Finale

We wanted to complete the travelogue of Julia and Arlene’s Air Race Adventure by telling you about our return trip and filling in the gap of our delightful trip to Boston.

Sunday, after a mandatory de-briefing session, we squeezed in our Boston trip. How lucky can you be to have your own private tour guide? Caroline’s husband, Bill, picked us up and off we went to catch the 1:10 PM commuter train. We were bound for South Station, downtown Boston. Bill said there is also a North Station, but to get from one to the other, you had to take the subway. You could also connect at South Station to trains and buses. One of Bill’s grandfathers had worked as a postal mail sorter on a train to New York that left this station every night.

We were in the heart of Boston where Bill had worked in international banking. He not only grew up in Hingham and lived there when they were not overseas, but he also graduated from Harvard. Definitely knew the area, so off we went at a brisk pace to see as much as possible in the time allowed.

Looking from the site of the Boston Tea Party, Julia took this shot of the part of the old warehouse district with its very old, refurbished buildings, interspersed with new buildings.

This old swing bridge in the background was still operational when Bill was working in this area, and he said it made an absolutely awful noise. The middle section (where it arches) swung 90 degrees to allow boats to pass on either side.

We enjoyed the view off the old bridge of the harbor and were amused by the sign. (There were NO signs of efforts toward a re-opening of the bridge.)

You can see the clock tower of the old customs house in the background. A rather curious structure, with a lower level of one style of architecture and the upper part another. It has now been turned into a Marriott Hotel (building is the Greek columns in the center of the photo).

Some of the buildings were stone-fronted and

brick elsewhere. The one you can see in the background was stone-fronted on both sides and built on a pier. It and others like it would have been occupied by shippers and traders during the Boston Harbor heyday.

Bill told us that the plaza where we were standing was on top of the Big Dig – a 6 lane or more freeway that is underground, replacing the overhead the separated Boston and was a real eye-sore. The children are playing in a fountain right on top of the freeway, so I guess in Boston, it’s okay to tell your children to go play on the freeway.

Next, we saw the Old State House where the British ruled this area. Unfortunately, they were working on the steeple, so it lost a little of the ambience. It is completely surrounded by modern structures – amazing that it survived.

Faneuil Hall (1742) where much of the Revolution was planned is now a market center with shops and food court, etc. Quincy Market was added in the 1800s.












The historic churches were beautiful and still active. King’s Chapel was the first Episcopal Church in the U.S., formed in 1686. A church built on this location in 1689.

Park Street Church is an active Congregational Church formed in 1809 and the adjacent cemetery was the burial site of many famous Revolutionary figures.

Last, the Common and the State Capitol.

We rode the subway over the Charles River and back, caught a glimpse of M.I.T., and went back to Mansfield. Thank you, Bill, for a very interesting day.

THE TRIP HOME!

1374 nautical miles to Cleburne - 1581 statute miles. We knew it would take well over 13 hours of flight time and two days. Our first fuel stop was Altoona, PA. Amusing – our prize money did not quite cover the cost of the fill-up. We borrowed the courtesy car and drove to a Mennonite-run restaurant for lunch. The food was the best we’d had in a few days. The countryside is beautiful. The river is the Susquehanna.

Back to the airport and, as we thought, the line of thunderstorms between us and the Pittsburg area was impassable. We waited for about 3 hours for a break, and now nightfall was quickly approaching. We decided we would be better off to get as close as we could to Pittsburg to overnight. There was a break in the first line, but another one was behind it. So, we started off for one airport and diverted to the Arnold Palmer Airport in LaTrobe – IFR. Great service and good accommodations, and it is definitely an Arnold Palmer town – pictures everywhere – airport and hotel. Next morning, we filed IFR and were in the clouds for about an hour before the skies became clear blue. We crossed the Ohio River about mid-morning. You can see the barges in the river.

Going West, one can almost count on significant headwinds. By going up to 8500’, we were able to get no headwind or a very slight tailwind and were very pleased to get to Bardstown, KY just before noon. Again, we borrowed the courtesy car and went into town to eat at a 200 year old Tavern and read a lot of the historical markers. While we were eating, Julia discovered that the Abbey of Gethsemani was only about 15 miles away. One of her favorite authors is Thomas Merton, who was a monk at the Abbey for many years. So, off we go to see the Monastery (pictures copied from their website since we forgot the camera).

Next stop – Search, Arkansas.

Then, the most beautiful sight – DFW and HOME. We landed about 9:30 PM, July 1. Exhausted, but well-pleased.

Our total flight time home was 14.2 hours. Our total race time was 18.9 hours. Total trip was 45.4 hours. Our thanks to Sarah Hambly for her many hours of blog posting while we were traveling, and our thanks to each of you who took the time to post on our blog. Another adventure, and we thank you for sharing it with us.

