteMc said:

Need to stretch my Mooney's wings and also want to check off a few states here in the East before moving West in the next year or so.

Anyone have recommendations for where to stay in AR for the night?  Not opposed to ***** places if they're a must visit once.  But basically looking for the basics.  Highest on the list would be a place with or near a good restaurant.  Would rather not do a McDonalds or Denny's for dinner.  And it does not need to be a big city, again, not opposed but just going to be there overnight so I will not really be taking in the sites.

Personal favorite is 3M0, http://www.gastons.com

It’s a nice, long, well-maintained grass runway. But if you aren’t interested in grass, there are two public airports very nearby. Gaston’s will come pick you up for free from Baxter County. 

Great place for aviation lovers, just watching planes come and go is great. Excellent restaurant overlooking the water, and accommodations aren’t bad. 

[The Other Red Baron]

Planning on walking or getting a car?

I haven't been to all of these, but these are places that come to mind with close lodging and food and potentially walkable depending on how much you like walking:

Bentonville - VBT - Good restaurant on the field, plus lots of other restaurants nearby and hotels - https://www.thadenfield.com/

Harrison, AR - HRO - Small town basically one road near the airport with food and lodging

Petit Jean - MPJ - Mather Lodge for food/lodging - They should pick you up

Gaston's - 3M0 - If you're comfortable with grass - https://www.gastons.com/airstrip/

[PeteMc]

1 hour ago, WaynePierce said:

If you trust yourself and your Mooney with grass strips,

I do if I personally know the strip.  Also pull off the inner gear doors before going into grass strips, which isn't really an option on this trip.

 

[A64Pilot]

I’m based on grass, and fly to grass strips often. I’ve never pulled the lower doors, you don’t need to for a decent strip, cow pasture sure I guess. 

But anything I felt I had to pull the doors for would make me worry about the prop, maybe excessive I guess. But if it’s that bad I’d give it a pass.

Edited April 17, 2022 by A64Pilot

[toto]

31 minutes ago, A64Pilot said:

 if it’s that bad I’d give it a pass.

Gaston’s is a fantastic grass strip. It’s about 3200’ long and maintained as well as any I’ve ever seen. 

[PeteMc]

2 hours ago, toto said:

Gaston’s is a fantastic grass strip. It’s about 3200’ long and maintained as well as any I’ve ever seen. 

Good to know.  Basin Harbor, VT (B06) is/was like that.  The runway was maintained by the golf course grounds keepers.  Haven't been there in years, but I'm assuming it is similar.

 

[toto]

1 hour ago, PeteMc said:

Good to know.  Basin Harbor, VT (B06) is/was like that.  The runway was maintained by the golf course grounds keepers.  Haven't been there in years, but I'm assuming it is similar.

 

I’ve seen everything from a PC-12 to a King Air to a Beaver on amphibious floats at Gaston’s. Iirc it’s been a fly-in resort since the 1950’s. 

It’s well worth a visit, though, even if you want to land on pavement. Their restaurant is fabulous, and they have nice little cabins to stay in. (Also trout fishing, if that’s of interest.)

Two public airports very very near by, and they’ll come pick you up if you call. 

http://vfrmap.com/?type=vfrc&lat=36.349&lon=-92.556&zoom=10&api_key=763xxE1MJHyhr48DlAP2qQ

[carusoam]

Pete,

Read up on Gaston’s…

https://mooneyspace.com/search/?&q=Gaston’s&page=1&quick=1&search_and_or=or&sortby=relevancy

Looks like a large percentage of MSers have gone out of their way to go there…

Best regards,

-a-

[Unit74]

Gaston’s without question. I’ve had my hunky clunky PA32 in there a few times. If I can do it, a Mooney certainly can. Just be aware of density altitude and you are GTG.

 

if convenience is the goal, KLIT is very close to downtown and the river district. Hotels, food, night life all in a walking distance. Hot Springs is also an excellent choice but I’m not as keen on the hotel situation. FWIW, I used to live and work all over AR. 

[Will.iam]

Man I’ve looked at Petit Jean - MPJ - Mather Lodge for food/lodging quite a few times from fun places to fly and would love a pirep from anybody who has done that. It looks awesome. 

[Unit74]

6 hours ago, Will.iam said:

Man I’ve looked at Petit Jean - MPJ - Mather Lodge for food/lodging quite a few times from fun places to fly and would love a pirep from anybody who has done that. It looks awesome. 

Don’t forget the Rockefeller center.

[PeteMc]

Made it to Gaston's!!

Monday and Tuesday I stretched my Mooney's wings.  It's been a while since the pandemic to really take some long trips.  Also over due since the panel upgrade to really press me working in the system dealing with reroutes, etc.  (Though out of the NYC area I just filed Direct and got "As Filed" )

95% of the the trip was VMC, but there were some Broken and Scattered layers around due to all the humidity from the rain they had.  So it made me not blow off filing so I could climb and descend through the layers without wasting time looking for holes.  Only one Approach at Bastrop, LA (KBQP) due to the low morning layer that hadn't really burned off.

As for Gaston's...  Neat little place.  I got they're later than I had hoped so didn't really get to spend a lot of time there.  But it certainly is a fly-in destination!  I opted to go to Baxter Co (KBPK) since I hadn't seen the runway for myself and they come to pick you up (staff had told me this is the easier of the two local Apts.  Turns out it was a good thing I didn't try to go into Gaston's (3M0) which I found out from one of the grounds keepers who was giving me the ride.  Airport is open, but the ground is saturated from all the rain they've been getting.  No problem for the taildraggers and probably most Pipers & Cessnas.  But he said they were sinking down in on landing and that might have been enough to put my lower gear doors into the grass.  Also has to REALLY impact the ground roll on TO!

All in all a good 2 days.  I knocked off AR, GA, KY, LA, MS, WV from my states to fly to.  Seven more to go....

[carusoam]

Great Gaston’s pirep Pete!

Thanks for sharing it.

Best regards,

-a-