Jay Honeck wrote:
Why in the world would anyone want to fly to Centerville, IA (KTVK)?

We have lived in Iowa for nine years, and had never found any reason to
fly there, even though it was less than an hour away by air. Sitting
down near the Missouri border, we had never heard *anything* about the
place, good or bad. It was just there -- and we weren't.

All that changed last week, when a good friend (a life-long Iowa
resident) told us that he had driven to Centerville and was very
impressed with the town as being a "time capsule" of Iowa in the 1950s.
(We have had many discussions with him about how Iowa City -- our home
-- is completely "un-Iowan", politically, economically, and socially --
so he's been looking for a "real Iowa town" for us to visit.)

The kicker was when he drove out to the FBO, and found a warm, inviting
place run by a lovely young lady named Kathy who absolutely delighted
in going the extra mile to attract business to her small-town airport.

I actually spent a night in Centerville, IA (the weather was crappy
farther north or I would have gone to Jay's!). We didn't get to meet
Kathy as we landed in the early evening and the place was deserted. We
decided to land there as the brown book advertised a steak house and
Bobbi (my mechanic) and I were hungry and tired. It was getting late
and we were bringing the Navion with NO radios home from restoration.
We didn't want to fly at night. Well, we landed, tied-down and called
the steak house and asked them to send a cab. Well, there are NO cabs
in Centerville, but the owner came and got us and assured us she would
return us to the airport, we said we wanted the hotel. We had a GREAT
dinner and headed off to the hotel.

At the hotel we asked if someone could take us back to the airport in
the morning and the girl at the counter figured someone could, but if
they couldn't give her a call at home and she'd come get us. In the
morning we were figuring out our route around weather in the lobby and
garnered up a bit of a crowd to chat. We got a ride back to the airport
and then discovered if we'd been really stuck the FBO although deserted
was open, light on, and enough food with a list of prices and a coffee
can. We could have lived there for a week!

Margy