2008 Classic 18 – Julia & Arlene

Awards Banquet

We had a great time seeing Boston this afternoon but know that you are more interested in the outcome of the race. Team #18 came in 12th this year - quite an improvement from 24th place last year! And, we won the most leg prizes!
1st place – Leg 8
2nd place – Leg 6
3rd place – Leg 1
4th place – Leg 3
4th place – Leg 4

Not too bad – placing in 5 out of 8 legs. Prize money totaled $160.00. That will help with hotel expenses on our way home. :)

Last year, some of you wanted to know what type of airplanes were flown by the top ten racers:

Piper PA 28, 180 hp – 2
Piper PA 28, 160 hp – 1
Cessna 182 RG, 235 hp – 2
Cessna 182, 230 hp – 2
Cessna 172, 180 hp – 2
Cessna 172, 160 hp – 1

All were flown by very experienced racers except the seventh place team who were in their second year. Our three most senior pilots - Ruby, age 90, Margaret, age 87, and Elaine, age 87 - all placed in the top ten. Is that inspirational, or what? The winner of the Collegiate Trophy was Embry-Riddle – Marisha and Mandy from Florida.

Julia and I had on our Texas outfits, complete with boots, and definitely would have gotten the prize for best dressed. We tried to represent our state well. Had a great time and will give more details tomorrow with lots of pictures of the trip to Boston.

We expect to be able to head home tomorrow about mid-morning, after the fog lifts. It will be at least a two day trip home.

The Morning After

Julia had just finished her shower and I had just awakened when we received THE CALL. Oh, my goodness. We were in the top 13 and had to be at the airport by 9:00 to have our plane inspected! Oh, my goodness. We quickly dressed and were out there by 8:30. Not that we were excited or anything. Again, we waited and waited and finally were told that they had everything they needed and we could go. Evidently, our presence was requested only to answer any questions when the inspection was done. But, at least we know that we did better than last year which was goal #1. While we waited, we calculated our score. We knew all the times, but Julia was receiving instruction in this picture from Marisha Falk from the Embry-Riddle team on exactly how to do the calculation. We had to get back to the hotel to sign off on our score before 12:00 noon.

We came back to the hotel, met with Jim, the official scorer, and ate breakfast. The buffet was a bit cold and dry, but we were starving. The mundane parts of life entered the picture – the laundry HAD to be done. Since we were trying to minimize this year, we had no more clean clothes.

I had an opportunity to visit with Elaine Roehrig from Deerfield, NY, another 87 year old pilot. I asked her to tell me about when she learned to fly. She had one year of college when she decided she just had to learn to fly. It took working three jobs to earn enough money, and she had to take the train, then the bus, and then walk to the airport. There was only one other person in town who was a pilot, and he was about 10 years older than Elaine with a family. Elaine had not told her parents that she was learning to fly and was feeling very guilty about it. The other pilot, not knowing that it was a secret, told his wife who worked for Elaine’s mother’s hair dresser. The next week, her mother was getting her hair shampooed, and her hairdresser said, “Isn’t it nice that Elaine is flying?” Her mom came up out of the chair, “WHAT! Elaine is flying!?!”
Well, she did continue, got her instructor’s license and began teaching. She is still an active instructor, has more than 14,700 hours, and was honored with the Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award in 2004. She’s a delightful lady. It was also interesting to hear her talk about how many engine failures they had in the early days. She said that engines did not become reliable until about the 1960s. I’m glad I didn’t start flying until the 1970s!

The community had a Family Fair this afternoon at the airport as part of the festivities for the Air Race. The local antique car club had their cars on display as were the local war birds and unique aircraft. There were the usual booths set up with trinkets for sale along with the ice cream truck and other food booths. About 700 people came. You can see the fair in the background behind me and Terry Carbonell, a racer and assistant board director from Florida.

Tonight’s function was the lobster bake along with music by a local band. The Terminus committee has done an excellent job of using the Air Race as a means of highlighting aviation to the community. Several of the locals had been invited to join us, and there is never a lack of conversation since there is nothing pilots had rather do than talk about their flying experiences.

Enjoying the lobster is Pam Palmieri, a first time racer from Michigan. Pam and her husband own a commercial embroidery company, and she is a professional skydiver and a paralegal. How’s that for variety in your life?

We have made good friends with a couple of the other teams this year – Joyce and Kathy, Classic #4 beside me, and Caroline and Linda, Classic #14 beside Julia. In the middle is our mutual friend, Susan. The Air Race is about building friendships, and it has been a lot of fun to do exactly that this year. We started out saying that we were only going to race every other year. Now, we’ll just have to see.

