Leg #10 - ALL 10 stops and 2700+ miles completed!!!

We are wrapping this up in just a couple more hours. YES!!! Classic 41 will have flown and landed at ALL 10 stops of the original route. These are memories that will stay with us for our lifetimes. Our camaraderie with the other pilots has been limited to the start, just 3-4 other teams along the route, numerous good wishes and cheering from the racers via Facebook in response to our posts. We look forward to reconnecting with our sister racers at the terminus. We have missed them these past few days.

This part of the country is a great contrast to the dry, scrubby, brown earth that we left in Borger this morning. Evidence of flooded waterways, reflecting the clouds above, spilling over their banks and submerging mature trees with just their tops poking out. Lush forests right up against the banks of another section of river that meanders through the countryside.

More water and a barge pushing its cargo through the water.

Another barge. A bridge spanning the river and connecting the opposing banks.

We're watching our map...flying low yet staying safely clear of obstacles...avoiding the restricted area...arriving for a cold Military Operations Area (MOA).

We are seeing some storms brewing to the north and south of our route. On the north side, we can see a large anvil cloud pushing south towards us, but we will beat it out of the area safely. The stormscope picks up activity off at a distance. We're beating it, yet we can see strong showers along the route.

We stay low below the airspace shelf and angle around the inner ring staying clear of it. We watch the skyline of Mobile race past us, as we set up for this fly-by. We are talking with the tower and are cleared for our fly-by 300 ft above ground and right down over runway14 at top speed. It's the last adrenaline rush moment of the 2011 Air Race Classic. Four days are gone in what seems like the blink of an eye.

We circle to land, taxi to the FBO, but unlike any of the 4 races that I've done now, there's nobody to greet us on the ramp. It's an hour and a half until the deadline, yet no racers remain...no greeters.  Just a line guy as we shut down and turn in our keys. The meltdown party is already in full swing downtown at the hotel well before all the racers are in. It's rather a disappointing anticlimax to an otherwise wonderful adventure.

Ah but we do have a redeeming surprise. A race team just happens to stop by the airport and FBO, and they happen to recognize 51-Charlie on the ramp area. As we shut down the instruments and open the doors of the plane to step out on the tarmac, we look up to discover The Three Musketeers are our welcoming party - Gene Nora Jessen, Patty Mitchell, and BJ Carter deliver warm, gooey chocolate chip cookies to us on the ramp. They offer to have us join them for dinner out on the marina somewhere for a great seafood meal. It's a tough call, as I hate missing the meltdown party, but it's effectively over. So we're off with the Musketeers for some boiled shrimp and other seafood delights. We are finished!!! We did it!!!  We did it our way!!!

Leg #9 - El Dorado bound - Charissa's fly-by & the penultimate stop

We are looking forward to closing out this race. I kind of wanted to make it to Mobile by the original 1700 deadline, but it proves too much.  We decide not to push that limit and to enjoy the ride a bit more....IF you can call flying low in 100F temperatures "fun." The race is FUN, but the flying conditions are not always fun. It's the conditions that can drain your physical energy. Our emotional energy is still running on high...full steam ahead.

We launch from Norman and head to ELD...it's one of the longer legs at 300 statute miles...approaching Stop #9 on our Grateful Dead Reckoners Summer Tour...

Charissa and I have been sharing the flying duties throughout the race, but Charissa has not yet flown her first fly-by. The time has come. We discussed it before the Norman OK fly-by. I reminded her that her options were OUN, ELD, or the final fly-by in Mobile (BFM). She declines OUN, but I secured a commitment for El Dorado. I tell her that she can't fly this race without doing at least one of the fly-bys. ELD it is!!! We review the procedures, and she takes the controls for the 20 miles leading into ELD and the fly-by. I'm in charge of the radios and the calls. I'm calling the timers and announcing our approach...lights on...Charissa is getting set at 300 ft above ground...wings level...she is racing at top speed left of runway 13...holding the altitude...and then we're climbing left to pattern and landing. She did it!!! Great job!!! We're taxiing to the ramp to refuel and reset for the final push to Mobile.

