I actually flew at the local club for the first couple years I lived here. It was after not flying there once in a year, I took a hard look at why. What I realized was the time to/from was an issue. Now, had there been a paved runway it would probably have been worth it. But 20 or so minutes each way to fly off the same grass I have a 100 yards away? Yes, I had to fly slightly smaller stuff, and give up nitro FW RC, but that wasn't a show stopper for me.

The nearest paved runway is 60 miles one way. I don't need nor want to fly something that requires pavement to make that trek. So I looked for something closer, and found that the school was ok with my flying as was the local park.