Tomorrow night – the awards banquet! We know we’re not first, but we still have hopes of making the top 10. Even if we are 13th, it will still be a big improvement over being 24th last year. We’ll keep our fingers crossed.

Day Four – Final Day!

This year’s race found us in exactly the same spot as last year’s – only one leg left but having to wait at the airport for the weather to improve. Last year we needed improvement at Terminus; this year, we were waiting for the fog to lift at Saratoga Springs. We were at the airport by 6:00 AM, hopeful of the earliest take-off time of 6:30. Didn’t happen.

7:30….8:00….finally at 8:30 the visibility improved enough for the Stop Chair to see the second ridge of hills, and he declared the airport VFR. A quick call to the Mansfield Airport found them to be clear. Our favorable winds were only supposed to last until about 11:00 AM, and the thunderstorms would be developing early afternoon. We were ready and were the second plane to take off. We landed at Terminus about 10:00 AM. WE MADE IT!!!

We were greeted by a photographer and the Terminus welcoming committee. We will get the CD after the Sunday night Awards Banquet, so take a look on Monday or Tuesday for lots of good pictures. Meanwhile, we have to tie down the airplane, take all our belongings and hand in the key. The airplanes are impounded.

Congratulations were extended among the racers and our host committee for having completed the race. On Thursday night 11 race teams over-nighted in Saratoga Springs NY and 20 were left in Franklin PA. As we compared weather conditions with other racers, we discovered we were very fortunate to have made Leg Seven when we did. Two of the early teams on Day Three had to divert to other airports via an IFR clearance and were disqualified. Those who flew that leg on Friday morning had very low ceilings and were flying too low for comfort. That also made them have to deal with thunderstorm avoidance on Leg Eight. All in all, we feel that we have flown a good race.

The Girl Scouts had been very busy getting ready for our arrival, as well. They had painted the map of our race route on the sidewalk into the FBO and on the big above-ground fuel storage tank. Made us feel very appreciated and special.

We got our rental car and headed for the hotel. Caroline Baldwin from Silver City, NM had not only grown up in nearby Hingham, MA but also her parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents had grown up there as well. She was gracious enough to give us a quick guided tour of Hingham. It’s a beautiful town and quite old. Some of the homes were built in the late 1600s, and many in the 1700s. The homes are still lived in and have plaques on the front saying when they were built. Beautiful homes on very large lots. Workmen were in the Old Ship Meeting House, so we took ourselves on a tour.

The church is the oldest in the U.S. that has been in continuous use and is an amazing structure. There were no pews; instead, each family had a ­­­­box – much like a box at the theater but all on the ground floor. In the winter, they would bring a warmer from home filled with hot coals and put it in their box to keep warm.

The pulpit was then quite high so that everyone could see. There was also a balcony that did not have boxes, and I’m sure they also had a good view of the preacher. The rope you see in the picture was the bell pull.

Today, the church is a Unitarian Universalist church but others have services there also. From Wikipedia – “Unitarian Universalism (UUism) is a theologically liberal religion characterized by its support for a "free and responsible search for truth and meaning." Unitarian Universalists do not share a creed; rather, they are unified by their shared search for spiritual growth. Unitarian Universalists draw on many different theological sources and have a wide range of beliefs and practices.

“Unitarian Universalist congregations and fellowships tend to retain some Christian traditions such as Sunday worship that includes a sermon and singing of hymns, but they do not necessarily identify themselves as Christians nor do they necessarily subscribe to Christian beliefs.” We were told the Unitarian religion began in this region.

Caroline had played in an orchestra in high school that performed a concert from the balcony of the church. We then went behind the church to see the old cemetery with dates back into the early 1700s.

When driving through town, it was difficult not to take pictures of every building, but this one deserved photographing. It is the Catholic Church, and the steeple and roofs were a mosaic.
Caroline also showed us the house where she grew up, and then the house her grandparents built in 1910. Her brother lives across the street, so we stopped in for a short visit with her sister-in-law. The hostas at her house were probably 3 ½‘ tall. The hydrangeas around town were grown almost as hedges. We commented that their reward for enduring long, hard winters was magnificent color in the summer.

Caroline also took us to tour The Old Ordinary were one of her good friends is a docent. An Ordinary was required by law of each town, and provided a hot, noon meal to travelers. It was the fast-food place of 300 years ago. This Ordinary was built in 1688 with additions in 1740 and 1780. It was lived in until 1925 when it was turned into a museum. The first picture is of the garden, where Caroline is standing with Julia. The second picture is the kitchen. It was interesting history with delightful people giving the tour.

One last picture of Hingham – looking across the harbor with Boston in the background. Caroline had raced sailboats in the harbor as a kid.

Our “Melt-down Party” began at 5:00 at the hotel. Racers were comparing times and altitudes, cloud bases and ground speeds. Then, each group of two teams had been paired with a local pilot for dinner. We went to the home of a local attorney and his family and enjoyed getting to know them. We went home fairly early because we were soooo tired. Busy day, but we go to bed satisfied that we had done our best…….well, at least until our next race.

** SPECIAL REPORT **

Landed in Mansfield, MA 10:00 am ET...

More details to follow


** SPECIAL REPORT **

Day Three!

Awake at 4:45 and to the airport by 6:15 this morning. We left the “luxury” accommodations of the Days Inn behind – still yawning. But, they had been very kind and opened the quickie breakfast place up an hour early just for the racers. So far, Frankfort and Aberdeen tie for the most hospitable stops. Julia and I were picked up at 6:00 by a volunteer and taken back to the airport.

Today was what has become typical for this year’s race – hurry up and wait. Checking the weather, and checking it again. My friends, Linda & Glen Johnson, told me last year that the flying weather is always bad in the Ohio River Valley, and sure enough, they were right. Thunderstorms and accompanying low ceilings and visibility were in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Leg Six took us from Frankfort, KY to Franklin, PA on a route just to the east of Cincinnati, Ohio. About 8:30, the thunderstorms had finally moved to the east enough to take off, but they were not through dealing us misery. It’s always amazing how the lounge area can be filled with pilots, most of them on their laptops or cell phones checking the weather, and when conditions improve just enough to make it to the next stop, the place empties out like someone pulled the stopper out of the sink. It got a little interesting for us leaving Frankfort. Just as we were making our high speed, low altitude fly-by, another racer took off in the opposite direction on the same runway. Fortunately, she stayed over the runway, and our fly-by was to the right of the runway. Things are so crazy when planes are trying to all leave at the same time.

Pennsylvania is a particularly pretty state - rolling hills dotted with farms with lots of trees. However, all the trees can make an airport difficult to find when you’re low. Thank goodness for the GPS. It has really been a help in this race. One of the features is the ability to extend the runway centerline. That helps tremendously to get properly lined up for fly-bys when you can’t see the runway.

Leg Four was a long leg so we were on the ground about 11:30. Again, we were blessed with a tailwind. I am certain that this is the most successive legs with a tailwind that I have ever flown in this airplane. We were very pleased to find a good restaurant at the airport, so lunch was a delight. But, then it was wait, wait , wait. The weather that we waited on in the early morning was now over New York and Massachusetts. For most of the afternoon, we thought it was doubtful that we would be able to get out of Franklin, and several of us were even making plans to go hear an outdoor concert. This is a picture of racers waiting.

Several of the racers did stay in Franklin, but many forged on. One of the early ones to leave was Team 31 – two delightful young women from California – Kelly & Erin. We heard that they had left a little TOO early and ended up having to file IFR and land somewhere else. Going IFR means an automatic disqualification. Whoever it was, we are all sad for them and hope they will try again next year. :(

We finally got to leave about 4:30 for Leg Seven – Franklin, PA to Saratoga Springs, NY. We were up and down between 1000 to 4000 feet above ground level as the clouds went up and down. Saw some spectacular country. This first picture is of the Allegheny River and the second is typical upstate New York. Julia worked at trying to get good pictures in bad haze so you could see a bit of the beauty.

The weather forecast at destination remained in question. The automated weather equipment was out at the airport, and the next closest airport reporting weather was Albany. Pilots are taught to beware of fog any time the temperature and dewpoint are within four degrees of one another, and Albany was reporting a two degree spread. Not a good sign. We started worrying, and decided to allow ourselves to only look every thirty minutes. At one point the clouds forced us down to 1000 feet, and I was beginning to think this would be the end of the race of us (fog and/or very low clouds would have done that). Then, about 25 miles out, it became almost clear except for the haze. Hurray, we were on the ground in Saratoga Springs, NY!

A great welcoming committee and service. They even found a motel room for us. Our friends, Kathy and Joyce (experienced racers) were here and invited us to “dinner”. That consisted of going to the convenience store for Lean Cuisine and dining in the room after we microwaved our dinner. Here they are enjoying a cocktail at the Bates Motel Robin Hood Inn while waiting for us. The accommodations added a little adventure to the evening.

Tomorrow, only one leg remaining, and it’s very short. However……you guessed it. Only a small window of opportunity between morning fog and later morning thunderstorms. Will we make it to Terminus? Tune in tomorrow to find out (and say a little prayer for the weather in the meantime).

Day Two!

