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.
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.
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment