RTT (Return to Texas)
September 9 - October 26, 2006
Day 20 - Thursday
September 28, 2006
100 miles
Goliad Short Ride
Old Chase Airfield & Berclair Haunted Mansion
Thursday I met up with some friends I haven't seen in about 20 years. Guess what? Now they, too, like to motorcycle around on back roads. So I rode out to Weesatche to meet up with Janna & Gary to see what we could see.
The ride started out simple enough, but then we came across an open gate.
And an invitation into the old Chase Naval Airfield now owned by Goliad County.
Now the ride starts to get more interesting. This airfield was built in the 1960s as a practice landing field for Navy jets to practice "touch and gos" on land before going out over the Gulf of Mexico to try it on aircraft carriers.
The tower is open so we head up to see what the view is like from the top.
The view of the runways was so great that we knew what we had to do to complete the experience... 
Yep. We had to go ride on them. Absolutely! When might you ever get another chance to fleeter down a 7,000 foot runway? ...a runway large enough to land ANY size plane. Matter of fact, Air Force One has landed on this exact runway!
This is close to where Pres. George H. Bush would come to South Texas to go quail hunting. 
A 7,000 foot runway is about 1 1/2 miles long.
Can't see the end of it...
Janna was deputized as photographer. 
We had another stop down the road before going home...
The Haunted Mansion of Berclair, Texas.
Check the windows closely. There have been reports of an older woman watching the grounds even though the house is uninhabited. Could this be the original owner, Miss Etta Wilkinson Terrell, watching after her home? We didn't see anyone at the windows today, but maybe we were blinded by the sun.
If you knew the size of Berclair, you'd realize that any mansion there is a story in itself, but a haunted one gets even more attention. This one has lots of stories...some of them are shared...
It's been a fun day ...
Flying with Fleeter & checking on Miss Etta.
Copyright 2006 Fleeter Logs
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