Why does it feel like it has been a week? What a day it was! As I reported yesterday, we decided yesterday to wait on Leg Three for more favorable winds, but we were extremely nervous about it. This morning, we got up at 4:30 so we could check the weather and be at the airport by 6:00 for a 6:30 take-off to Mason City, Iowa. Julia and I had made one pledge to one another before this year’s race – that we would not take-off unless we were assured of making a direct flight (NO DEVIATION FOR THUNDERSTORMS!) and also assured of being able to land at the next airport. We were not the only ones waiting …. at first. You can see the FBO was buzzing with activity and the ramp full of airplanes.

While we were waiting, we took some pictures of a nifty B-17 that was parked on the ramp. The first one is of Julia beside the airplane and gives you an idea how large the old bomber is. You can also see the art on the nose.

In the next picture, you can see the tail of our airplane with our race number – 18.

Oh, how difficult it was to see racer after racer depart while we sat on the ground! 7:30, 8:00, 8:30……..FINALLY, at 9:00 we took off, and our plan worked! A good tailwind and no deviation. The weather for Leg Four had been the most doubtful all along as Decatur, Illinois had a mega cell covering it and the area all around it for days. While we were still on the leg to Mason City, we were looking beyond toward Decatur on Nexrad on the GPS. It still looked very bad. We were feeling very behind the eight ball by this time. If we got no further than Mason City, being able to complete the race in the remaining days would be in serious jeopardy.

Max’s comment said he wanted to see some pictures of flooding. This shot was probably the best and was taken as we were crossing from Minnesota into Iowa. The town nearby was Watertown. How appropriate.

When we landed at Mason City, we were able to eat lunch at a café at the airport run seven days a week by an elderly lady - and by herself. We quickly figured out that you operate on her schedule and by her rules. By the time we got there, she was out of hamburgers. Not sure what we ate, but it was edible.

We checked the weather before lunch and after lunch. It was beginning to look like the weather to Decatur was stabilizing. More waiting, but at least there’s hope. Sure enough, by about 2:00 it looked clear enough to make it. Into the airplane and take-off to circle around to line up for the fly by. Every time we land and then again every time we take off, we have to fly the timing line. Timers are positioned on the ground, and we must fly over the airport – low and fast – in a certain place so the timers can start or stop our time.


We are very happy about going to Decatur since there had been predictions of the race having to end at Mason City. Along the way, we went over Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It appeared that most of the flooding had subsided, but we did see one house still partially under water. Tried to get a picture, but a cloud got in the way.

By this time, we are carefully calculating our time enroute. With the help of a significant tailwind, it starts looking as if we just might be able to forge on ahead to Frankfort, Kentucky after refueling in Decatur. We were going to lose an hour going from Central to Eastern Daylight Time as we crossed into Kentucky. Landing beyond sunset is an immediate disqualification. We decided to do the quickest turn-around possible at Decatur, and we did. We whizzed in and out of there in nothing flat and flew the timing line to leave at 5:13 Central. There was not supposed to be any help from a tailwind for this leg, but there it was!!! At least 15 knots; we couldn’t believe it!?!? We made it to Frankfort with plenty of daylight to spare.


Circling back to land after flying the timing line, we had a minute to see how beautiful this area is. Julia took a quick shot of the capitol building for me and then got the airport as we were landing. What a beautiful sight. After being so worried about making one leg and then being able to make three in one day – well, it was a great feeling of accomplishment.

Can’t leave the airport without getting the plane ready for tomorrow. Bugs off all the leading edges, windshield clean, and the ultimate sign of commitment – getting the grease off the belly.

The Race Begins!

Tuesday - Race Day #1!!!
I will back track a bit to yesterday. We did not post because there was not much material. This picture at breakfast is the only picture we took, but you can tell from it that even going down for breakfast was fun. Marolyn, the one you see talking, owns a bakery in New York that she and her sister took over from their parents. It was great fun hearing her stories about Dick, the German baker they inherited from their dad. Even after working for the sisters for 17 years, Dick informed them that he did not work for them but for their dad. He finally quit, and they hired a one-legged baker who tries to quit every time he makes a mistake, afraid he will be fired. The sisters have managed to struggle through with temperamental bakers and now have a successful business and 60 employees. Marolyn is also the Air Race Classic president.

From 8:00 to 2:00 in briefings. We then found some lunch, ran errands, and then went to our room to finish flight planning. There was not much else to photograph though we should have had someone take our picture hauling two big boxes to the car to take to UPS for shipping. One went to Terminus in Massachusetts, and one went to Cleburne to be picked up on our return. We were able to get rid of 50 pounds of weight by shipping. We are down to bare essentials for the race days – even sharing a tube of toothpaste.

The Race is On!
Up for a mandatory briefing at 6:00 AM with our bags packed and weather checked. Thankfully, the briefing included breakfast. I was too excited to sleep well, so I was already yawning at breakfast. The excitement again quickly overcame sleepy after breakfast as everyone grabbed their bags and headed to the airport.

