Rough River Long-EZ, Varieze and other Burt Rutan Aircraft

Rough River 2002

by John Lambert

Well ... I have wanted to make this one for a few years. I was planning to fly to Rough river on Thursday, but Hugo tossed some water and cloud cover (guess that's where the water comes from) over Tennessee and Kentucky. No one was on the ramp Friday morning ... Friday afternoon as weather improved, canards started flying in .. somewhere between 20 to 30 by Friday evening.

I flew over as a flight of 2 with Ron Menzie on Saturday ... we were joined by two other VariEzes about 35 miles out ... time to practice for a 4 ship diamond arrival over the airport.

There is a web site for the fly-in .. www.roughriver.org . Last years photos are on the web site ... I'm sure this years will appear shortly. Also see the State Park web site ... www.roughriver.com .. The airport is in a Kentucky State Park. It has a lake, golf course, lodge with a great restaurant.

There is camping or rooms at the lodge, ... off airport motels also within walking distance ... suggest the lodge! Reserve early! Excellent 3200' runway. This one is a keeper!

I have not gone in the past (that is a thing of the past) due to the distance and the fact that we have plenty to keep us occupied in the west without 2 days of travel each way ... but this one makes for a great vacation ... something a little different and a great group of people .... canard people!

Ran into some people this year ... names familiar from years now past ... Vance Atkinson & his wife ... I have his fuel sight gauges. Terry Schubert & Terry Yake ... CSA newsletter. Herb Sanders. Robert & Valerie Harris And you see EZ's such as the mini Starship ... the Long-EZ with the twin pusher Jabaru's.

Kentucky has three state parks with airports ... they are all on lakes and fairly close to one-another. On the flight home, we stopped at Barkley Lake for lunch at their lodge ...also a neat place ... 5 or 6 deer by the road on the 3 mile courtesy van ride between the lodge and the airport. For you EZ types that might like to take in some different terrain ... think about it for next year!

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