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.
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| Karen Workman, Minnetta, Charissa, Patti Sandusky |
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