At the airport, we had been instructed to taxi out in groups of five or six. We were the leader of Group Four – flight of five. This is Group One pulling out of parking to taxi for take-off at Bozeman.

Take off went smoothly and with the mountains behind us, we had a nice tailwind to Miles City. Deciding how to cross the mountains right after take-off was one of our major decisions of the day, and we felt that we did as well as we could given our performance limitations. That 180 hp conversion is getting closer to becoming a reality each day.

Tailwinds gone - on the next leg, we were into headwinds. We stayed VERY low trying to minimize the headwind as much as possible. The down side to being low is getting bounced around and the air conditioner (outside air) doesn’t work very well. The good thing is that we got to see lots of beautiful country up close. We were still in Montana for the first picture - the Powder River.

Crossing into North Dakota, we flew over the Missouri River. So wide and beautiful.

We had planned to try to make it on from Aberdeen, South Dakota to Mason City, Iowa. Enough daylight left, but checking the weather we decided to stay the night and try for better winds in the morning. It’s a risky decision, but the race is all about trying to get the best time on each leg. Hope we don’t regret it later.

We were reminded of the other down side to flying low – BUGS! We had an unbelievable number of bugs on all the leading edges. Julia and I cleaned bugs off until we were thoroughly hot and exhausted. The folks at Quest Aviation have been very helpful and supplied us with more bug cleaner when we ran out. With the airplane once again clean and polished, they even took us to the hotel.

We are enjoying your company on this race so keep on writing your comments to us! We’ll be up early in the morning to try to make up for lost time today. Until tomorrow.

All the Interesting People We Met

Not having had any exercise (excitement yes, but exercise no), we walked two miles downtown this morning for breakfast. We stumbled upon a restaurant that was evidently a favorite of the locals judging from the waiting line as we left. Very good. Then, back to the room for more trip planning. We also scoured the manuals to learn some of the finer points of our newer navigation equipment.

This afternoon began the series of briefings with one especially for first timers. The picture shows only some of the first time racers being instructed by Denise Waters, one of the around-the-world racers. Julia and I attended to make sure we had not forgotten something important. It was a good review to get our minds in race mode. And, in that vein, we started looking at some of the long range weather forecasts. The weather has been so unstable in the mid-west, that we are beginning to wonder if just completing the race this year will again be an accomplishment.

Tonight was the Start Banquet and the female director of the Montana Aeronautics Commission was a good guest speaker and told us not only about the state but also about the role aviation plays. The former director, Mike Ferguson, was in attendance and sat at our table. Mr. Ferguson now works for AOPA as regional representative and, with a lot of persuasion, has some interesting stories to tell. In the mid-eighties, he flew a Bonanza non-stop from Honolulu to Salt Lake City, setting a record, and another record for flying with a single stop from Honolulu to Oshkosh, WI. He did not achieve his goal of non-stop to Oshkosh because high winds over the Pacific put him four hours short on fuel; but setting two records on a solo flight isn’t bad. His wife had flown to Hawaii with him, but she had to come back another way – he needed 43 gallons of fuel in that seat instead of her.

One of the racers, Anne Marie Radel, is an Emmy-nominated, song writer for soap operas, TV movies, and features films. She wrote a song about us racers and sang it tonight. It was very good and very appropriate.


Of course, almost every team dressed alike, and Julia and I were no exception. I also took a picture of one of our favorite teams from last year, Jan and Lara from Indiana (Lara is the taller one). Jan is a legal consultant for Purdue University. She is a retired U.S. administrative judge and retired JAG in the Indiana Air National Guard, holding the distinction of the highest-ranking female JAG in the U.S. Lara is a professional pilot with 4500 hours and almost all the ratings possible --- and a sky diver. She and her pilot husband run a FBO.

8:00 AM briefing, so time to sign off. Don’t forget to post so we’ll know you’re there!

Pre-race Inspection Day

This was inspection day for the airplane and credentials day for us. Both are a bit nerve-racking because if you fail either, you simply don’t get to go.

The first part of the airplane inspection was an engine RPM check done by none other than our Ruby Sheldon, the most senior pilot at 90 years old. With more than 15,000 hours, one of her many credits is that she holds the very first helicopter instrument instructor certificate issued by the FAA. She also flew a Grumman OV-18 Mohawk, collecting environmental data in climates from the Panama Canal to the Arctic Ocean. She also lived for several months on an ice island 400 miles north of the Alaska coast, transporting research personnel from island to island in a Huey helicopter. It was an honor just to have Ruby in the airplane. And, as you can tell from the photo, she is not as big as a minute.

