|
Race
preparations (Jan 29 - June 17) |
| 29 Jan 2009 |
Wild Women of the Wind will fly together again!
We cannot say no to 2009. We both had way too much fun
last year, and we met awesome people along the way. The
adventure is calling us back. We are determined to do
better this year. We will raise more money for NMSS, and
we will be smarter racers!!! |
| 14 Feb 2009 |
Our ARC 2009
registration packet was posted to ARC HQ. We are in the
hunt for a low start number and have entered the "Top Ten"
drawing at the Women in Aviation conference. |
| 1 Mar 2009 |
Hooray!
We
are Classic 4! We will be #4 in the taxi
line in Denver. I promise not to mix up the plane keys
this year. J Really. |
| 13
Apr 2009 |
Thank you
Holly Cerpovicz!!! You have made the FIRST
2009 sponsorship to Wild Women of the Wind. Thank you for
your generous Strong Breeze contribution. |
| 22 Apr 2009 |
Thank you
Sue Berger & Peter Grossman!!! Thank you
Ann & Tony Fisher!!! It's been a light
breezy day. |
| 28 Apr 2009 |
Jean Griffin, thank you for providing lift with
your Strong Breeze!!! |
| 11 May 2009 |
Strong breezes
blowing from the east and the south today. Thank you
Trish Sauve!!! Thank you
Patty Wight!!! We are just over 10% towards
our 2009 goal of $4,000 - 6 weeks to go to our race start. |
| 18 May 2009 |
A light easterly
breeze came through today. Thanks
Patricia Long!!! |
| 3 Jun 2009 |
A strong breeze
from the east returns...thanks to
Faye & Larry McDowell!!! |
| 9 Jun 2009 |
Momentum is
picking up. Linda has been laying out the course on our
charts. She has also created a great logo for our race
shirts this year - visit the photo page. The winds are
variable and building - many thanks to
Paula Dore-Duffy...Al
Klingelhutz & Francoise Gourronc...Jun
Yoshino...Yolanda
Zepeda...Gail
& Warren Bishop...Dan
Eberl & Mei-ling Joiner...Madgetta
Dungy. |
| 12 Jun 2009 |
The countdown
begins. It's hard to keep my mind from drifting away to
the Air Race. We have lots of loose ends to tie up...oil
change and final check on the plane...wash and wax for the
plane...packing (lightly)...waiting for our race shirts to get
done...one last set of decals for the plane...applying our
decals - race numbers, Wild Women of the Wind, NMSS logo.
Waiting for a few more charts to arrive along with my approach
plates for the flight from Iowa City to Denver. The winds
are light to moderate - thank you
Sue Kimmel...Jody
Hovland...Lori
Wallrath. |
| 15 June 2009 |
The windsock is
really flapping in the breeze now. Strong breezes and
thanks to
Anne & Bob Skoff...Anne
& Bill Peters...Sonya
Franklin & Jason Telford...Lori
& Michael Kennedy. Light breezes provide
more smooth flying too - thank you
Jill & Justin Fishbaugh...Joan
& Robert Franklin. |
|
Wild Women of the Wind travel to Denver CO (June 18 - 19) |
| 18 Jun 2009 |
Kelly & Erin
(Classic 7) arrived about 3:30 pm at IOW flying in
with the Debonair (aka the Velociraptor). After dropping
them at the
Alexis Park Inn & Suites to check into the Amelia Earhart Suite, I picked up our race shirts and decals.
Then it was back to the Inn to
pick up K&E again and drop them in Iowa City to explore while I drove to Cedar Rapids to pick up Linda.
We all had a great BBQ at the Inn by the pool with some local
pilots who helped give us all a great send off for the race. Many
thanks to Jay & Mary, Bob & Sally, Mei-ling & the boys,
and Tim Busch for helping
us celebrate. Back home to pack everything up... |
| 19 Jun 2009
Iowa City
to
St. Joseph
to
McCook
to
Denver
|
THE day has
arrived. We packed the plane. Kelly & Erin took off
around 11 am. After a minor glitch with our tach readout
due to a popped circuit breaker, we were off about noon.
It was a slow, hot day for flying.
Headwinds all the way.