As we land, Classic 13 is heading out...Pirates of the Mississippi are racing to finish. However, as we walk into the terminal, we hear them calling that they are returning to land without their fly-by to continue. Luckily, they're off the clock, but we learn that they've been battling mechanical issues. They thought that it was a go, but they make the call to put it on the ground for safety reasons. That is always a tough call, but it's the right call...a heartbreaker for them.

We review the maps and decide to putter around a bit longer to time our final leg taking into account weather and the MOA. We should miss the storms, and the MOA closes down at 1730. It is hard for us to leave the Pirates behind, but we know that Peggy's husband is coming from Mobile to pick them up and fly them into BFM to join all the other racers. We are thankful that no mechanical gremlins have attacked 51-Charlie. We're pre-flighted and buttoned up...we're off to Mobile...

Leg #8 - Borger TX to Norman OK - pushing east...

Friday! It's the last day of the race, and we need to be in Mobile by 19:59 tonight - sunset. We're up early and ready to finish this mission. The icing on the cake would be to arrive in Mobile by the original terminus deadline of 17:00. We'll see. For now, it's off to Hutchinson County Airport - aka Borger. It will be another hot day in the South.

As we drive into the airport, we pass a "cemetery" for jet engines. The morning sun glints off the baking metal. They must be pretty hot by midday.

Charissa and Patti S are walking across to our planes to begin organizing to leave. Those are some fine looking birds on the ramp here.

Team 6 has joined us too - Linda Keller and Mimi Reiheld. They ran into some mechanical issues and had to get an alternator fix. It required an off route stop and a road trip, but they're back. We're all heading out for Norman OK.

We're flying east now and heading for stop #8 - University of Oklahoma. More flat land with scrub brush and trees along the way...and a wind farm...note the isolated house at the top of the picture...no neighbors in sight.

We do see broad patches of red earth mixed in with green and brown. The landscape is an interesting mix, and the green is increasing a bit. It's already warm with temps rising. We cannot seem to shake the headwinds, but they are certainly not as strong as yesterday.

Norman OK is just south side of Oklahoma City, which I'll be visiting soon for the International 99s meeting later in July. Norman is bigger than I expected, and I'm sure that it's a great college town. The OU teams on the ARC have always been fun groups. It will be nice to land on their field, although it will be a quick turn. I'm talking to Charissa about her doing at least one of the fly-bys, but she defers on this one. El Dorado will be her stop. We're talking to the tower here and getting set up - 200 ft above ground - fly by to land. We taxi to the ramp after landing, again drenched in sweat. We've got cold water handed to us, as I start to tidy up the plane a bit before going inside. I finally turn to greet our host at the plane, and discover it's "Squeege", a racer friend from 2009!!! What a great surprise. She had said that she was going to meet me at OUN to wash my windows, and dang, here she is. She's shooting pictures and fly-by videos too. Very sweet.

OU gives us a great welcome...cold water...a golf cart ride to the terminal...a brown lunch bag with freshly made PB&J, cookies, etc. We are collecting ourselves, refueling us and the plane, and heading off to the flight planning room that doubles as a classroom for the aviation program. We love the bigger-than-life E6B whiz-wheel and 6-pack instruments. A traffic controller also stops by to compliment ARC racers on their professionalism and great work in the pattern. After polishing off the PB&J, we make our way downstairs to pay our fuel bill and prepare for the departure to El Dorado. Maybe that 5 pm landing at Mobile will come to pass, but it will be tight. Moving on...

Leg #7 - Pushing south to Borger...temperature rising...

It's hot...the thermals are building...more headwinds. We're not looking forward to this leg, as it will do us no favors for our race times. But it's Thursday, and we need to be in Mobile tomorrow. So we need to push on. We thank our hosts, pay our fuel bill and launch out of Great Bend - fly by to continue...it's on to Borger TX.