Next, the mechanics checked it over. Off came the cowling while they examine for both safety and unreported modifications. They found a loose grounding strap and repaired it for me, but everything else went fine at that station. Last was the paperwork – engine logs, 337s, weight and balance, airframe logs. It took a while to go through it, but all the inspections had been properly performed and logged. Thank you, Sam, for getting the airplane ready for the race.

Julia and I also had our necessary paperwork – biennial flight review properly noted in our logbooks, medical certificate, pilot certificate, and proof of the proper insurance. Kathy and Joyce evidently do credentialing each year and have it down pat. Joyce has only missed two air races since it was reorganized as the Air Race Classic in 1977, and she and Kathy have been a team for 20 years.

We were in the first group this morning that started at 9:00, and it was noon before we finished. After lunch we tried doing some work on the computer and did some laundry.



This evening was a BBQ put on by some of the local people and the Montana Pilots Association. They cooked a whole pig, and it was wonderful. All the racers were introduced, and then we had the pleasure of telling the locals about the race. Met some very interesting people – including the recently elected Mayor of Bozeman, a retired Berkley professor of Asian studies, and the main chef was a retired naval aviator. The Mayor is a woman and seemed genuinely pleased to meet the women pilots. Lots of fun. From the picture of the group perhaps you can get a feel for the diversity in age of the racers – everything from Ruby and Margaret to the three college teams. These young pilots are from Embry-Riddle University in Florida – Marisha and Mandy. They are competing for the college trophy as well as trying to win the race.

Final Preparation & White Water Rafting!

It’s hard not to fill the blog with photos of scenery because the mountains are so pretty. This shot is some of what we can see from the hotel.

Up early today to get to be first in line to have the airplane washed and waxed. We wanted to be first so we could get out of there by noon to go on our rafting trip scheduled for the afternoon. They have us fairly secluded on the south end of the airport but with everything we need. Things were hopping very soon. I worked on our numbers while waiting for the wash crew to get set up.

You may remember from last year that one of the women, Margaret Ringenberg, was a WASP and one of the oldest pilots participating, now age 87. She is back again this year, having flown 31 of these air races as well as an around-the-world race and the 2001 London to Sidney Air Race. She started flying in 1945 and has more than 40,000 hours. Arlene is talking with Margaret in the hangar with the kids washing the airplane in the background. Ruby is the oldest pilot and is 90 years old this year. Her partner flew from Florida to Arizona to pick her up before coming to Montana. More on Ruby another time.


Several racers came in on Thursday trying to beat bad weather in their part of the country. The airport was busy, busy with teams working on their plane, getting numbers on, waxing, and fueling. The fuel truck was running up and down the line trying to fulfill the fuel requests.


One of Arlene’s favorite things to do is whitewater rafting. Now Julia is hooked too. We went with Geyser Rafting down the Gallatin River at Big Sky. What fun! It’s a Class III section so not too hazardous, but the water was moving fast. There were 7 in our raft plus a fun guide – Tom. (Do you know the difference between a river guide and a mutual fund? The mutual fund eventually matures and makes money.)

Oops! Now we know why everyone let us get on the boat first!

We Arrive in Bozeman, MT

The plane is fueled, loaded, and ready for the last 3 ½ hours of flying – Douglas, WY to Bozeman, MT. Steve ran the FBO and was so nice to us – didn’t even charge us for the trip he had to make back to the airport last night to put our airplane in the hangar. Also, fuel prices are not as bad as we feared. Not cheap, but not as bad as Austin.
We decided to make a stop in Billings so we would have fuel enough to do some exploring when we reached Bozeman. On the leg between Douglas and Billings we flew over the Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area. It is beautiful! Looks like a mini-Grand Canyon from the air.


We’re here! The picture is of landing at the Gallatin Airport – Bozeman, MT. We arrived at check in at Bozeman about 3:00 MDT after flying some of the passes and marking waypoints on the GPS and deciding on minimum comfortable altitude for clearing the mountains.

The first leg of the race is our biggest worry. Bozeman is surrounded by three mountain ranges – one of which is right in our path. We confirmed that 739FY is not powerful enough to climb quickly enough to go direct. So, we’ll just do the best we can with Plan B.

Though the mountains present flying challenges, they are scenic. We are definitely enjoying the beauty of the area. Starving from having missed lunch today, we went to Mackenzie River Pizza, as recommended by Kathy Hutto. My bison sausage pizza and salad were great, Kathy. We took some pictures of the mountain-town-quaint shops on Main Street.

The Great Adventure Begins!

