Racer's final briefing and breakfast - a good early start, especially considering that there were 51 teams to get in the air.
By the end of the day, we were very grateful for that big breakfast.

That was also a lot of people to the airport, but everyone was in their airplane and ready to start by 8:00 a.m. We were off by 8:30 (7:30 Central) and on our way to Waycross. Julia's traffic avoidance works only in the vacinity of the larger airports. We were very grateful that it was active almost the entire route to Waycross because that was, by far, the most congested with racers. We were overtaken once, but we also overtook another racer - something that never happened in my C-172.

We didn't have much of a tailwind, but it was enough that we didn't have to land at Waycross - "fly by to continue" was another first. Winds were not quite as good as forecasted, but considering all the bad wx around, our slight tailwind was welcomed.

Four hours after take-off, we arrived at Tuscaloosa for our first stop. Though we were hot and ready for a break, we quickly checked the weather, fueled the airplane, cleaned it up a bit, and once again tried to secure our numbers. Because Julia's airplane has slick paint and a good wax job, the adhesive won't stick. Or...it could be that we were going sooo fast through the sky that they couldn't stay on the airplane. We're using white contact paper to get the required 2" of white around the 3" numbers; now, we're using it to patch.

The blog comments were right on - we did try to forge on to Cameron. Combining legs three and four would be the tightest combination of any, so we were closely monitoring the fuel flow. The decision was made shortly before the Hot Springs fly-by that we could make it (barely) with our required 30 minutes reserve.

About 3 or 4 minutes after the fly-by, we lost our vacuum pump. Was not an issue that would ground us, but we definitely want to get it repaired. We were concerned that the maintenance shop would be shut down by the time we got to Cameron. I was able to send a text message to Cristen with instructions to call the airport with our request - airplane model & year - to see if they could repair or replace it. Cristen was at the end of a committee meeting when she received the text and told the others, "Sorry, I have to leave. I have to go order a vacuum pump for my mom." They were amused.

As we neared Kansas City, we were amazed at the flooding of the Missouri River.

We received a Royal Welcome at Cameron. Ladies walked out to the airplane with a tray of ginger ale and fresh, home-grown strawberries. We had flown low for better winds and were really, really hot and tired. What a delight they were. They had snacks (also welcomed since we had not had lunch) and drinks in the hangar.

The ladies even made our hotel reservations for us. The mechanic came in a few minutes. He didn't have the part in stock but he ordered it and had it shipped overnight. We should be ready to fly again by 10:00 a.m.


After Julia & I drew straws for the shower, we went in search of supper. The truck stop next door had pretty good food. Of course, we were so hungry, just about anything would have tasted good. We then discovered this lovely, huge garden right across the drive from our room. Great place to stay.