4/15/2008

There is not one but two great Air Museums at the Chino airport. The Yanks museum is located just up the ramp from the Planes of Fame museum. So on my second day alone I was right back in the car heading that way again. Yanks is a nice museum but no where near as large as Planes of Fame. However the planes were just as nicely done and the building and grounds were great. I spent almost 6 hours there.

I had lunch at a Café right on the airport property. Flo’s diner was just what the names implies. An old time 40's-50’s style diner complete with pinkish vinyl covered booths and stools at the counter. Dining alone I chose the counter. Everything was stereo-typical greasy spoon, but that’s not to say it was dirty. In fact there seemed to be five employees who spent every spare second scrubbing or wiping something down.

The waitress working the counter like the others wore a uniform that would have been at home in Mel’s dinner on the old TV show Alice. In fact she even had a plastic engraved name tag that read Flo. She was THE Flo, owner and namesake of the place. As I sat down the first thing she said between chomps on her gum was to ask me. “Wadda ya have, hon? “ I ordered a cheese burger feeling this would be easy. Well the burger plate comes with a salad, fries and a drink. Oh my. The salad was big enough to feed you and me. A heaping bowl about the size of a punch bowl and swimming in the Blue Cheese dressing I ordered on a hunch. Good guess, it was homemade and very good. By the time I started to see a small dent in the salad, the burger and fries arrived. “Here you go sugar” Said Flo. What can I say? The burger was about the size of a boat trailer tire. Maybe 10 inches no kidding. And it was so thick I had to lean my entire weight on it to mash it down enough to bite. Saying it comes with an order fries would be a massive understatement. I bet there was near a pound of fries. Enough that if placed end to end they may well have exceeded the length of the runway outside.

It was all so good. Old fashion fast food made to order. But after I quit eating, and notice I did not say I finished, I had to just quit. When I was done, stuffed full, Flo brings over a” hunk” of homemade peach pie. A “hunk” is her word for a serving. A serving large enough for a Mongol hoard that is. I suspect the piece of pie alone contained enough nourishment and energy for an entire family of circus acrobats. I had to try. It was so good. I just could not eat it all. No worries, Flo insisted in putting the remainder in a box for me. I ate the rest that night. You know the whole spread only cost me 6 dollars.

It’s a good thing Flo’s is 2300 miles away from my house. Eating there I would be bigger that the door quickly