The great adventure begins! Julia and I met at Cleburne airport Wednesday morning at 8:30 AM. Neither of us had slept well – too much excitement. Mikeal was there to see us off and take pictures. Sam had all the log books ready, and we made one last survey of the paperwork – license, medical, proof of biennial flight review, aircraft log books, proper placards and certificates, proof of insurance, and the list goes on. Remarkably, all of our stuff made it into the airplane, and we were off by 9:30.

You can tell from the GPS that we had a long way to go – about 7 hours of flying. First stop – the Ulysses Airport at Grant, Kansas. Though it was a small town and airport, the service and facilities were great – even a courtesy car to go into town for lunch. The town and terrain were so much like my home town in the Panhandle, that we could just as easily have been in Texas. We had encountered a problem with the GPS while enroute with it not displaying some important, but not critical, information. A call to Fieldtech in Fort Worth who called Garmin, and a speedy call back to us resolved the problem, and we were in the air again by 3:00.



Another 3+ hour leg – destination Douglas, Wyoming. This time, we encountered a headwind and had to work our way through a line of thunderstorms. For those of you who followed the race last year, you will remember that every single day we had weather issues with rain and thunderstorms. So, we took a couple of pictures to let you know that we are again this year having weather issues.


Douglas is a pretty town on the North Platte River. We again were able to get a courtesy car, but perhaps, not one that you would want to call your own – a 20 yr. old Grand Marquee. Mikeal suggested the caption under a picture would read Thelma and Louise. But, the laughs stopped when it started hailing outside. Fear grips the heart of a pilot with images of hail destroying their airplane sitting out on the ramp. So, we quickly paid for our dinner and ran to the airport to assess the damage. Luckily, the hail had missed the airport even though it was only about 3 miles away from the hotel. We called the airport manager and had him come put the plane in a hangar. So glad we did; another storm came through after we got back to our room.



Hope this is not a portent of the weather for the race!?!?! This picture of the beauty after the rain is more what we’d like for the rest of the trip.

12 Days to Take-Off

Back by popular request will be our Air Race blog. Several of our friends and family have asked if we're going to blog again this year, and the obvious answer is yes. Daughter Sarah will help overcome the very time-consuming, uploading photos problem for us, so all we have to do is write the journal and email to her. We hope you will post comments and questions as we go through the race. It's more fun for us and for other readers.

Every year the course is different, and a big difference for us is having to fly 2 days to get to Start instead of 2 hours. Bozeman has been reporting below average temperatures so far this year, so we're digging out our jackets. If we can make it there as planned on Thursday, we will go river rafting Friday on the Gallatin River at Big Sky, Montana, thanks to the recommendation of my friend, Kathy Hutto, a frequent visitor to the area. Montana has had lots of snow, so the river should be great! Mandatory activities for the race begin on Saturday and the actual race is Tuesday through Friday.

Hotel reservations made, rental car reservations made, numbers for the airplane made and bought, and much more, but still much left to do. So much to do; so little time......

Oh, and I could not figure out how to take last year's off, so everything below is from 2007.

Arlene and Julia

P.S. - Our Safe Return

In case you are checking to see whether or not we made it home. We got to Cleburne Wednesday about 11:00 am. Our strategy of the weather not being so volatile in the morning hours paid off. We filed IFR leaving Monroe at 8:00 a.m. and just filed to Tyler. The weather began to look better as we neared Tyler - looked like Cleburne was in the middle of a “C” of rain - so we extended our flight plan to Cleburne. Our initial clearance was Cedar Creek VOR (southeast of the Metroplex) to Ranger VOR (northeast of Cleburne and in the center of the Metroplex) to Cleburne. The Ranger jaunt not only would have taken us into weather but the delay getting to Cleburne would have jeopardized our getting in before part of that “C” closed in on the airport. Eventually, we were handed off to Regional Approach, and he agreed to change our routing. We then asked for lowest altitude (2300’). We had been keeping up with Cleburne’s weather through their AWOS. It had gone from clear to 3400’ to 2300’ to 1500’. As soon as I saw a good opening in the clouds, I popped down through it and told Julia to cancel IFR. Once we could see the ground, I was amazed at the amount of standing water in the fields. There was one area that I pointed out to Julia and told her that, despite how it looked, there was no river there. The wind was gusty, but landing was no problem. It surely was good to be on the ground…and home. It was even better seeing my husband’s smiling face as we were getting out of the plane. Julia transferred all of her belongings into her plane, checked the weather again, called Charles to pick her up, filed an IFR flight plan, and was off to Austin. She said she was in the clouds and it was bumpy the whole way, but she made it just fine.

I laughed to read her email yesterday, “How does it feel to be back home? I'm in a sort of stupor. Don't think I should use any power saws today.”

Our feet are back on the ground now, but it was an amazing adventure that we will treasure. Thanks to all who shared it with us through this blog.