Piedmont, OK – Aviation Stop, Old Store, & Junklahoma

My pilot and I make a stop in Piedmont, Oklahoma aka Junklahoma, en route to Santa Fe, New Mexico in our small personal airplane, a Mooney.

Leaving when you want, arriving when you want, and stopping where you want are some of the cool advantages of an aviation lifestyle. It is like a car but we can travel so much further, faster. Plus you can stop in places you may never have considered stopping like Piedmont, Oklahoma.

We are on an extended trip and are actually taking a few days off work, not just a quick day trip or weekend away. We love to travel, especially in our planes, but we are limited based on responsibilities for work and children.  We have to keep the day job to afford the fun.

It is time for a fuel stop and my stomach is growling.

Yukon, Oklahoma

We land our little plane, our Mooney, for a fuel and lunch stop in Yukon, Oklahoma at Sundance Aviation. 

Sundance Airport

We stopped at Sundance Airport (KHSD) and taxi to the only available FBO, Sundance Aviation. We chose this airport based on fuel prices plus this FBO boasts Land Rovers as their crew cars.  

You can read our review of the Sundance Airport and Sundance Aviation here.  

If you are going to stop, you might as well choose an airport with low fuel prices and nice crew cars. We have had our share of crew cars that could use some paint, maintenance, windows that will not roll down, and broken air conditioners.  

So we climb in a Land Rover at Sundance Aviation and go in search of food.  Many FBOs offer food suggestions but this particular one did not give us any suggestions at all, other than there are several restaurants nearby.  

First of all, nearby is relative.  I am from small town South Carolina, so close to me and close to my New Yorker turned Floridian pilot are not the same.  

I reference the trusty Google Maps app on my phone and type in restaurants.  That simple step leads us ten miles down the road to the cutest town with an amazing old store and an interesting restaurant.  

We prefer local places over chains and so I stumbled upon a restaurant just a few miles from the airport. The options are limited, as we are on a time crunch to make it to our next destination. There are options a bit farther away, including fast food.  We do not eat much fast food and I need gluten-free options, so a small local restaurant is our preference.  

The food search leads us on a short but enjoyable excursion.    

Small Town America

If you stop at this airport, you have to take a crew car over to Junklahoma.  Yes, that’s right, I said Junklahoma.  We stumbled upon this little town called Piedmont, Oklahoma, and Junklahoma in search of food.

Piedmont, Oklahoma

We pull into the cutest stop sign street, which appears to be the entire town.  An old gas station is beautifully restored into a salon.  Another building houses an antique store called The Old Store, which is full of a million treasures. 

Across the road is a stately old bank building with the date 1917 in stone.  The building is now home to the Piedmont Historical Museum. Unfortunately, the Piedmont Historical Museum is closed so I cannot explore and learn a bit more about this place. 

Piedmont is a small town to the northwest of Oklahoma City. The population information I found ranges from 3,000 to 8,000 depending on the source and the age of the statistics.  

More people live in one mile of Los Angeles California than in this entire town. This is my kind of town!  To me, this place is a perfect example of small-town America.

What catches my attention is the cute downtown and a building with Junklahoma written on the side.  However, we are in search of food first.  

Piedmont, Oklahoma Restaurants

Google map finds two restaurants that are open in Piedmont, Oklahoma.  One is a pizza place, but I cannot find a menu. The website does not mention anything but pizza and calzones and nowhere is there any reference to gluten-free.  So that leaves us with one restaurant.

Piedmont Cuisine

The name of the restaurant is Piedmont Cuisine.  We pull up in the Sundance Aviation Land Rover and park beside the building. No one even looks up as we get out of the vehicle, so I am thinking it is a normal occurrence for the Sundance Aviation Land Rovers to pull up.  Or maybe, they just mind their own business.

The restaurant says Piedmont Chinese & American Cuisine on the front of the building. I cannot find a menu online or a website. We walk inside through a covered outdoor seating area to the indoor seating. The restaurant is full, so the food must be good.

I am gluten-free and am in search of a large salad or some steamed veggies. Per the menu, Piedmont Cuisine serves everything you find in a Chinese restaurant plus, hamburgers, salads, and breakfast all day. 