We had to divert southward to avoid storms around our planned
fuel stop in Beatrice NE. We decided to land in St. Joseph
MO to wait for a few storms to move NE out of our way and
enjoyed a nice lunch at the cafe at the base of the control
tower on the field. Around 3:30 pm, we got back in the air
and headed west for Denver. After one last fuel stop in
McCook NE, we entered Denver air space, It was pretty
busy, and we had some difficulty picking out Centennial from its
surroundings. The controller brought us out again to allow
a faster plane in. As we came in on an ILS approach
pattern, we saw Centennial laid out before us, and we landed around 8:30 pm.
We have arrived! |
|
Wild Women of the Wind check in for THE RACE (June 20 - 22) |
| 20 Jun 2009 |
We enjoyed a
great night of sleep to rest after a hard day of flying.
We register our arrival with the race organizers and collect our
badges.
It's time to head out to the airport to
prep the plane for it's inspection.
Debugging the plane - yes, we eliminated a large
number of insects across IA, NE, MO and CO...Pledge furniture
polish is a great help in debugging and then polishing the
leading edges of the plane.
Degreasing the belly of the plane - this is NOT a
fun job, but a necessary evil. Finally, it's time to apply
our race number and some other decals. Our Cardinal
Classic now has bright red cardinals on the tail. It is
also displaying its dual nationality - an American flag for me
and a Canadian flag for Dan & Mei-ling, my partners on the
Cardinal. Of course, the
Wild Women of the Wind logo is flying proudly on our doors.
Lastly, Linda did a great job applying our VERY large race
numbers on the tail of the plane - despite 30 kt winds blowing
everything all over.
Classic 4 is born and ready for
inspection. The engine is run up to full power for the
inspectors, and then
they remove the cowling cover to check "under the
hood". The logbooks are checked out, and we're approved
for the race. The last item is that the mechanics apply
some yellow fluorescent goo in strategic places to ensure that
no tampering occurs between now and the end of the race.
Our Cardinal is now "in quarantine" until race day - I cannot go
into the plane until then without an escort. In the
evening, we get to meet the other racers and reconnect with
racers whom we met last year. |
| 21 Jun 2009 |
What a day!
We had the great honor of being hosted by a local international
pilots group in their hangar at Centennial to participate in a
world premier showing of a new documentary
entitled
"The
Legend of Pancho Barnes." We met the producers who
brought this story to life.
Pancho Barnes is an
internationally recognized pilot who also participated in the
first transcontinental air race, and who eclipsed Amelia
Earhart's early speed records. It's a great documentary,
and I look forward to seeing the whole story when it is aired on
TV in the coming months. We actually missed the last part
of the film, because we had to hustle back to the hotel to
attend the mandatory
ALL RACERS BRIEFING.
It was the first of several racers briefings that we need to
attend to be sure that all the racers are informed and that the
race is conducted with great attention to safety. We learn
that
DUAL fly-bys will be
authorized this year, which was not done last year when we raced
- however, it was done for many years before that. The
fly-by is a high-speed, low altitude pass parallel to a runway
at our race airports. It is where we fly the timing line
at each stop and they calculate our speeds on each leg of the
race. If two planes are approaching the fly-by, then an
overtaking plane may announce her action and fly beside but
higher than the plane she is overtaking. Yet another
element of excitement to add to this experience. The
excitement and tension is mounting. We unwind in the
evening at the
TAKEOFF BANQUET
- more time to talk with pilots, introductions of the pilot
teams, and we collect our race charms showing the race route.
I now have two race charms - 2008 and 2009. |
| 22 Jun 2009 |
Another day of
seminars. It's an early
RACER FLY-BY BRIEFING - 8 AM - not my favorite
time of day, but it only gets earlier from here on out.
This briefing gives us all the precise details for our fly-bys -
top speed down the line, wings level, just 200 or 300 ft above
the ground. Each fly-by has a precise altitude that we
need to use, and we msut be within a 1/4 mile of the runway,
keeping us away from people and buildings. The race
organization must obtain detailed waivers from the FAA for us to
fly these routes at each of our airports, as ordinarily no
fly-bys are allowed. Keep in mind that when we are
flying around these airports on our fly-bys, local pilots
(non-racers) will also be flying in the area. Most of our
airports are not towered, and it's essential that everybody is
talking to each other. As you might imagine the fly-bys
are an adrenaline rush and more. Next up - the
SAFETY BRIEFING by a member of the local FAA
Safety Team. We learn a bit about the nuances of flying at
high altitude and around mountains...just a little different
from Iowa City (elevation: 668 ft)...Centennial is 5885
ft)...and as the day heats up the density altitude rises
dramatically. The density altitude tonight was 9800 when I
left the airport - that means that if I took off flying now, my
plane would respond as if I were taking off from an airport with
an elevation of 9800 ft - a lot less oxygen around to help burn
the fuel needed to power the plane, and a lot less oxygen around
to help lift the plane. Tomorrow's takeoff will be in the
morning when the density altitude will not be so high -
hopefully it will be a cool morning. We finish our morning
with our
OUTLOOK WEATHER BRIEFING
- it looks like good weather for tomorrow AM and the first few
days of the race. Thursday and Friday may be more
challenging. While the weather looks good, we are NOT
looking forward to the temperatures down south, especially in
Sweetwater TX and Lufkin TX. Yesterday afternoon it was 99
degrees in Sweetwater. After catching a few snacks over a
short lunch break, it was on to the final seminar of the day -
the
FIRST TIME RACER'S
BRIEFING. So why am I attending this
session? I raced last year for the first time. Well,
review is a good thing, and it's another way to make sure that I
don't get complacent or overlook some details. They spend
time reviewing more details about the logistics of doing a dual
fly-by, and many experienced racers are there to listen, as well
as the first timers. About a third to a half of the racers
are actually first timers, which is really great for the race.
In addition to entertaining any questions from the first timers,
the speakers recount "war stories" from past races to provide
additional learning experiences. For example, don't forget
to check that your keys work - that's my story from last
year...make sure that your fuel cap is on and tightened
down...don't leave your purse on the wing of your plane when you
take off (not a problem for me)...don't forget to remove the chocks from around your
wheels. We make one last trip to check on the plane and to
finish applying our decal for the National Multiple Sclerosis
Society on the side of the plane. We make a quick trip to
the grocery store for water and snacks in the plane. We
are done and have the evening to get our stuff in order.
After finishing this web update, it's time for some final flight
planning and packing everything up for the flight. I hope
to write again tomorrow night from Sweetwater TX or Lufkin TX.
Good night and thanks to everybody for your enthusiasm and
support. |
|
THE RACE - ARC 2009 - Denver CO to Atlantic IA (June 23 - 26) |
23 Jun 2009
(Tuesday)
Denver
to
Liberal
(1:58:02)
to
Sweetwater
(2:27:36)
to
Lufkin
(2:33:52) |
Up at 5:00 AM to
collect our gear, packing everything up, and then down to attend the
Racers Breakfast and the very important
Weather Briefing. The
weather is perfect for an early AM departure from Centennial.
It's going to be very hot heading south, and later in the week,
we may hit weather issues flying back north to Racine and
Atlantic for the 5pm stop deadline. We pack it all in the crew car that
we scored at the airport last night, and we're off to the
airport.
At 8 am, we start our engines. No problem with
the keys this year, for those folks who may remember the snafu
last year when I had the new "spare" keys mixed up. We taxi out to run
up our engines...taxi out to runway 10. We are off on our
2009 adventure!
The winds are not terribly great along our route, and we land in
Liberal KS
(LBL)
after about 2 hrs of flying - back in the flat land again, and
it is HOT! We enjoy a great welcome from our hosts -
meeting us with ice cold water, washing the windows, offering to
check the oil and ready to refuel us. I asked if they'd
debug the plane, but unfortunately, that was not on their list.
I was unable to find a sign that proclaimed our stop
LIBERAL KS, which was my one wish at this stop. So
after a short turn around, we were rehydrated and refueled
ourselves, and then it was back in the air and headed to
Sweetwater TX
(SWW) -
Avenger Field - home of the
Womens Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) Museum.
We have the honor of flying with a WASP this year among our
teams (Classic 26) - "Bee" Haydu, who has been very gracious and
great fun to chat with. The temperatures were rising - despite the
altitude, it was pretty toasty in the cabin. The land
below was getting flatter and more sparse in vegetation.
After touching down at historic Avenger Field, we step out of
the plane onto the very soft tarmac. My shoes are sticking
to the tar, and I leave with some tar stuck in my shoe tread for
sure. We are keeping in mind that we may run into weather
later in the week when we get back to the Midwest, and we want
to ensure that we'll finish the race before the Friday 5pm
deadline in Atlantic. We make a decision to push on to
Lufkin TX
(LFK) despite the heat and headwinds. It's a
shame that we'll miss visiting the WASP Museum. It's 100+
degrees on the ground and not much cooler in the air. As
we fly across to eastern TX, the green vegetation below
increases again. As we arrive in Lufkin, it's a
dual flyby between 2 planes ahead of us, and for a
moment, we worry that we risk a forbidden "triple" flyby.