 It's going to be a slow, bumpy ride south. The land gets flatter and more barren. It's a stark contrast to the lush green terrain in the Dakotas and Wyoming. That's one of the highlights of any Air Race Classic - flying over so many States and taking in the geography across the expanse of our country. Texas is in the midst of a real drought, but we manage to fly by an isolated rain shower.

Clearly, irrigation is a real necessity for any crop production in this region. Talk about a crop circles!!!

Keeping an eye out for obstacles...close tracking on the sectionals and the GPS...Charissa's acclimating to a different style of flying.

This leg proves to be a little monotonous. We're tired, and the conditions add to our fatigue level. While we'd like to push on to Norman OK yet today, we know that Borger will be our RON (Remain OverNight) stop. We'd need a quick turnaround in Borger to make it to OUN before sunset. Neither of us is ready for that push.

So we plan the fly-by. We're calling out our positions along the route, hoping to hear from the other teams in our little pack. We hear Maureen and Barb, the Cherokee Chicks, once, but it's otherwise quiet on the air-to-air freq. We are looking for the airport but can't seem to pinpoint it. We know that it's at our 12 o'clock. Looking, looking. We keep picking out clearings, but no runways. It's deceptive. Finally, we get a lock on it, and we set up - 200 ft above ground...lights on...calls to the timers...right of and parallel to Rwy 21...climbing left turn to join the pattern to land. Charissa tunes in the common traffic freq. WHAT??? It should have been in there for the fly-by. ARRGGHH!!! We call our landing pattern, and we get the call asking about our radios. Busted!!! We ask to refly the timing line now that we're on the right freq, but they tell us that the timers got our time (luckily). The bad news is that we'll take a 2 knot penalty on this leg for this error. It's a repeat of an error from 2009, but at least I know that I won't be fighting a "radio failure" DQ from the judges. Gotta shake it off and move on. It's another sign of fatigue. Time to call it a day.

We're drenched in sweat - it's got to be over 100oF. We're sucking down ice cold waters. Debug. Tidy up the plane. There's a young girl, Stevie, with her grandmother, and they're both thrilled to meet and talk with some racers. Stevie is just wide-eyed with meeting us - another special moment on these races when you know that you're making an impact with a young girl. I decide to give her one of our Rawlins baseball caps. I explain to her that we're the only racers to get these hats and that now she's got this special piece of memorabilia from the 2011 ARC. She is really tickled with that and the ARC Program book that I give her. It's a great way to end the Day 3. Again, we meet up with Karen and Patti (Classic 35), and Patti offers us a free hotel stay on her "points". We take the crew car with them, head out for a nice Mexican dinner at The Plaza, and then off to the hotel for the night.

Thu Jun 23 - Leg #6 - AIA to GBD - waking up with a FLY BY!!!

Despite being really tired last night and getting to bed after midnight, we're both awake early. At check-in, I heard that the Purdue team had asked for a 5 am wake-up call. I decided to go downstairs early to greet them at breakfast.  Hhmm, nobody here but me. Ah, it's the timers, who wanted the early breakfast. Purdue does roll in about 6 am, and they're surprised to see me. Barb Goodwin and Maureen Kenney are down too. It's nice to chat with some racers finally. They're off to the airport, and I go back upstairs to collect my co-pilot and our gear. We're off to the airport, and it's time to reset our brains for the race start, the fly-by, and thinking about the stops ahead. Charissa will experience her first fly-by. We discuss the logistics and what she needs to do. We hear Classic 35, Karen Workman and Patti Sandusky from Minnesota, calling that they are inbound to land at Alliance. They'll be landing to top off and launch on their start too.  We launch and circle around to set up for flying the timing line - call the fly by out to the timers on the ground...set our altitude at just 300 ft above the ground...wings level...lights on...fly to the right of and parallel to the full length of runway 8 (red)...start the clock at the timing line (yellow)...start a gentle climb out en route to Great Bend KS (green)...we're off!!!

We know that we're at a decided disadvantage taking off today, Thursday. It will be headwinds all day. The racers who departed Wednesday had awesome tailwinds, and we'll have headwinds to batter us all day. No regrets though, because we have our own unique experiences from the Dakotas and Wyoming - we would not trade that for anything. It will be a hot day flying south across the South Central U.S. bouncing along with the thermals generated as the earth heats up through the day.

