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.

Leg #2 - We are racing even further North...

We lifted off from Brookings about 18:30 local time.  We opened our IFR flight plan and launched for Jamestown ND (JMS).  Charissa checked with the JMS FBO, and they said that they'd be happy to hold the place open for our arrival there.

My favorite GPS location that slipped by us - Stink Lake.

It's solid IMC, and we are "in the soup" very soon after liftoff.  Upon landing there, it's very clear that we were the only racers stopping by JMS.  So it's true - we are the Lone Racers with a mission to cross all 10 stops on this route. More news tomorrow.

The Grateful Dead Reckoners Racing North...

After over a year of planning for the IOW Start Weekend, the final celebration for the City of Iowa City was snatched away by bad weather.  In addition, 3 great cities - Brookings SD (BKX), Jamestown ND (JMS), Spearfish SD (SPF), and Rawlins WY (RWL) - also saw their En Route stops vanish on the eve of their celebrations.  Needless to say, my emotions have swung from extreme happiness to extreme sadness in the last 24 hours.

The weather conditions approaching IOW last night and through the northern 4 stops made it impossible to fly a VFR (good weather) course, unfortunately. So the ARC leadership chose to eliminate those stops, allow racers to reposition their planes to other airports for hangar space, and to relocate the start timing line to noon on Wed Jun 22 at Alliance NE (AIA).  Racers were free to make their way to Alliance for the new start site.

After a good cry or two or three, I asked Charissa if she'd be interested in flying the FULL course and arrive at AIA via BKX, JMS, SPF, and RWL. Without a moment's hesitation, she jumped on it, and we started planning accordingly. We packed up 51-Charlie, sumped enormous amounts of water from the gas tanks after Saturday night's rainfall, taxied out to Runway 12 and launched from IOW heading to BKX. It was a great IFR flight in and out of clouds with some light to moderate rain and a nice GPS approach into BKX.

When we made our call into the local air space and identified ourselves as Classic 41 arriving, the FBO staff was pretty surprised. We got 1st class service with a crew car, homemade chocolate chip cookies, dinner at Nick's Burgers, and a very nice chat with the owner of the burger joint.  GREAT burgers, chocolate shake, and people.  The FBO manager jokingly asked if he should call out for some timers to come in. I demanded a full top off for the next leg.

While we thought that another team or two had this crazy idea too, the folks at the FBO claim that we are the only racers stopping in Brookings. Is it possible that we are the lone racers here?

Living in the eye of the hurricane...

It's hard to believe that 5 days has passed since my last post.  The Start Weekend in Iowa City wraps up tomorrow.  It's been like living in the eye of a hurricane. The plane is inspected and sitting on the ramp with nearly 50 planes surrounding her.  What a sight it was to see when the 125 Girl Scouts arrived and the best part was watching so many young girls (and boys) taxiing out with an EAA 33 member to take a real deal flight around the area.  It's touching that so many friends came out to volunteer, and moreover, the appreciation shown by the racers has been a bit overwhelming.
Tuesday morning, it's time to fully embrace the racer persona.  Stay tuned.

New vacuum pump is en route...

Yes, the vacuum pump died. We can't really complain though. That pump had 1800 hrs on it, the time since the last major overhaul. Of course, better to have it die this week rather than next week on the race. So the oil is changed, and we're waiting for the arrival of the new pump this morning. 51-Charlie had a bath last night. I'll be putting the numbers on this morning, and the guys will be waxing her later today. The rest of my day will be filled with final Start weekend details.

51-Charlie is a bit under the weather...

While I told Dan not to break the plane on his trip to drop of his son at OSH, the gremlins did attack.  On his way back over MSN, the vacuum went out.  Luckily, we have good redundancy with our gadgetry on board; however, it will need to be repaired in short order.  The vacuum pump has done yeoman's work for us and has about 1800+ hrs on it.  So no complaints.  We definitely got our money's worth on that unit.  Well, hopefully the news will be better tomorrow.  Sigh...

51 Charlie takes her last flight before the race tomorrow...

Dan is flying our bird to OSH with his son tomorrow to drop him off for a weeklong camp.  He'll bring her back to IOW in the afternoon, and she'll be getting all gussied up for the big race.  A nice oil change...a wash and wax...some nice decals on her tail...voila! Classic 41 will be will be ready for primetime.

Transitioning from Start Chair to Racer...

For the past year, I have been immersed in planning for the Start Weekend of the 35th Annual Air Race Classic in Iowa City IA. Many folks wonder why I live in Iowa. I look forward to sharing a slice of Iowa with my racer buddies.

So finally, the pieces are coming together, and the weekend is coming into focus. I can now begin to turn my attention to The Race. Who was going to be my co-pilot for 2011? Last spring, I made a short hop to stop in Sporty's to exchange a headset after the 99s NCS Spring Meeting. Another serendipity, I had to borrow a pen, and I knocked on a door in Sporty's flight instruction area. A familiar yet unfamiliar face looked up. To both our surprises, we recognized one another from another period of our lives when we were active researchers. Charissa, like me, discovered a passion for the sky and aviation. In our brief chat, she expressed an interest in flying the Air Race Classic.

I reflected on this, as I considered my options for connecting with a co-pilot. With my pre-occupation planning for the ARC Start Weekend, I knew that I wanted experience this year. Charissa had more hours and broader expertise than me. With a checkout in a Cardinal RG, she's ready to climb into the right seat and ready to fly 51-Charlie. Classic 41 has evolved and after a brief visit a few weeks ago, the Grateful Dead Reckoners are on the scene.