Imagine a Waffle House in a Chinese restaurant. French fries and fried rice; egg rolls and dinner rolls; scrambled eggs and egg foo young.

The first waiter sends over another waiter when I ask if they have gluten-free soy sauce. I ask the second waiter if they have any gluten-free options and he gives me a confused look and a response that they must not serve that as he does not know what that is.  

I order a hamburger steak with grilled veggies.  My pilot has an omelet and hash browns (from the all-day breakfast menu). The table next to us is a group of high school students eating fried rice, lo mein, hamburgers, and chicken fingers. 

I have to say, that food combination, other than in a food court, is a first for me.  The owners stepped out of the norm to meet the needs of this little stop sign town.  

(Please know I am not making fun of a stop sign small town. These are by far my absolute favorite places to visit. I even lived in a stop sign town until the stoplights showed up and ruined it). 

We are pleasantly surprised with the speed of service and the taste of the food. The added bonus is there is time left for me to explore Piedmont, Oklahoma and figure out what is Junklahoma.

The Old Store

The Old Store is a large building full of a million treasures including antiques and local craftsman items. I love the original metal artwork, handmade items, a collection of antique cameras, and other amazing artifacts. If we were in a different plane, I would bring home a few treasures. I ask about shipping a large lamp but it is not to be, as large-item shipping is not available. 

There is no room in the Mooney for this lamp, though had I convinced my pilot to fit the lamp, I would have missed out on the half case of wine in Santa Fe. 

There is a reason for only half a case. When your pilot says you cannot have an entire case of wine for weight and balance purposes, you get half a case when he goes to the bathroom. I smile when my pilot references gross weight, mountains, and fuel, but I always follow the rules.  

That wine is now gone and I am still thinking about that lamp. It needs a different shade, but still, I need that lamp from the Old Store.

Piedmont Founders Day

The Old Store is the organizer of Junklahoma, which occurs during the Piedmont Founders Day celebration usually held in September of each year.  

The town boasts a parade, fun for children, food, and live entertainment.  I have visited my share of small-town festivals. If the Piedmont Founders Day celebration is anything like the other festivals, there will be fun to be had and too much food to eat.

The thing that keeps me wondering is the two-story old building with the word Junklahoma on the front. Junklahoma?

Junklahoma

Junklahoma is a gathering of local and regional vendors with a wide variety of antique, vintage, junk, handmade, and boutique products. The vendor fair happens in conjunction with the Piedmont Founders Day celebration held in September of each year.  

The number of vendors varies from year to year but it appears there is usually a large turnout. 

It sounds like Junklahoma came from the flea market style of the event and the ‘junk’ people come to sell.  I believe in the adage, that one person’s trash is another person’s treasure.  

If the vendors and items are anything like those you find in the Old Store, then the trip will be well worth it!

Additionally, there is a mock-up fake convertible they put on the stage in front of the building with Junklahoma on the front.  You can sit ‘in’ the convertible for a photo op a the celebration.  

I am a little sad we missed Junklahoma and before our lunch stop, I did not even know it was a thing.

Return Visit Worthy?

We figured, between the cheap fuel and nice crew cars, why not stop in small-town America, aka Piedmont, Oklahoma, home of Junklahoma. 

We were pleasantly surprised when we found a small town with friendly people, high school kids that still wear letter jackets (takes me back to high school), the greatest Old Store, and Junklahoma. 

I would love to experience Junklahoma and check out the Piedmont Historical Society Museum. 

Also, I really love that lamp from the Old Store.  I am trying to convince my pilot that we need to stop during Junklahoma on our way to the Reno Air Races in the fall.  Although the Mooney is our little fuel-efficient sports car in the sky, if we take the Seneca or the 310, and that lamp is still there…. 

Since you do not know my pilot’s personality, I will tell you that the request is going to get me an eye roll, a chuckle, and no definitive answer until he checks the weather.  

I will keep you posted on which plane we take to Reno and if I get that lamp. Per the boys (my children), they do not think I need the lamp. I may may need to leave the boys in South Carolina for that trip so I have room for the lamp.

Is anyone else heading to Junklahoma and the Old Store that has room in their plane for a lamp?