D'oh!!! We realize that neither of us has the air-to-air frequency handy. After 3 races, you'd think that I'd remember it. Charissa is looking thru her folder. I start texting my crazy buddy Erin Recke, 2009 ARC winner, to see if she remembers it...no dice, but she's out on the networks for us. I feel like it's "Call A Friend" on Who Wants to be a Millionaire? Yep, I'm spilling the beans on this minor faux pas. Erin does come back with the jackpot info. We call out our position from GBD, but nobody else is talking back. We feel like the Lone Racers again, but we know that there are other racers out there. We're inbound to complete Leg 6 with a fly-by to land at Great Bend. We've got the airport in sight. We call out to the timers...set our altitude at just 200 ft above ground...lights on...we're flying at top speed to the right of and parallel to the length of runway 17...climbing left turn to enter the pattern to land.

Since the pack is well ahead of us, there's no rush to turn the fuel slip in. Hey, there's no line here. We tidy up the plane, debug the wings and other leading edge surfaces, check oil. All is good. Pound down some more water. The volunteers have some great snacks for us - muffins, breads, cold drinks, and more. Classic Racer 35 has landed. It's time to pay the fuel bill and get ready to move on.

Karen Workman, Minnetta, Charissa, Patti Sandusky

Leg #5 - Geez, we've been flying for 2 days and haven't started the race yet...

Well, we've finished nearly 2 days of flying, and we have not yet started the race. It cooled off a bit in Rawlins, and we launched just fine out of there. We're kind of tired. We had a call from the stop chair at Alliance wanting to know if we're coming in, and we gave them a great big affirmative on that. It's after 8 pm, and we figure that it will be about 2 hrs and a bit of flying time...all downhill so to speak.

What a gorgeous sunset to take in as we leave Rawlins. So much to reflect on as we settle in on this flight. Will any racers be left in Alliance by the time that we land? Will we be the Lone Racers for the whole race? We appreciate all the race chat and encouragement on the ARC Facebook. The separation from the race pack is strange. Crap! I forgot about going from MDT to CDT. The Alliance folks are waiting for us. It's after 11 pm. I wish that I'd told them we'd get a cab. The hospitality at stops is always superb.

So we landed at about 11:30 pm Wed Jun 22nd, and the folks were there waiting for us. We buttoned up the plane and headed to the hotel. Rumor has it that there are TWO other planes here - 3 (Purdue) and 23 (Goodwin & Kenney). Moreover, there's another plane yet to arrive - 35 (Workman & Sandusky). So we WILL have company along the way. We're off to bed for an early wake-up. We've flown 1231 nautical miles over the past 36 hrs - 48% of the original course! We're tired, and we've got to fly the VFR race now in the remaining daylight hours on Thu/Fri - to arrrive in Mobile by 19:59 Fri Jun 24th. We're headed back to the airport about 8 am on Thursday. Hhmmm, I wonder what was playing at Alliance's Drive-In.

Leg #4 - Spearfish (SPF) to Rawlins (RWL)...Climbing to 11,000 ft

Before launching out of Spearfish after enjoying a really nice lunch at the Green Bean, we discuss whether to make a small detour from our route to fly over Mount Rushmore. I am inclined to do this, but we ultimately decide that we need to move along to get to Alliance for the actual start of the race. It's a little surreal to be doing these "legs" yet knowing that we're not even in the race yet. Moreover, it's after 12:00 on Wednesday, which means the other racers have started the race now. Weird.

After flying in the clouds for a full day, it's exhilarating to enjoy the blue skies, white clouds, and green landscapes below. Charissa and I are really charged up flying as the Lone Racers across these northern legs of the course. The landscape is rising, and we begin climbing to higher altitudes in preparation for Rawlins. The Black Hills spread out below us. I will definitely need to come back this way again, when I can see the monument areas, and it must be an awesome sight to see from a small plane flying by.