Our friends, Gene Nora and Cammie (Classic 18) are calling their
dual flyby. We quickly realize that we are well behind the
two planes for our flyby, and it is a great sight to watch below
us. We make our flyby, circle to cool the engine a bit (if
that's possible), and then enter the pattern to land. We
taxi in and get the last tiedown spot next to the door of the
airport.
We get a brief scare
when the stop chair comes out to tell us that our radios are not
working. In talking with him though, we
realize that the radios are working but we forgot to flip the
switch so that we were communicating on the ground frequency
rather than the air-to-air frequency that we use with the other
racers. This is a common error during the race, and
usually, racers alert each other when it's detected so that it's
corrected. It has been a long day of flying...we're soaked
in sweat and looking forward to a shower, dinner, and a good
night's sleep. |
24 Jun 2009
(Wednesday)
Lufkin
to
Russellville
(2:10:04)
to
Grenada
(1:30:57) |
It's 5:00 am and
time to reorganize for the day. We're catching a 6:00 am
ride to the airport by one of the many
volunteers,
who make this race such a great experience. They greet us
when we land, provide us with food & water along the race route,
deliver us to our hotels for the night, and pick us up early in
the AM so that we can take off by 6:30 am. After some
pre-flight planning, weather checking, and packing the plane,
we're off again. As we leave, we make a few calls to
ground just to confirm that the radios are indeed working.
After we get a response from ground, we're good to go and fly
the timing line to restart our clock. Beautiful weather,
but headwinds still plague everybody. The flight to
Russellville AR (RUE) seems uneventful; however,
when we land, the fuelers tell us that we appear to have an
oil leak. After shutting down and cleaning
up the cockpit area, I got to have a look. I see 2 thin
oil streaks up the cowling from just behind the prop. So
I'm off with the mechanic on the field, who tugs the plane out
of the sun to his hangar to have a look. He's thinking
that it will be a seal problem and that he'll have to pull the
prop for the repair - a delay of 3-4 hrs probably. But
luck is with us, and he finds a loose oil line fitting that he
can easily seal and tighten. He cleans out the engine
compartment to do a high speed run up to ensure the leak is
fixed. It's clean. He puts back the cowling and
tightens everything up. When I ask about the bill, he
says, "No charge." How cool is that? He finally
accepts a bit of cash for his efforts, and we're getting tugged
back just as Kelly & Erin (Classic 7) are revving up to go -
they came in from SWW this AM, blowing thru LFK, and now passing
us out of RUE. We check the weather, preflight, and we're
off to Grenada finally. Beautiful countryside below us -
lush and green. It's still hot, and the headwinds remain
with us. No breaks, it seems. We land in
Grenada MS (GNF) less than 2 hours later.
Kelly & Erin are tying down the Velociraptor (aka Beechcraft
Debonair) and calling it a day - waiting for a cooler, less
windy start the next morning. You should see the tail knot
on the V'raptor - it's a loose rat's nest of rope...good things
the winds are calm on the ground. Although we have time to
make another leg, we choose to follow their lead, along with
several other aircraft. After checking into a hotel for
the night and a quick shower, I join some other racers at
McAlister's Deli for a great dinner salad - some veggies were
long overdue. It was an early night, but the days are
exhausting. I apologize for not writing these stories as
the race is happening, but I found myself falling asleep in
front of the screen each night or not even getting far enough to
fire it up and log on. |
25 Jun 2009
(Thursday)
Grenada
to
Sparta
(2:05:47)
to
Jacksonville
(2:34:40) |
It's another
early morning wake up, and we're piling into a van for the trip
out to the airport. After a donut and juice, it's time to
pack and preflight. We get a surprise when we walk out to
the plane. As I walk under the wing, I find that I'm
engulfed in swarm of tiny insects. I am
swinging my arms all around to brush them away. As I
approach the plane again and walk around to the other side, I
see that the plane is simply covered in these bugs in the
morning dew. They invade the plane as we open the doors.
They are unwelvome guests for sure. Just as I finish
packing the plane, I realize that I've got a
small bag missing - my small Cessna training
flight bag. It's nowhere to be found in Grenada, and I'm
thinking that it got left behind in Lufkin. I shoot off
some emails to the stopchairs and talk to the hotels in Lufkin
and Grenada - no luck. Luckily, nothing valuable is lost,
but it's a distraction and a disappointment. Time to move
on. Everybody else is gone. We still hope to get to
Racine WI tonight, leaving only the last leg to fly on Friday.
We're looking forward to turning the corner and heading north
out of the heat, or at least less heat.
Sparta TN (SRB) is another great welcome for the
racers... windows washed...good food and refreshments...it's a
quick turnaround, and another place that we don't really get a
chance to see much of or enjoy...beautiful country though.
It's Thursday afternoon, and again, this race is flying by in
such a blur. As we leave Sparta, I can sense that we're in
the home stretch now and that this great adventure will be
closing soon. It's hard to stay focused and realize that
it's Thursday already with only about 24 hours to go. We
had such an early start today, that it's only about 11 am as we
get ready to depart Sparta. As we fly across and
transition back to "home" territory, the Midwest, we see the
land flatten out again below us. We're definitely not
flying as low to the ground as the real competitors in this
race, who skim across the land and trees - some call it "mowing
the grass." We land in
Jacksonville IL (IJX)
and join several other racers already there. Many children
are there to greet the racers and to get their autographs in
their Air Race Classic program books. A large group of
racers are looking at the weather, as a thunderstorm watch box
warning of hail sits just west of Racine. Our hosts have
laid out a great spread of lunch meats, cheese, desserts, and
refreshments for us. We still have lots of time to make
Racine before sunset IF the storm passes or clears for us.
Several race teams take off to beat the storm...several race
teams call it a day and check in early to hotels for the night.
We decide to wait it out at the airport until 6 pm to see if we
can leave safely with no weather worries. The forecast for
Friday morning is good, so we can definitely make the last 2
legs tomorrow and get to Atlantic well before the 5 pm deadline
- IF the Midwest afternoon thunderstorms don't pop up tomorrow.
Tonight, the storm sits there west of Racine, and another
watchbox pops up too. Arrggghhhh!!! I'm disappointed
that we can't make Racine. We give up and go into town for
the night. Another quick shower to cool off, fresh
clothes, and dinner with some racers at the Applebee's next door
to the hotel. Tonight, it was a small steak and a small
sundae for dessert. |
26 Jun 2009
(Friday)
Jacksonville
to
Racine
(1:49:23)
to
Atlantic
(2:37:31)
|
Last day, today!
We must be in Atlantic by 5 pm or be disqualified. We
arrive back at the airport early. As we check weather in
the AM, we see some storms in eastern NE near Omaha, and we
worry about them drifting eastward into our flight path for
Atlantic, which is only about a 1-hr drive from Omaha. The
weather briefer feels that we'll be OK though, as the storm
seems to be stationary or slow moving. We leave before 7
am this morning and shoot for Racine. Everybody is flying
low and staying below the Chicago airspace shelf. We see
lots of cropdusters out across the fields. I swear that we
see a plane fly under a power line below us. We
still have to deal with a headwind. As we get near Racine,
we have a great view of Lake Michigan. Gosh, I miss that
lake from when I lived in Chicago. It is so beautiful.
We zoom in for the fly by, are surprised by a huge quarry as we
circle around to come in for our landing in
Racine WI (RAC). We plan a quick turn around
with a very healthy top-off for the long leg to Atlantic.
When we go into the airport, we have another great spread to
feast on, including some local fresh strawberries. I pick
up a nice T shirt too...shoot a few pictures. The rain
looks like it's crossing over into Iowa, but the briefer only
calls for light to moderate rain - no storms. The weather
is still forecast as VFR with good visibilities despite rain
showers. Finally, we have a bit of a tailwind as we head
west to Atlantic. This is very good news, because we would
have had to throttle back to stretch our fuel out on this leg if
we'd had a strong headwind. It's a great ride across Iowa,
my home state. As I fly by the Cedar Rapids / Iowa City
area, I make a call to Iowa City unicom and give them my
greetings as I return home. The skies darken, but we
experience just the slightest of raindrops as we pass by Des
Moines.
We land in Atlantic IA (AIO)
about 1 pm - lots of time to spare this year.