Oh, I love flying through and by clouds. Like snowflakes, it seems that no two are the same. The endless variety, shapes, and sizes of clouds always make it interesting to me. Drilling into a cloud is still one of my favorite moments in flying. I do like flying within a cloud with no reference to the ground and just relying on the instruments in the plane for orientation. The mystery is when you will pop out of the cloud, once again enjoying sunlight and the view below. For me, these are special moments when I fly.

As we make our way to Wyoming, the earth becomes a bit more jagged and craggy looking. We see more brown earth and less emerald green. It's looking more rugged, and you can't help but think more of the Wild West and wonder about the pioneers who pushed their limits by trekking across this landscape.

The rivers are very serpentine winding their way through the countryside. Ribbons of riverbeds cutting their way through. I don't know what the population of Wyoming is, but clearly it's pretty sparse around here. The wildlife holds the majority here for sure.

We get a glimpse of snow-covered mountains in the distance.  We see patches of snow below us as we get closer to Rawlins. It will be ouir last stop before heading on to Alliance NE for the start of this race. But for now, we savor the views below and look forward to seeing the mountains rise up a bit and to climbing higher to remain safely clear of the terrain.

Yep, the mountains are coming up to greet us on this journey. Yep, there is snow on them too. The land below in the shadow of these mountains is green and has interesting ripples rolling across this terrain. The lakes and rives look pristine from our altitude. It's truly a beautiful sight to have the privilege of looking out on.

Here we are on the ground in Rawlins WY (RWL). Leg 4 is completed. The elevation on the ground is 6813 ft. It's a sunny, hot day, and the density altitude is 9800 ft! As was briefed at the fly-by seminar back in Iowa City, it's important to take care launching out of here with the high density altitude. It's very doable, but we just need to lean out the engine as necessary.

Charissa is calling her husband, Ady, just after landing. She is truly thrilled to be on this adventure - her first Air Race Classic - and it hasn't even begun yet. We plan to find some dinner here and expect that the temperatures will drop a bit, and the density altitude will decline a bit too. The line guy is thrilled to welcome Classic Racer 41 and appreciates our Grateful Dead Reckoners tie-dyed shirts. He offers us 2011 Air Race Classic KRWL baseball caps.  We each take a hat to add to our trophies for this flight to Alliance NE.

The line guy loaned us his pick up truck to go into town for dinner. We just need to be back by 7pm, so he can head home. Here we are at The Depot, and Charissa is standing by a fine Union Pacific rail car. We also meet Lynda Meeks here who was offering a Girls With Wings talk. We had a great time chatting with Lynda but then discover that it's time to head back to the airport with the truck. So tonight's dinner is a quick pick up at Subway, and we're off to the airport for the final weather check and launch. I call Gretchen Jahn for a refresher on launching in high density altitude. The weather looks great. We're off the ground and flying east to Alliance NE!

Leg #3 - Blue skies ahead...Jamestown ND to Spearfish SD (Wed Jun 22)

We arrived at the airport Wed morning, and the Jamestown Sun reporter and photographer were there to greet us. It was a breezy, chilly overcast morning, but at least the rain had stopped.  We loaded up the plane, and did our outside preflight walkaround the plane inside the hangar where it was warmer. The reporter interviewed us, asking why we chose to fly the northern stops after they'd been eliminated from the race. We gave our honest answer - because they were the ones that we had both been looking forward to really, and we knew that these towns had been looking forward to hosting a stop on the Air Race Classic. See article - "Air Race Classic may have moved but competitors stop here anyway." http://www.jamestownsun.com/event/article/id/138636/publisher_ID/10/

After that, they opened the hangar for better light to shoot some pictures. They gave us a hand pulling 51-Charlie out of the hangar, and we climbed in for the start of Day 2 of our adventure. We launched out of Jamestown, climbing thru clouds. It's more soup for a bit, but the clouds begin to part. We're flying between layers here with peeks of blue skies. The weather briefer promised blue skies ahead. We're having a great time on this part of the "race" knowing that we are still the Lone Racers up here.