In reality, we enjoyed blue skies all along our route this year
and really no serious weather delays but a lot of HEAT for sure.
Our race is complete, and now it's time to unwind, relax, and
see who takes home the prizes. |
|
The
adventure ends in Atlantic IA (June 26 - 28) |
26 Jun 2009
(Friday)
|
The racers all meet up again in Atlantic.
"51-Charlie" joins the flock of other "birds" already on the
ground. He gets a corner spot up front among the other
planes. Carol, Celma, and Deb - my IA sister 99s - are
there to greet us as we arrive. The Atlantic crew offers
to plant our stakes and tie the plane down for the weekend.
We go in to check in, gather our stuff, and grab some lunch.
I also meet up with Karen Workman, a fellow racer from last
year, who is here in Atlantic helping out with the terminus
crew. We're off to check into the Super 8 for the weekend.
We're looking forward to the
Meltdown Hangar Party
tonight when we can all reconnect and hang out and exchange
stories of the race. On my way to the party, I get a call
from Jan Bell, my "mother bird" from last year's race, who is a
judge this year.
Bad news - we have two
timer protests lodged against us: 1) busting the flyby minimum
in Sweetwater, which I really don't believe or remember doing;
and 2) radio failure on the Lufkin flyby.
She points out the pertinent race rules to review before my
meeting with the judges tomorrow. Needless to say, I'm
very disappointed, and it's a big let-down after a heady week of
flying. I'm comfortable that the "radio failure" is not
accurate, as we determined that it was a pilot error rather than
equipment failure. Nonetheless, my heart and head are no
longer in party mode. The evening is a disappointment with
this distraction, but we regroup afterwards and head to the
"Oinkers Lounge" for some drinks. I buy a
round for the table, and we kick back for awhile. We close
the bar. |
27 Jun 2009
(Saturday)
|
Judgement day comes.
After a breakfast in town with Karen, I'm off to meet with the
judges, figuring that we'll suffer penalties of a few knots for
our transgressions. I meet with Jan Bell, Mary Bild, and
Janet Yoder - all former racers. I explain the SWW flyby
and provide my paperwork on this flyby - instructions, diagram,
and kneeboard notes. Nothing more is indicated.
Now we get the shocker - the "radio failure" is an automatic DQ
(disqualification)! After considerable
discussion about the situation and arguing that it was a pilot
error and not an equipment error and pointing out that one
cannot declare an "emergency" that is not recognized as an
emergency, the judges still declare us DQ'd. After
re-reading the rules and realizing that we still followed the
appropriate pattern even if the timers viewed us as "radio out,"
I go back to talk again with the judges - radio out procedures
called for lights on, wings rocking, and fly the timing line to
land. Still no dice, and the judges shift to the rule that
the timers did not recognize our plane for the flyby - still a
DQ. After some more reflection, I return to the judge's
room to point out that the timers did indeed identify the plane,
because we had a time on that leg from the timers. They do
not agree to meet with me and ask me to see the head of the race
organization, which I do, but still no traction on this point.
But just a few minutes later,
I get another call from
Jan Bell, who gives me good news - after a final consultation
among the judges, they have decided to recognize our failed
radio calls as a pilot error and assess us a 2-knot penalty for
an improper flyby. So we do finish the race
officially but with a total 4-knot penalty - 2 on the leg into
SWW and 2 on the leg into LFK. Texas was not good to us.
While the day has been long and frustrating, I respect the tough
job that the judges had before them and, especially, because
their jobs were performed as a direct response to the feedback
from last year's race. The day ends more happily for us,
and are off to join 4 other race teams at a local host's home
for dinner. As was done last year, the racers are all
welcomed into local homes for dinners in the area. We join
teams 2, 3, 4, 15, and 18 for the evening. Just as we are
sitting down, we hear a crash as somebody misses a step.
Dottie took a hard tumble, and after awhile and some strong
encouragement by a retired nurse among our hosts, she agrees to
head off to the ER for an X-ray. It puts a damper on the
evening, but we're glad that she went to have it looked at.
Afterwards, we join a group of racers for a party in somebody's
hotel room. It's great fun again to have the DQ lifted
from our shoulders and to simply hang out and talk with
everybody - no worries. Dottie returns from the hospital
with her arm in a sling - she suffered a high break on her arm
where they can't put a cast on it. This year's race has
had a number of "bumps and bruises" along the way for racers -
broken ankle, chipped tooth to name a couple others. |
28 Jun 2009
(Sunday)
|
Today is our last
day together before everybody scatters across the country flying
home. We attend a breakfast and the mandatory
RACERS DEBRIEFING at the Atlantic Community
Center. We take in the
Iowa Aviation
Museum (Greenfield IA), which is about a 45-min drive
away. It's a modest museum with some quality aircraft and
memorabilia. Bee Haydu, the WASP, finds that they have one
of the aircraft models that she trained in during WWII on
display. Everybody crowds around to see and shoot some
photos with Bee, as well as shooting the other airplanes on
display. We're back in the Atlantic Community Center for
the mandatory
RACERS BANQUET
and everybody is eager to learn who won the prizes and to see
where everybody finished in the standings. First, the leg
prizes are distributed for those who had the best times on each
leg but did not finish in the top 10. Classic 4 is not
called. We also didn't have our keys held for post-race
inspections, so we know that we were not among the top 12 teams
inspected at the end. This is certainly not a surprise to
us, but I had held out a bit of hope for maybe a leg prize.
No luck though. We finish #29, which is still fine by me.
Few women have the privilege to do this race, and it's just an
awesome experience to be a part of this piece of history.
For sure, I am looking forward to the 2010 Air Race Classic.
Congratulations to Kelly and Erin - Classic 7 - who took home
the top prize this year in the Velociraptor. Despite an
18-knot penalty, they still blew away the competition.
They have been a fun duo over the past two years in the race.
Check out their blog
"No Clouds For Us"
for their story - and they're sticking to it. |
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The
return to IOW (June 29, 2009) |
29 Jun 2009
(Monday)
Atlantic
to
Iowa City
|
It's time to
reenter the real world again. It's harder than you might
expect...time seems to move in slow motion...it's hard to say
good bye to some great people that you've met...some you'll see
again...some you may not. Karen, Kelly, and Erin, and I
enjoy breakfast at the
Farmer's Kitchen
in town. Charlene Johnson, the owner, is the retired
nurse, who diagnosed Dottie's broken arm, and she also has the
best breakfast joint in town, AND she won a national baking
competition with her
Chocolate Peanut Butter Explosion pie against some
nationally recognized chefs. I had the honor of tasting
this creation Saturday night at our dinner, and it is truly to
die for. Breakfast was great too, but not rivaling that
pie for sure. We say our good byes and we're off to the
airport. Time to pack the plane for the ride back to Iowa
City.
Finally...a tail
wind...however, as I get closer to Iowa City, I remember that
these gusty tail winds will provide one last challenge for this
trip. I now have strong cross winds to deal
with in landing at Iowa City with it's sole open runway.
The preferred runway 12/30 is torn up undergoing reconstruction.
The winds are lined up for runway 30 at 16 kts gusting to about
30 kts, and I need to land on runway 25 - 5 degrees off the
runway and pretty much at my personal limits for gusts.
Just before arriving in Iowa City, I hear air traffic control
handing Kelly & Erin off to the Quad Cities, as they fly back to
Michigan. I enter the IOW pattern to make my landing, but
the winds are pushing the plane around too much for comfort.
I declare a go-around to make another attempt. I take the
plane out farther to give myself more distance to set up my
final approach with the winds and the runway. It's a
struggle, and I nearly declare another go-around. But it
seems to settle down at the last second, and I decide to put it
down. It ain't pretty, but it's on the ground. I top
the tanks, put the Cardinal in the hangar, debug the wings, and
fill in my logbook with all of our flights - 35 hours of flying
time total! The 2009 Air Race Classic is done. |
| 30 Jun 2009... |
Now I realize
that the breezes that welcomed me back to Iowa City were partly
due to more sponsorships blowing in...Kevin
Gardinier & Maria Blanco-Pillado...Dave
Kushner...Anne
Boullerne & Doug Feinstein...Sara
Cole...Terry
Boles...no wonder my plane was getting blown all
over yesterday.
If anybody else out
there wants to contribute a sponsorship to bolster our check
that we'll be writing to the National Multiple Sclerosis
Society, please send it in before August 1.
I'll be sending everybody a final thank you and note to let you
know how much money we were able to donate to NMSS for 2009.
Many thanks to all of my friends, family and colleagues for your
support and enthusiasm this year!!! |
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