As the clouds begin to break up, we are treated to a brilliant emerald green landscape below us. It looks like a soft, lush velvety carpet below us. At 6000 ft, we're skimming across the tops of some clouds and drilling holes through others. After flying in the clouds all day yesterday, it's a real treat to see the ground on this leg. Flight conditions are improving, and we'll be in VFR (Visual Flight Rules) conditions soon.

In this shot, you can see an isolated ranch below us. It's a typical view on this leg of our flight.  Lots of open space - very rural, uninhabited or very sparsely inhabited terrain...long stretches of roads crisscrossing the area. It's a really beautiful area, but we can't imagine living here with so few people around. One of the beauties of America is that there's something for everybody, and surely many people here love this patch of our Earth.

We see a fair number of these winding, twisting rivers and streams through this countryside. The trees flanking the waterway give it away. The clouds are thinning out and becoming misty puffs below.

More winding rivers below...fewer clouds...gentle folds in the landscape below.

Getting closer to Spearfish (SPF)...outcroppings of rock begin appearing...

The Black Hills begin appearing...

Classic 41 lands in Spearfish about 11:30 am Mountain time, and the woman at the FBO gladly offers us the crew car to go into town for lunch. She recommends the Green Bean Coffee Shop for great sandwiches and salads. She provides a nice map and draws out our route to find our lunch destination. It's a great stop. Freshly made sandwiches on their own bread.  We target the chicken salad sandwich options and the homemade pies - apple and fruits of the forest.  Delicious food.

Heading back to the airport, we pass a number of farms and ranches. This young bovine creature was lazily munching on some grass and looked up as we were pulling out the camera.

Clyde Ice was an aviation pioneer in the area, and today, the airport in Spearfish bears his name. He taught hiself how to fly and flew Fort Tri-Motors around the area. His air chartar service  We're back on the field, fueled and ready to move on. Up next: Rawlins WY.

Leg #2 (cont) - arrival in Jamestown (JMS)

Well clearly, air racing and blogging are not compatible for me...too tired at the ends of my days to sit and write.  But now it's time to tell this tale. We had solid IMC (weather - rain, low overcast, no thunderstorms) for this whole flight -from shortly after launch from Brookings, until VERY shortly before landing at Jamestown. The controller asked me to do a hold over our initial GPS approach fix - first time ever that I've been asked to hold. Charissa pitched in helping to manage the workload for setting up the unexpected hold request.  We were in a thick "soup" all the way to our minimum decision altitude. Charissa spotted the airport first, and we went in for the landing. It was a blowing, misty spray on the ground - early evening yet daylight.

We called out Classic 41 coming in for the landing, and the FBO manager was very happy to have an air racer make a stop. He was not expecting us, and it was great fun surprising another stop that we were arriving to spend the night in their town. We were greated with home-made chocolate chip cookies and a little LED fashlight.  We also got the keys to the crew car AND a free overnight in the hangar for 51-Charlie. The gentlemen at the FBO asked if we'd mind talking with a reporter the next morning before we launched on Leg #3. We told him that we'd be very happy to do so, and we asked him to be sure to top off our tanks for the next day.

We had a good sleep at the hotel, some breakfast, and started planning our next leg. The weather was beginning to look a bit more hospitable the next morning. It sounded like we'd still go in the soup, taking off out of JMS, but the skies would be clearing as we were flying SW towards Spearfish.
Based on the name alone, I was really excited to be flying into SPF. So we packed our bags and headed back out to the airport. Indeed, we got to speak with a reporter for the Jamestown Sun upon our arrival. Check out the article "Air Race Classic may have moved but competitors stop here anyway" (http://www.jamestownsun.com/event/article/id/138636/).

It was indeed 1st CLASS service and hospitality at Jamestown. Oh yeah, it was also kind of chilly up there.

Charissa & Minnetta (photo by Jamestown Sun) just before pulling 51-C out of the 1st Class Aviation hangar. Time to move on...leg # 3...heading for Spearfish SD.